Trying to take macro photos.
Identifying reef: “Yup, it’s a reef.”
“Burnt down, fell over, then sank into the swamp.”
I wasn’t judging, you do you.
Though, I wonder if hectares of space is a valid expression.
“Sectors”
Helene looks like a thrice-divorced hurricane.
I think we’re just a few years away from the planetary cyclones in Day After Tomorrow.
Crewman: “He’s not dead, Captain!”
More like uber cute.
Bass Pro Shop
Do YOU want to tell Jimmy Carter what he can and can't play with?
I didn't think so.
Trolly tracks that are grassed over but still in use is one of my favorite things to see. It feels like a harmonious balance has been achieved.
This man is old enough to have voted for Roosevelt in 1944! (I assume he voted Democrat)
Above: On the entrance level of Takanawa Gateway Station looking across the open area above the platform level as passengers board a Yamanote Line train.
Let's try something different.
In 2014, JR East announced that they would build a new station on an area of the existing Tamachi Depot in southern Tokyo that would service the Yamanote Line and the Keihin-Tohoku Line. It was the first new station to be built on the Yamanote Line since 1971 and the first to be built on the Keihin-Tohoku Line since 2000. Takanawa Gateway Station (高輪ゲートウェイ駅) began construction in 2017 and was to be opened in advance of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Even though the station opened on schedule, it began service 10 days prior the 2020 Olympics being postponed to 2021 due to the worsening COVID-19 situation worldwide.
An opposing view of tracks 1 & 2 on the platform level below. A counter-clockwise Yamanote Line train is departing (left) just as a clockwise Yamanote Line train arrives (right).
While the station opened to commuters in early 2020, facilities inside the station and adjoined buildings outside the station continued to be worked on all the way through to 2024. In 2025, the south ticket gate is scheduled to open to the public which will mark the completion of construction on the station.
The north ticket gate of Takanawa Gateway Station. Inside and to the left, shopping and dining. Inside and to the right, access to the platform level for the two lines. Directly behind, walkway to shopping centers and condominiums that were still being constructed at the time the photo was taken.
The majority of the station is built above ground, hovering over the tracks and their platforms. The center of the station's entrance level is open to the ground below which allows most people inside the ticket gate to see the trains on all four tracks coming and going with ease. The entire station is shielded from the weather by a steel latticework roof suspended high above the entrance level. Above the entrance is a smaller level with shops and restaurants.
If you look closely, you can see that wood has been integrated into the support beams of the roof. Takanawa Gateway Station is built in almost the same area that the Takanawa Great Wooden Gate once stood as the southern entrance to pre-Tokyo Edo. In a way, this station takes over the duty of ushering people from the south into the city, so the subtle woodwork seems to be a nod to that connection. Otherwise, the entire station is steel and glass.
Outside the station, the elevated entrance leads to additional elevated walkways that connect the station to nearby shopping centers, offices, and residential buildings. The land around the station, which was largely devoid of people, is being repurposed as dense inner-city living and commerce.
The rest of Tamachi Depot that continues to operate as a depot. The Tokaido Shinkansen passes beside Takanawa Gateway Station between Shinagawa and Tamachi Stations. That menacing Bond villain-looking building belongs to NTT docomo (a major Japanese telecom).
The name Takanawa Gateway was chosen by JR after holding a public poll in 2018 asking the people of Japan was the station should be called. The results of that poll showed the names Takanawa, Shibaura, and Shibahama winning the most votes. However, JR unilaterally chose the name Takanawa Gateway despite it being towards the bottom of the list of contenders. This caused public criticism over why the vote was held in the first place and an attempt to petition JR to use one of the winning names instead. JR did not alter their decision, defending their choice as a name that best reflected the future development of the area (Takanawa as the area, and Gateway as a "Gateway to Edo" referencing the Takanawa Great Wooden Gate which was the old southern entrance to the city of Edo).
A giant video wall on the far end of the entrance level. It plays a looping presentation of the history of this area of Tokyo, as well as the history of local rail transport. Additionally it shows the local weather and other information.
