"Azamino (1991), Tama-Monorail, Shinjuku & Tachikawa (2010)"

I was looking for something else when I came upon a video I took back in 1991 of the area around Azamino Station (taken while I was waiting for a friend who lived there to arrive) - so I decided to toss that up on the screen.

After that are a few fairly high definition clips of a 2010 ride on the Tama-Monorail.  Since it's out in western Tokyo, away from the high rises of central Tokyo, the view is pretty good from the train.

And the last two clips are of Shinjuku - one of Tanaka Aya performing live in front of the west side of Shinjuku Station on a very cold February night, and the other of a walk under a JR railway bridge.

"Azamino Station Area at Night - January 8th, 1991"

Riding the Denentoshi Line out to Azamino Station, I walked around the station area taking video of a grocery store, people lining up to buy train passes, people getting on a bus, etc., while waiting for a friend to arrive.  (At the beginning of the video, there are some visual glitches - which are good examples of the kind of problems I used to encounter with 8mm analogue video tape.)

While waiting, I saw a guy get nabbed by the one man there to manually watch the ticket gates.  These days, to save money, railways have cut back on personnel and typically there is no one there to grab cheaters.

In the grocery store, you can see the local method of counting money twice to make sure there are no mistakes, and how the change is manually pulled from the cash register drawer one coin at a time.  These days, the correct change just drops out of the machine, so it doesn't need to be manually counted.

1991年の一月のあざみ野駅あたり  東京  (Recorded on Tuesday, January 8th, 1991, at night.)

"Tama-Monorail - From Takamatsu to Tachikawa-kita (Front View)" (100201-1047)

Tama-Monorail trip from Takamatsu Station to Tachikawa-Kita Station.

多摩モノレールの旅  高松駅から立川北駅まで  東京  (Recorded on Monday, February 1st, 2010, at 10:47 a.m.)

"Tama-Monorail trip from Tachikawa-Kita to Tachikawa-Minami (Front View)" (100201-1050)

Tama-Monorail trip from Tachikawa-Kita Station to Tachikawa-Minami Station.

多摩モノレールの旅  立川北駅から立川南駅まで  東京  (Recorded on Monday, February 1st, 2010, at 10:50 a.m.)

"Tama-Monorail trip from Shibasaki-Taiikukan to Koshukaido" (100201-1053)

Tama-Monorail trip - from Shibasaki-Taiikukan Station to Koshukaido Station.

多摩モノレールの旅  柴崎体育館駅から甲州街道駅まで  東京  (Recorded on Monday, February 1st, 2010, at 10:53 a.m.)

"Tama-Monorail - From Koshukaido to Manganji" (100201-1056)

Tama-Monorail trip from Koshukaido Station to Manganji Station.

多摩モノレールの旅  甲州街道駅から万願寺駅まで  東京  (Recorded on Monday, February 1st, 2010, at 10:56 a.m.)

"Tachikawa One-Look Image Writer" (100203-1310)

The man in this video had a sign saying that he will write something about someone from just one quick look at them.  The pair of women (mother & daughter?) seemed pleased with the result.

立川イメージライターは、人を一目で感想をさらさら書く  東京  (Recorded on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010, at 1:10 p.m.)

"Tanaka Aya Live in Nishi Shinjuku - 22-2-2" (100202-2150)

One rather cold evening, as I walked up to the west exit of Shinjuku Station, I came upon Tanaka Aya performing live in front of the station.  Her website is:
http://ameblo.jp/aya-tanaka

西側の新宿駅前で、ストリート音楽家田中亜弥を聞きました。（平成二十二年二月二日）  東京  (Recorded on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010, at 9:50 p.m.)

"Night Path Under Shinjuku Rail Bridge" (100202-2201)

Walking under the rail bridge for Ikebukuro-bound Yamanote and Saikyo Line (etc.) trains (at 10:00 p.m.), and then onto the plaza in front of Seibu-Shinjuku Station.

新宿駅近く鉄道橋の下と西武新宿駅前プラザ（平成二十二年二月二日）  東京  (Recorded on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010, at 10:01 p.m.)

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
http://uk.youtube.com/lylehsaxon