Tokyo Suburban (2025)

17/05/2024

Sakuradai station (桜台駅). Seibu Ikebukuro line. #229
I seem to do things backwards, where most would research a place before visiting, look up local landmarks perhaps, see what the area is famous for. I tend to leave this till after I’ve had a good walk. Admittedly I might miss something obvious, but in a world that encourages you to document everything it feels pleasantly rebellious not to do so. Despite this, when looking for the station kanji, which invariably takes me to Wikipedia I like to see the history and surrounding area. Usually these categories are filled with minor information, perhaps names of local universities of government buildings, and in the case of Sakuradai there is nothing.
That’s not to say Sakuradai is an empty place. It is not. It has a small town centered around the station. The station looming large over many of the buildings. Even the local McDonald’s cowers in the shadow of the train tracks.
It feels surprisingly quiet, considering it’s relatively close to the much busier area of Nerima. Still it has a certain hidden charm that I quite enjoyed. On the northern side of the tracks the shops seem older, more worn. A line of hungry looking people queuing patiently. I think I’ve now been conditioned to find a deep instinct to join the queue, as surely the food must be delicious.
I’m very happy with where I live, but this area seems quite a nice place to live too. Particularly quiet residential streets where one can live a life in relative seclusion, but the fun of eating out, seeing humanity in all of its shapes and guises, is just a short walk away.
I ponder often about the future. Like a distant land that seems impossible but at once you know it will be the reality in which I call home. The vulnerabilities, the random events that might occur. Increasingly anxious laden thoughts seep into my thoughts.
As always I’ll leave more thoughts in the comments! Feel free to leave me your thoughts too!
#桜台駅 #桜台

10/05/2024

Nerima station (練馬駅). Oedo line, Seibu Ikebukuro line, Seibu Toshima line, Seibu Yurakucho line. #228.
Once an open space filled with daikon farms, now filled with edifices of men. Where daikons looked deeper into the ground the new Nerima looks to the sky. The deep soils of Nerima nourishing countless Tokyo residents. The life of the country unchanged until the tide of the city came to wash away the old.
Around the station Nerima feels very much like a lot of other Tokyo conurbations. A city within a city. You have the slightly jaded tall buildings that house pachinkos, restaurants and offices. In the midday sun the neon lights remain ghost like, awaiting their night time shift.
As you move away from the station restaurants gather in the small streets that feel unchanged since the 70’s. Move further away and you enter suburbia. Streets where one can see evidence of other humans but one rarely ever sees them.
I’m always amazed at how one can be completely alone in a city such as Tokyo. You see the artifacts of housing, bins, cars and the odd cat, but rarely do you see people or even hear them. Which means walking around these places can almost be a meditative experience.
Let me know your thoughts! Have you been here before? I’ll leave more in the comments!
#練馬駅 #練馬 #練馬区

26/04/2024

Toshimaen station (豊島園駅). Oedo line, Seibu Toshima line. #227.
Since my last outing spring really has sprung. The Azaleas are in full bloom making the most normal of streets a fragrant paradise of freshness. They might not have the fanfare of their more popular spring flowers, but for me their sheer vibrancy is something that sparks a sense of pure joy. The best thing is that you don’t have to struggle against crowds or the weather to see the floral celebrations for any street is garland in these jewels of spring.
Toshimaen station is probably most well know for the Harry Potter studio experience situated in a former theme park. I didn’t visit, rather opting to loiter around the edge of the well sized park. There are technically two stations here, and normally in my commitment to cover all stations they would be separately discussed. With both stations having the same name and very close to each other I decided to combine the two.
There is something inherently optimistic about spring, the weather which now has a sense of the summer warmth in the spring breeze, sparks the summer approach on the horizon. What I found particularly interesting in this area was a small district of temples, I presume all in the service of the graveyard further down. On each side of the wide entrance road were an array of temples and houses. Each had a unique secluded feel to them. The newly green leaves are glorious, the patterned shade mirrored the clear spring sun.
In fear of reaching the caption limit I’ll leave more thoughts in the comments! Do let me know what you think!
#豊島園駅 #豊島園

19/04/2024

Morish*ta station (森下駅). Shinjuku line, Oedo line. #226
The spring breeze has opened the sky to its towering blueness. The wind holds a coldness, the remnants of the season past. On my visit to this gentle part of Tokyo the sky was battleship grey. Like a blanket enveloping the city in which it makes one want to stay ensconced at home.
Morish*ta is slightly more built up than say other areas further east along the line. Lying across the river it still has a different feel, but the city looms closer. There is an oldness to much of the area that I really find attractive. It’s not as polished as other areas, but it’s lovely to admire the slow decay. Houses long taken over by the rough city foliage. The original residents of these Tokyo flood plains.
Again, much of the town centers around the crossroads. A large intersection that never seems to stop. The station buried deep underground is a relic of 70’s architecture. I love the posters, the long corridors filled with silence. Here I feel like a solo traveler in a long abandoned city.
The Sumida river isn’t too far away either and offers for a nice walking area. Crossing the shin-ohashi bridge does feel like crossing into the city proper. Although Morish*ta is hardly a backwater idyll it still has a level of charm that I find particularly attractive. Tokyo in the sun is beautiful, however I find Tokyo and the grey skies to have a certain aesthetic appeal.
Live here? Been here? Let me know your thoughts!
#森下駅 #森下

