Day Two: Shinagawa to Kawasaki

Date: June 16
Start: 11:00
Finish: 8:30
Distance: 9.7 km
Times I had to go back home because I forgot something: 1
Things I forgot: 0
Things I lost: 0

Gear I didn't bring: pencil crayons, fish eye for holga

Souveniers: a green tea whisk and a bamboo tea scoop

Now, I finally get to catch up.

Today I have a travel partner. As much as I enjoyed travelling on my own today, it's nice to have company. I'm not much of a lone wolf. She also had her own camera so I think we didn't really keep each other waiting too much. It was also great to have some help setting up. A nice Dean and Delucca breakfast started out my day.

The part of Tokaido near Shinagawa Station is great. The community has an association that promotes the Old Tokaido. As my friend and I passed into this area and were taking a picture, one of the volunteers came out to meet up with us and pass us some information in English. She gave me a small map when she found out I could speak Japanese. The map was handy, but it was a bit misleading. It covered the scenic spots in Shinagawa-Ku but not afterwards. I still had to cover five kilometers after passing out of the area covered by the map. Totally my fault for not comapring the map to my guidebook sooner.

It certainly was very scenic. Lots of old businesses, old buildings that still look good. People in the neighborhood are justifiably proud of it. Several times, some older residents (mostly women) came up to us to recommend a good place to take a photo. Everyone was quite friendly and very patient about people walking around taking photos. I saw about two or three other travellers doing enjoying the route. One guy had a hasselblad. Jealous! Jealous! Jealous!

My friend had to meet some other people for dinner, so she left the journey at Heiwajima Station and I kept walking on to Kawasaki. The Ota-ku part of the trip was noticeably less scenic except for a part near Heiwajima Station called Mihara Dori. This street is the local shotengai (shopping street). It is a little bend of the Number 15 highway that covers the Old Tokaido so it was able to preserve a bit of the history. It looked like a cute little shotengai but I was in a hurry to get to Kawasaki, had at least four km to go and didn't have great light for shooting. I liked to commemorative markers they had.

The number 15 highway reminds me of the Trans-Canada highway as it runs through Canada. People pass by. Lots of shops anGinza but it's a lot less slick. A recycle shop and a cheap mens' clothing store represent the type of stores most commonly found. Every once in a while a gem appears to dot the landscape. The restuarants look more serviceable than anything. I can't judge the food, though. There may be some true spots of local genius cooking behind those walls.

As the sky got darker and darker, my only goal was to get to the Tamagawa and cross it before it was pitch black. I wanted to get a sunset picture of Estello.

After I crossed the bridge I experimented with some shots of a lantern (no joy, I deleted them) when another foreigner was riding by on his bicycle. The chap works for Toshiba and was curious as he had seldom seen another foreigner in that area. Hmmm... could it be because most others are smart enough to take a train instead? Also, I think I guilted him into it because I was looking at some historical thing that he had never looked twice at.

Thankfully, Kawasaki City also makes an effort to use the Old Tokaido as a lure for tourists and they have a sign just after the bridge pointing which way to go. The sky is now black and I am just wanting to get to JR Kawasaki Station so I can get home. I will probably do a bit of back-tracking tomorrow as it was too dark to see anything. It was a pretty busy Saturday night in Kawasaki.

Now that I have caught up, I'm hoping to get pictures up tomorrow. Famous last words, I know. But I'm shooting RAW and converting to web-ready takes some time.