Tokyo sights: transit

Back in Matsuyama after an exhausting but also exhilarating four days in Tokyo. I had a really good time meeting and talking with scholars of Chinese and Tibeto-Burman linguistics from around Japan at a one-day conference at Aoyama University and a visit to Waseda University. Much of the rest of the time was spent sight-seeing.

Spent a lot of time on Tokyo's very extensive, interconnected public transportation system, including metro, light rail, heavy rail, monorail, and water taxi.  Although all the systems are distinct, the connections are so easy and the ticket purchasing is so integrated that it's easy to remain oblivious to which system you are on.

I think these pictures are from light rail, not metro, but I can't be sure.  At rush hour the cars can be brutally crowded, but I took these pictures when the cars were relatively empty.  You are not allowed to talk on cell phones in the cars.

This is a car that is reserved for women at rush hour, when the crush of people apparently makes groping irresistible to some male riders.

You can tell this sign is intended for kids, because (1) it's affixed three feet off the floor; (2) it's written entirely in kana (instead of using the kanji 注意 for the word ちゅうい; (3) it features a naked bear.

Plenty of Ichiro ads around.  Here he's plugging Kirin beer: "When it comes to beer, go to the era of 100% barley."  Or something like that.

Hi Seoul!

The newer subway cars in service in the city have video monitors mounted in the cars. These usually play ads and public service announcements. (For example, one urges people not to commit suicide by throwing themselves on the tracks in front of speeding trains, since it would make their wife and kids sad.)

For the past several weeks I've been seeing a long ad for the Hi-Seoul Festival (하이서울 페스티벌) on these video monitors. It is a week-long arts and culture festival whose main purpose is to promote Seoul tourism, held four times a year. The current spring Hi-Seoul Festival took place over this past week, and that's what the ads I was seeing were for.

I was completely taken with this ad. (Or, as we would say in Korean, 이 광고에 반했다.) I couldn't hear the sound, but the images totally captivated me. I'm not sure exactly why, but I think perhaps the ad captured for me the essence of many of the things I love about this city and its residents: the dynamism, the cheerfulness, the pride. On longer subway rides I would see it play every five minutes or so, and every time it came on I would just watch and smile.

So I spent a lot of time on the web trying to track down this video, and I finally have. I present it here for your enjoyment.

It begins with a number of famous celebrities (only one of whom I recognize, pop-culture ignoramus that I am) saying "Hi, Seoul!" and then moves quickly into a montage of different people and groups performing the same dance routine. Two of the groups are young children dancing at one of the main city palaces; one is dancers on stage in traditional Korean hanbok; another has performers dressed as police and other characters on a cartoony stage set. Interspersed with these are scenes of ordinary people and tourists at various locations around the city, as well as of Seoul firefighters and police, who have been coaxed into doing some of the dance moves for the camera.

Enjoy!

Hakkyo-e daninda

I've been trying to think of different ways to give you a sense of what my regular life is like here. I thought it might be interesting to create a photographic record of my daily trip to school. This sequence of photos was taken on March 13, between 8:22 am and 8:57 am. It was a somewhat atypical day in that there were fewer people out on the street than normal. I wondered for a while if it was some sort of holiday. But it wasn't. (The following day was Hwaiteu Dei, but that's irrelevant.)

There are two ways for me to go to campus. One is to go out immediately to the main road, and catch a local green bus to the campus gate. This costs 900 won (about $1), and is usually the fastest way, since there is little walking involved. The other way is to walk about 10 minutes, catch a free shuttle bus provided by the university, and then walk another 10 minutes from the campus bus stop to my classroom building. It takes longer, but it's free and the bus ride is more comfortable. On March 13, I did the latter.

Leaving my dormitory, I turn left. Then I continue along the small alleyways as long as possible.



This vegetable truck is parked in the same spot every morning, loaded down with onions. I've seen the owner making deliveries to the little local restaurants.







Here's the local elementary school.


Turning left, so the school is on my right:



Here I emerge onto the main street:


Because the school is nearby, there are crossing guards.


When the light changes, they hold their "stop" flags up where the drivers can see them.




See that tall building in the picture above, on the left? It's the "Egg Yellow" mall building. Here's a close-up:


There's the subway station, up ahead.


I'm not going to take the subway, but the station also serves as a pedestrian tunnel for crossing the intersection.


Down we go:


And up the other side. Now it's crowded -- these are all students, pouring out of the subway cars and heading up to get on buses to the campus:




Here I'm in a long line to board a bus. The lines move very quickly. The campus provides a lot of buses and they circulate frequently.


I got a seat this time. The buses are very comfortable.


Those people still waiting outside will get on the next one:


Off we go!


Here's the main gate:


A few of the green city buses actually go into campus. Here we pass one of them:


That's the main administration building visible ahead:


And here's the stop. Off the bus!


Now the walk across campus.


That's Kyujanggak up ahead in the picture above, and on the left in the picture below.


There's a big construction project going on at the law school.



This curvy thing is the Multimedia Lecture Building. There are a lot of new and architecturally interesting buildings on campus.


This is the campus museum:


There are a number of internal gates on campus that regulate automobile access.


Turning right after the gate, I'm very close to the classroom building now.


This is the Graduate School of Public Administration, across the street from the Language Education Institute.


And here's the Language Education Institute. That's the Fanco Café.


Across the courtyard to the old building:


And here's my classroom!


The next several pictures were taken on different days.

To go home on the shuttle bus, you line up at the same place where I got off. Here I'm standing in line for my shuttle bus, looking across at the line for another shuttle going to a different destination.



My shuttle has arrived. As soon as the passengers finish disembarking, we'll get on.


Walking home after getting off the bus, I discovered this little batting cage. It's not far from the subway station. Koreans really like baseball.


It's only 500 won (about 50 cents) for 17 balls. The guy below has just come from the office. He's taken off his jacket, but he's still wearing his tie and dress shirt as he takes his swings.


There's a middle school somewhere near my dorm room, but I haven't figured out where it is yet. Most days I see lots of students when I'm heading off to school, but I encountered hardly any on March 13. The picture below was taken today. The girls look really cute in their winter school uniforms, with their ties and plaid skirts (click the image for a closer view).