12/04/2024

Kikukawa station (菊川駅). Shinjuku line. #225.
April is a month of change for me, the long spring holiday comes to an end and work begins. The cherry blossoms come and go. The heat of summer now on the horizon. The days seem to stretch out endlessly. Days unstructured lead eventually to a sense of uneasiness. On these days there’s nothing better than popping on my shoes to explore my ever changing city.
Kikukawa is similar to a lot of stations on this line. There always seems to be a huge impersonal crossroads. The center point for much of the town. As soon as you move away things become distinctly quieter. The river here too, slightly away from the station feels slightly forgotten. A lone man sits on the bench looking towards the still river. Usually these rivers are empty, with perhaps a gentle ripple from the wind. This particular river seems like it’s going through some maintenance. The industrial boats have a sort of beauty that makes you want to stop and look at them.
Like the other areas in this part of Tokyo the streets here are often wider, longer and straighter. This does make walking around easier, but perhaps slightly less interesting. That being said I have a fondness for this area and I can’t quite work out why. It’s not particularly pleasing on the eye, and there isn’t a lot to see. Not even a temple or shrine of note. But regardless, there’s an atmosphere that draws me to the area. The small old houses that hug much taller apartment blocks. The rusted shutter hide a world unknown. The houses seemingly uninhabited. The rivers here were once the main thoroughfares but now largely remain as quiet water ways. A sense of nature in an industrial area.
Live here? Been here? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
#菊川駅 #菊川

05/04/2024

Sumiyoshi station (住吉駅), Shinjuku line, Hanzomon line. #224.
“In my imagination, I saw the creator of the universe sitting in some distant corner of the sky, weaving a pattern of delicate lace so fine that even the faintest light would shine through it. The lace stretches out infinitely in every direction, billowing gently in the cosmic breeze. You want desperately to touch it, hold it up to the light, rub it against your cheek. And all we ask is to be able to re-create the pattern, weave it again with numbers, somehow, in our own language; to make even the tiniest fragment our own, to bring it back to earth.”
The pattern that stretches out to the towers of men are straight lines. I’m back in the east of Tokyo. I’m also very close to completing the Shinjuku line, which always feels slightly like a moment to pay myself on the back. This part of Tokyo it is straight lines that seem to remain in my mind.
Here on the flat flood plains of Tokyo, in which crisscrossed with rail tracks, rivers and roads there’s a sense of space. The roads stretching far into the distance. Sumiyoshi is a slightly industrial area, the local park was once a place that stored the wood that built the city. Now it’s a nice deepened green slice of nature in a built up area. Tokyo sky tree ever looming in the distance.
There is something about this particular area that I find appealing. Perhaps the veneer of industry which reminds me in some way of home, or perhaps that whenever I seem to visit here it’s usually grey, moody and bleak. A good comparison to my northern England hometown.
Live here? Been here? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
#住吉駅 #住吉

29/03/2024

Kamikitadai station (上北台駅). Tama Toshi monorail. #223.
I have for the most part remained at home this week. Observing my quiet area of Tokyo, as the rain and wind lashed the roofs I saw in the distance a lone crow attempting to find shelter. As I write this the evening sun bathes the red and blue rooftops in a golden light. The warm spring breeze floats through the window. The incense smoke drifts languidly into the air outside.
Kamikitadai is the last stop, or the first stop on the Tama rail. Heading north you have the huge park and the Tama lake. In between the park and the station are house situated in space, or low hung apartment blocks. Next door might be an open plot of farming or a small river.
The area directly around the station is mostly uniformed modernity, largely uninspiring but as soon as you move away you enter suburbia proper. Not far away is koshinto tower, or the remains of one at least, a tower to protect over the safety of the area, a testament that this area people have always quietly gone about their lives in an unremarkable way.
There is something so beautiful about these sort of suburban places. I can’t quite put into words the feeling it induces in me. The silence that hangs over, not in an oppressive way but it makes it feel like I am the only person there. Observing a lost civilization. The lone figure of a gentleman mechanically turning the pedals as he trundles silently past this slightly strange figure taking pictures of an unassuming area.
The sun is about to finish its duty for the day. And so I will finish here. Do let me know what you think - I love reading your thoughts!
#上北台駅 #上北台

