Distractions, reflections

Since Tamachi station and Mita station are north and east of the hotel where we normally stay, the  morning commutes to the university are a regular walk that way.  I decided to take a roundabout route east and south to look around, on the way to Tamachi station.

The area is called Shinshiba. Looking west, the towers — it’s hard to judge whether they’re offices or apartments — are built up to the edge of the canal.

To these southwest, the pedestrian bridge is painted pink.

I followed the main road to walk south over a bridge.  On subsequent walks, I discovered a Hanamasa supermarket further down this road.  Beyond that, there’s more highrises.

Following the main road, I turned east at the pedestrian crosswalk at the traffic lights.

Ot the souteast corner of the next major intersection, the old location of the Shibaura Institute of Technology has been vacated and not yet replaced with a new tenant. Read the rest of this entry →

On my third visit to Tokyo, I’ve become comfortable with navigating from Narita International Airport to my hotel near Tamachi station.  Arrving around 5 p.m. in the evening, here’s what the trip looks like into Terminal 1 (for the Star Alliance carriers).

As with most huge airports, passengers debark from the aircraft to face a long walk to the terminal.

Speedwalks in the terminal make the walk easier.  I passed by thermal monitors on the lookout for fevers, right before the lineups at immigration and luggage carousels.

Exiting the baggage area, my first stop takes me on a turn right.  Since my mobile phone from Canada hasn’t worked in Japan, I order a local mobile phone via ANA Skyweb for pickup, a week before the scheduled flight.

At the end of the terminal, the Ana sky porter had a mobile phone with my name on a list.

Turning around to come back through the centre of the terminal, I passed by the main escalator down to the trains.

There’s another wing of the terminal farther along, but my destination was the ATMs just to the left. Read the rest of this entry →

When I left Tokyo in August, I took the bus from Shinagawa to Narita airport. On this trip in, I came from the airport on the Japan Rail Narita Express train. This Saturday afternoon departure had an easy schedule out and I felt adventurous, so I tried the third (slightly cheaper) option: the Keisei Skyliner. My luggage is on wheels. I dragged the bags the few blocks over to Tamachi station.

I was entertained by the smoking area in the middle of the block, away from anyplace a pedestrian would object.

I presume that the translation of the caution is literal.

I rode up the escalator into Tamachi station, bought a Japan Rail ticket, and went down to the train platform.

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Both the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Shibaura Institute of Technology are on the west side of the city. As a base for both, Yoshi suggested that business-style hotels were reasonably priced in the Tamachi area. He recommended the Hotel Villa Fontaine Mita. The reception area is on the ground floor of the office tower, but the rooms are up on the top floors.

The hotel serves a continental breakfast in the lobby in the mornings, but doesn’t have a restaurant. As an amenity for travellers, coin-operated laundry facilities are available. The four floors of rooms all have exterior window views, and the corridors are open around a central courtyard.

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