Considering this station is relatively small and only serves two lines with no connections (not even to very close by Sengakuji Station on the Toei Asakusa Line), it is unusually stylized and very expensive (the cost to build the station is unknown). Its high quality nature makes sense as the surrounding area is being completely redeveloped to bring in new residents and tourists to the tune of 500 billion yen. Useful if you live or work here, but most people are just going to see it from inside the train car while on their way to Shinagawa or Tokyo.
All pictures taken by me in 2020. Part of my Stations series of posts.
It cannot be overstated how limited budgets led to some of the best writing on TV. And this episode is one of the best-written in the entire franchise.
It's also my absolute favorite shot of Uhura:
Ensign Skippy was getting a little too political, so Uhura replaced him and fired the death blow against the Romulan Bird of Prey. And she just leans back and takes it in during this dolly shot of the bridge. Stone Cold.
Above: A Toei 5500 series Rapid service train (left), inbound for Keisei-Asakusa Station meets a Keisei 3700 series Rapid service train (right), outbound for Keisei-Sakura Station @ Keisei-Funabashi Station on the Keisei Main Line in 2023.
...Keisei. :)
Picture taken by me, part of my random photos series.
Previous random photo posts:
JR Sobu Rapid Line Double Layover
Above: The classic Starjets ride at Tokyo Disneyland as it stood in mid-2017 just prior to its closure. Tokyo Disneyland was the last park to feature the space shuttle variation of the ride.
Back in 2017, when construction on the Beauty & the Beast area began, Starjets was one of Tomorrowland's attractions that had to be removed to make way for it. That and the one churro stand that served the "blue"-flavored churros. I still haven't forgiven OLC for that.
That year, Tokyo Disneyland held a "sayonara" campaign for Starjets so guests could say farewell and ride one last time. These are the pictures I took a couple of months before it was closed:
Pretty sure I only waited for about 15 minutes.
Standing on the platform, and even more so when you raised your car to the highest setting, you were given a great view of the initial construction of Beast's Castle (As well as the rest of the park).
The snack stand that was built into the base of Starjets served a special sundae that commemorated the end of the ride.
Hilariously, the land that Starjets occupied was used for a building that houses the FastPass ticket machines for the Beauty & the Beast ride... ticket machines that were never used because COVID ended FastPass throughout the resort just before that area was suppose to open to the public. Now express ticketing is done exclusively through the TDR app, so those machines have been abandoned in place for half a decade now. The building is designed to look like Maurice's workshop from the animated movie, which is nice... I guess. It has a moving watermill.
Social media post on Mastodon by Dan Moren.
It reads, “ My son just got me out of talking to a door-to-door cable salesman so I guess parenthood was all worth it.”
Above: OM-N02, one of two 253-1000 series train sets, parked on standby at Shin-Tochigi Station on the Tobu Nikko Line in 2024.
The JR East 253 series of express trains were constructed in 1991, and are best known for their service as the Narita Express between 1991 and 2010. From 2009, all 253s were gradually replaced with E259s. Two of the retired 253s were refurbished as the 253-1000 series, repainted, and moved to the Tobu Nikko and Kinugawa lines to serve as Limited Express liners from 2011 to the present day.
OM-N02 speeding towards Tokyo, just outside of Shin-Tochigi Station.
The two trains are a rare sight to see in motion. They run from Shinjuku Station to Tobu-Nikko Station and Kinugawa-Onsen Station, respectively. They were refurbished to have more passenger seating and more windows per car. The Green Cars, which served as business class seating on the Narita Express, were converted to regular seating. While the trains used to have a bright red and white livery, they now have a moodier color scheme with darker reds and other colors that represent the shrines and flora along those two lines. The trains still retain the unique air horn siren that is ubiquitous on the Narita Express (sound on):
A 253-1000 passing through Kassemba Station on its way to Tochigi Station.
The 253-1000s replaced the older 189 series & 485 series trains that had been running the Limited Express service on those lines (more about those bad boys another time). The Tobu 100 series "Spacia" trains are now the only other model on those lines. Although the 253-1000s began service in June 2011, they were suppose to start running earlier in the year. Their inaugural runs were postponed due to power outages caused by the Tohoku Earthquake. The 485s continued to operate on a reduced schedule until full power could be restored to the lines.
view more: next ›
Happy hunting, Mr. Brown.