22/03/2024

Tamako station (多摩湖駅). Seibu Yamaguchi line, Seibu Tamako line. #222
I find something inherently interesting about border lands. The seemingly arbitrary line between one area and the next. This line is also a line for my own blog. Past it my blog no longer exists. Touching it physically feels exciting in a way. I still have many more areas to see but there’s something satisfying about visiting these spots.
I have to say that Tamako and the area around it was so interesting. The station itself was all but empty. The dust track leading to one side give an impression of a station far away from the most populated city on earth. The white paint peeling off the early spring wind. The concrete pavement ends and the gravel/dirt begins. On the other side the stairs which seems out of place in this area, leads you to, at the time, a closed theme park. Seibuen Amusement park looks massive and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen or heard of it, but then I am hardly the target audience.
Presumably on the weekends and when the park is open this station is thronging with families excited for a day out. There is something inherently melancholic about closed amusement parks. A sense that something is left behind once humans dwell in a place of fun. Just past the under bridge is the Tokyo border and so I could go no further.
To the west is the huge Sayama park, filled with large open spaces, trees and most obviously a gigantic lake. This reservoir presumably gives Tokyo it drinking water was really something to see. A lake like this within in Tokyo is well worth a visit. The windy weather making for an incredibly bracing afternoons walk.
I’ll leave more thoughts in the comments but do let me know if you’ve been here before!
#多摩湖駅 #多摩湖 #多摩湖自転車道

21/03/2024

Seibuen station (西武園駅), Seibuen line. #221.
I’ve reached the end. The end both physically and mentally. The train no longer of use. My project ends at this point. While I still have many more areas to visit this is about as far as I can go in this part of Tokyo. Just a few steps away are the delights of Saitama. The station is the last in the line and feels that way with the high grass embankments dotted with yet to flower cherry trees.
Not far from the station and which straddles the borderland is the huge Hachikokuyama park. Most of it is in Tokyo but a slither lies across the border. There’s something about border places, where an invisible line have have a positive or a negative effect on those that live near. For the most part though living round here feels largely positive.
Aside from the park there really are very few amenities in Seibuen. I didn’t see a single convenience store and much of it is well situated quiet areas of housing. It’s also surprisingly hilly and at times the space between the houses opens up into the vast terrains of the mountains that circle the city.
It also felt a very quiet place too. I saw on this cold blustery day perhaps a handful of people and a cat. It is not a place that one would happen to be in. Like all end-of-the-line places there’s a certain melancholy to the place. There is no earthly reason why I should be there. In truth it’s these places that really spark joy within me. The type to never get a mention in a glossy magazine, the type to never home a much talked about cafe. It is far both physically and mentally from what most consider to be Tokyo, and from what most would have you believe of Tokyo.
Live here? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
#西武園駅 #西武園

15/03/2024

Nakagawara station (中河原駅). Keio line. #220.
The bright green neon sign acts like a corporate lighthouse amidst the darkening grey. Even the station, with its warming light beckons the weary traveler. I am that weary traveler. I don’t really plan my walks or plan the length, stopping only when I get tired. The station I leave from I always feel I give short shrift. I have a good walk, but truth be told my mind is on the comfy train seat and some time for a nap as I steam through the suburbs of Tokyo.
Nakagawara is mostly suburban, with the towns activity focusing around the station. The station spreads out like an architectural octopus, the walkways carrying the residents above the busy traffic.
Most of the buildings blended into the low grey clouds, but occasionally colours popped out. The local pachinko popped with colour as dreams inside trickled down permanently into the black abyss of the machines. The wall of sound emanates from the sliding door as a slightly dejected figure enters.
There is a shopping street of sorts, highlight by the cheery shopping gates that straddle the street. There’s something slightly jarring about the relentless cheeriness of these shopping signposts.
Live here? Been here? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
#中河原駅 #中河原

08/03/2024

Nishifu Station (西府駅). Nambu line. #219.
There is something about being in a place in which you know other humans have lived their lives. History upon history, each layer testifies to the land and to the people that once called it home. Not far from Nishfu, tucked behind a much newer shrine, and amidst grey factories is a monument to our ancient cousins. It’s huge and feels rather out of place, which is funny because really it should be the other way around. The stone cladding a new feature, surrounded by artificial turf and a huge paved area. It is something to consider that it was the final resting place of someone considerably more important than me.
From the ancient we go into the modern. Most of Nishifu is a residential area, with lots of open space filled with vegetables and fruits. Outside the station you’re greeted with another man made structure, except the huge grey temple to capitalism isn’t quite as appealing as the burial mound.
It’s certainly not the prettiest first impression on leaving the station. The huge OK shop dominates. No windows but a steady stream of weary looking residents. The train tracks cut through the quiet suburban streets with a noisy road that goes through a darkened tunnel.
To the south there’s a huge NEC complex, which gives the area a sort of industrial vibe. There aren’t a great deal of restaurants, I perhaps counted three. In fairness I often feel it’s hard to judge places when the sky is a battleship grey. It does make things look oppressively depressing. That being said, the act of walking and thinking is still a release.
Live here? Been here? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
#西府駅 #西府

