blog-LyleInTokyo: "Ginza, Hamamatsucho, Kawagoe, Ueno, Etc."

This batch of pictures are from September 2013 - taken mainly in and around Ginza, Yurakucho, Hamamatsucho, Shinbashi, Shiodome, Kawagoe, Ueno, Shinjuku, and a few other places. September is officially an autumn month, but in Tokyo it's pretty much a continuation of summer temperature-wise. As I write this on October 10th, it's 28.3C with humidity at 64%, still feeling like summer, although there has been some cool weather and this heat can't (can it?) continue much further into October....

Wait a second... [sigh]... I just realized I'm doing this in the wrong place. This was supposed to go into this blog:

Tokyo - Here and There
http://tokyoht.blogspot.jp/

Oh well - I can't afford to trash the time I've already spent on importing all the photos in this post and do it over again, so this is where this post will stay. I guess I can put a cross-link at the other blog pointing this way...

(Above) - Unlike the light green of spring, the trees are a dark green in August and September, and this view says to me "heat...".

(Above) - There's a big construction project ongoing right next to (and including part of) Shinjuku Station. Not sure what's going to be put up there, but they've been spending a long time on the foundation, so presumably it will be something quite large.

Tokyo Tower being repainted. They maintain it well, and repaint it before it begins to rust. Too bad the railways don't do the same thing. Many of the steel bridges have quite a lot of rust on them - to the point where I'm wondering if they've decided to trash them and replace whole bridges rather than paint them?

Media PR event in Hamamatsucho in Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympics (which were awarded to Tokyo not long after this photo was taken).

Notice the small rectangle of white in the middle of this picture? That's the room that I had set the white balance for - resulting in this very blue photo out in the florescent tube illuminated hallway.

Shinjuku Station Platform View

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Elements of a 1932 building.

(Below) - 5th Floor Olive Tree

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September Skies / 九月の空

Ueno / 上野

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(Above) - Ginza Chuo-Dori / 銀座中央通り

(Above) - Kyobashi / 京橋

Kanda Station / 神田駅

(Above) - In Motion

Yurakucho / 有楽町

(Below) - Apartment in 1934 building.

(Below) - 1930's Round Window

(Below) - Construction zone in Tokyo. Probably there is no period in all of Tokyo's history when the city was not being rebuilt. It's a perpetual way of life in Tokyo. Destroy-rebuild-destroy-rebuild-destroy-rebuild - endless repeat.

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The new "Gran Roof" on the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station. It looks cool, but it's heavy on style and light on function. It's so high up in the air that the slightest wind just blows rain under it. It's primary function is clearly aesthetic. It's part of JR (Japan Retail... formerly Japan Rail, formerly Japan National Railways JNR)... JR's newest shopping mall called "Tokyo Station City", with component parts named (without spaces): "SapiaTower", "GranSta", "GranTokyo", "GranRoof", and "GranTokyo". I'd be more impressed if the rail bridges weren't rotting away in rust, wanting for paint....

Construction Zone

(Below) - Underground Mall

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(Below) - It's a little hard to pin down exactly why, but the old stations have so much more character than the new shopping mall (with trains) types. I think it's probably the difference between function over form and form over function. The old stations were very much function first and foremost, and with a little form thrown in, but never over function.