The rain was relentless on Friday here in Tokyo.
I ran out to Shinjuku train station in the morning and got lost inside the enormous station— before getting soaked in the torrential rain outside of it. 😱
Come early evening the rain was over, though, and I went back to see if I could navigate the station better, and to take a few photos.
The view outside my hotel room in the morning. The top of Tokyo Tower is hidden in the low clouds.Ooh! .. not looking good out here on the ground, I am thinking. It is mid-morning and I am on the way to Shinagawa station on the hotel’s shuttle bus.A colorful mural inside Shinjuku station.There is no lack of directions to the myriad train lines and exits in Shinjuku station, but Shinjuku Station has over 200 exits and many platforms of different shapes, spread out over a large area, along with department stores covering nearly all sides. I tried to have Google Maps give me walking directions, and it worked— until it said ‘If there is no GPS signal, navigation may stop working’. Yes. No sh**.A mural inside Shinjuku. Looking for a used car? Use the Car Sensor app. The characters and manga style are from the iconic series City Hunter, which is being used here in a parody/comedic fashion to draw attention.All right! By sunset (6.02 pm) the rain was gone, and now I’m going to run out to Shinjuku one more time.This is the exit I had looked for in vain this morning: the South East Entrance by the Lumine 2 store. I am on my way to Takashimaya Times Square nearby.A street-level view of the pedestrian crossing at the South East Entrance.I walked several hundred yards now, further to the south, where there is an overlook of the railway lines going into the station.The clock tower located near Takashimaya Times Square is on the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building. It’s just a day or two until September’s full moon.I made it back to Shinagawa Station and now heading back to the hotel. No rain! Check out the sleek billboard above the Hollywood pachinko parlor. It advertises an even sleeker, faster bullet train that is coming— able to fly at 500 km/h (311 mph) on the tracks.The almost-full moon over a gate in the Japanese garden on the hotel grounds.