02/03/2024

Yaho station (谷保駅). Nambu line. #218.
There was something very appealing about the name ‘Yaho’, it played comically in my mouth when I said it out loud, followed quickly by a glance down to the pavement as a person was trying to hand me a free packet of tissues.
I’m not particularly interested in trains, but I do find some form of joy by admiring the varied stations I happen to disembark upon. Yaho feels like it hasn’t changed since it was first built. The station offering fantastic views over to the hills that surround Tokyo.
Yaho isn’t a particularly fancy area. These aren’t the gleaming new builds and polished metal that one finds readily as you move closer to the city. It’s a worn type of patina that adds a certain something. The town, which is mostly on the northern side of the station has everything that one might need. At around midday on a weekend there was a gentle hum of bicycles mixed in with the screeching sound of the vegetable seller miked up.
To the south is the rather nice shrine, which as you ascend into a sort of valley takes you away from the slightly busier town. At the point the cloud became heavier. The last remnants of the blue sky disappearing. Certainly not enough blue sky to make a pair of sailor pants.
Been here? Let me know your thoughts!
#谷保駅 #谷保 #谷保天満宮

22/02/2024

Higashi-Shinjuku station (東新宿駅). Oedo line, Fukutoshin line. #217.
“Always thinking that just behind some narrow door in all of his favorite bars, men in red woolen shirts are getting incredible kicks from things he’ll never know.”
The low monochrome clouds have enveloped much of Tokyo. The drizzle seems to be here for a while. A much needed soak after a long dry winter. In stark contrast to my last outing under the breezy blue winter skies.
I’m skirting around Shinjuku, saving it for when I finally read the end of this project. But there are stations that dot the periphery, like watchtowers into the city. Like most border places there’s an edge to the place. Behind the main thoroughfares that lead cars into and out of the city there’s a world lurking apart.
Once you venture away from the large roads you enter a world of love hotels. Hotels catering for the night. On a weekday morning the area was quiet and closed. Few people were around. Each hotel offering a different aesthetic to suite your tastes. Windows that look out but can’t look in and entrances covered. There was a secret energy to the area, not in a bad way, a feeling of being intrusive.
It feels like the remains of a night out, the time of the night where the drink has kicked in and the world is a mesmerizing blur. A part of the night where amorous feelings rise and the need to quench that first becomes as strong as the need to drink. Higash-Shinjuku represents the final moments. The crescendo of a night out.
As always let me know what you think in the comments!
#東新宿駅 #東新宿 #東新宿グルメ #新宿 #新宿居酒屋

16/02/2024

Shinjuku-sanchome station (新宿三丁目駅). Fukutoshin line, Marunouchi line, Shinjuku line. #216.
The best laid plans. The spring winds have arrived early this year, another climatic change. The winds which bring a literal and metaphorical sense of warmth also proved rather a hazard for my laundry. Hoping on leaving that my laundry would remain intact and not cast away with the spring winds.
As a rule I try to avoid Shinjuku as much as possible. It is a nightmarish warren of confusing signs and connections. While some connections are easy, there are others that send you in literal circles. I had attempted to use the Seibu-Shinjuku line, but on getting completely lost and frustrated I decided perhaps this was the gods way of sending me in a different direction.
I managed to emerge into the bright blustery streets of shinjuku-sanchome. Like much of Shinjuku this is a mix of party, eating and work. On a Friday morning it had the feel of the morning after. Empty sake bottles waited to be collected, long queues of tourists waiting for their morning ramen.
It’s a vibrant bustling area. I had hoped to be out in a more gentle environment, so this was probably the opposite of that. That being said it was nice to wander, and look from the outside into a part of Tokyo that has an edge to it. One can tell that at night this place comes to life. As one can imagine the area is criss-crossed with large roads, but there are areas that are filled with tight streets packed with bars and restaurants.
I am perhaps not the target market for this sort of area, while I find a sort of joy admiring the debauchery of this rough around the edge area, I don’t particularly like to dwell or come here of an evening. During the day though it has a very different feel to the place.
As always, I’ll leave more thoughts in the comments below. Please do let me know what you think of the area!
#新宿三丁目駅 #新宿三丁目 #新宿三丁目グルメ #新宿三丁目ランチ #新宿

Tokyo Suburban