"Odakyu Line Yoyogi-Hachiman Station, Ginza Art Exhibitions, Train Views, Etc."

Last week, I met an English acquaintance in Yoyogi-Uehara (near to Yoyogi-Hachiman Station) who is headed back to England.  There are fewer and fewer of the old style train stations left in Tokyo, but Yoyogi-Hachiman Station is one.  As the old type stations become rarer and rarer, I'm finding that I like them more and more.  So - since I rode a local Odakyu Line train out to Yoyogi-Hachiman, I took video on the way (front cab views, etc.), and of the station and immediate station area by the entrance/exit gates to the station.

Other views from this batch of video clips:  There are a few gallery exhibition views, other train views, and a couple of "looking-around-while-walking" clips from the Kyobashi area of Tokyo.

But back to the English acquaintance I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  He's been in Japan for about three years, and I thought we'd end up talking a bit about life in Japan, etc., but the desire to get into cultural issues appeared to be solely on my end.  Thinking back on the encounter now, something fundamentally different about living in Tokyo (as a foreigner) in the early eighties and thirty years later in 2012 occurs to me.

Back in the early eighties (in Japan), there was (practically speaking) no Internet (not for the vast majority of people in the world in any case), international telephone calls were very expensive, *domestic* telephone calls outside your immediate area were also very expensive, and even local calls within your area code were expensive if you talked for very long.  And so personal meetings with people were the one time you could communicate with someone as much as you liked for free!  What with a lack of international communication (except for occasional standard letters delivered by post), there was something special and important about meeting other foreigners from time to time and discussing life in Japan.

So, with that background, I thought I'd discuss a number of things with the man from England - since he is about to leave the country and all, but it didn't really happen - and why should it?  If either of us have something to say, it can be done via computer and there's no particular need to say it in person.

I'm very thankful for the Internet and inexpensive international telephone calls, but I also miss the intensity and meaning that personal meetings had before.  In a sense, now it doesn't matter who you are physically with or where you live, since you can communicate with just about anyone just about anywhere.  Would I trade modern telecommunications for the "good old days"?  Absolutely not!  But I sure would like to be able to travel back once-in-a-while via time machine....

Yoyogi-Hachiman to Yoyogi-Uehara - Odakyu Line - (120621)
http://youtu.be/L716JgJrsMM

Yoyogi-Hachiman Station - Waiting for Train - (120621)
http://youtu.be/N2rPt0UMEcc

Shinjuku to Yoyogi-Hachiman - (120621)
http://youtu.be/kJTYt2cNWkk

Red Lantern Place by Shinjuku Station - (120621)
http://youtu.be/I3YSxXgjFME

Shinjuku Crosswalk - Looking Around at Night- (120621)
http://youtu.be/gpYJeajF5OY

Tokyo to Kanda - Chuo Line Night View - (120621)
http://youtu.be/IVk7w5XwwLA

Tokyo Station - Afternoon Walk-through - (120621)
http://youtu.be/t7lEhc2iBos

Afternoon Kyobashi Stroll (A) - (120621)
http://youtu.be/heGyvgO1KUQ

Afternoon Kyobashi Stroll (B) - (120621)
http://youtu.be/TXRr8w055aU

Usuki Hideyuki and Kamei Jun Exhibition at GGICM (A) - (120621)
http://youtu.be/YD4fZl6z38E

Usuki Hideyuki and Kamei Jun Exhibition at GGICM (B) - (120621)
http://youtu.be/cnazz_eCBW0

Usuki Hideyuki and Kamei Jun Exhibition at GGICM (C) - (120621)
http://youtu.be/1NXaeabiaa8

Construction Cranes - Tokyo Station - (120621)
http://youtu.be/o7AHbpQUAds

Entering Okuno Building at 1700 - (120621)
http://youtu.be/26DNuC5mPFQ

Miyao Mahoko 宮尾茉穂子展 Exhibition - (120621)
http://youtu.be/1txCCclmmTk

Kazami Norifumi 風見規文展 Exhibition - (120621)
http://youtu.be/Ie_iPIrghV4

K's Gallery - Group Exhibition 表現者たち展 - (120621)
http://youtu.be/sFcvVK4w0XQ

Escalator Passing Lane - Tokyo Station - (120621)
http://youtu.be/kV9ZCmajjEQ

JR to Odakyu Transfer - Shinjuku (Local Train) - (120621)
http://youtu.be/wY2eOFhgijk

Shimamura Munemitsu 島村宗充展 Gallery Hinoki ギャラリー檜 (A) - (120621)
http://youtu.be/PAnF20Pey8E

Shimamura Munemitsu 島村宗充展 Gallery Hinoki ギャラリー檜 (B) - (120621)
http://youtu.be/8f0ti9it-L4

Tokyo Station - Evening Walk-through - (120621)
http://youtu.be/wekbd9CEvgg

Odakyu-Shinjuku - Waiting for Local Train - (120621)
http://youtu.be/WKFd6m2sFVo

Odakyu-Shinjuku Station 360 - (120621)
http://youtu.be/8HEEq2rWGVE

Odakyu-Shinjuku - Local Train Platform - (120621)
http://youtu.be/jZ_NqqptJ80

Odakyu-Shinjuku - Main Ticket Gates - (120621)
http://youtu.be/KY_NUWox8Zw

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