It was still raining a little bit on Thursday morning, but light enough for me to walk around Ginza district.
Pictures:
Used cameras in a store inside Shinjuku station (the ‘Junk’ designation simply means ‘Final Sale’ or ‘As-Is’; the item should still work fine!);
The Chuo Line at Shinjuku station (gets over to Tokyo Station quicker than the Yamanote loop line);
Then from Tokyo Station the Marounochi line with its iconic red trains go to Ginza station;
Artwork and the fancy inside of Ginza station;
The T-rex wire mobile is from an at exhibition on the top floor of Matsuya Ginza department store;
The new Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle in a splashy turquoise color;
Ginza station on the way back.
Sunshine City is a building complex located in East Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan.
I set out to Ikebukuro station on Wednesday morning to look for a bookstore called K-books.
There were several unforeseen obstacles in my mission: a persistent rain; it turned out there were about a dozen K-books stores in the area, each tucked into a hole-in-the-all space; and when I finally found the right one, a sign outside said it was closed until Friday for renovations. Oh no!
The Yamanote line, on the way to Ikebukuro station.An arch with the sun, in the Sunshine City complex of buildings.A K-pop store. K-pop stands for Korean pop culture, meaning boy bands, girl bands, manhwa (Korean mange) and associated merchandise such as figurines.Here is the K-books store that I tracked down to no avail. The basement section with books is closed for renovation until Friday.Nitori is a Japanese furniture and home accessories retail company headquartered in Sapporo. It is sometimes referred to as ‘Japan’s IKEA’. (Even though Japan has IKEA stores as well).The umbrellas are out.Here’s a roadrunner, like the one in the Looney Tunes cartoons.I made a run to Tokyo Station early evening to check out how to get to the shinkansen (bullet train) gates. I will travel towards Sapporo on the Shinkansen on Sunday with a stayover in Hakodate.I got lost in Shinjuku station on the way back and ended up in a section called Shinjuku Tower with polished pillars, and stopped for a moment to take a picture.The top of Tokyu Kabukicho Tower from my hotel room window.Tokyu Kabukicho Tower.
I had the sense when I went out at 10 am this morning, that there were more people around on the stations and on the train than there normally would be. And then there were fewer as the rush hour approached at 5.30 pm (the peak is normally 6.00 pm to 7.00 pm).
All was explained when the hotel staff told me that today was a national holiday in Japan: Culture Day.
Culture Day (Bunka no Hi) is a national public holiday in Japan held annually on Nov. 3. It promotes the arts, cultural awareness, academic endeavors, and a love for peace and freedom. – from Wikipdia
It is Election Day in the United States, of course. It will already be 8 am on Wednesday morning here when the first results will start to come in.
The first polls close at 6 p.m. ET in the eastern parts of Indiana and Kentucky. Then at 7 p.m., polls close in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, the rest of Indiana, Kentucky and most of Florida. Then North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia follow at 7:30 p.m- as reported by CBS news.
The Shinjuku-Seibo station opened in 1952 and is the terminus on the Seibu Shinjuku Line. Its entrance is right by my hotel.This is the train station named Takadanobaba, on the green Yamanote Line operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East).I love this graphic from a screen inside the train car that shows the estimated times to the upcoming stations. The Yamanote Line is a loop line and is one of Tokyo’s busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo’s major railway stations and commercial and urban centers. The Yamanote Line opened on 1 March 1885: 141 years ago.Mejiro station on the Yamanote Line has only this one entrance and exit.The Museum of Philately is close by Mejiro station, and there are a handful of displays and a library with stamp catalogues on the second floor. There are a few stamp dealers with shelves full of albums and stock books, and I bought several sheets of Japanese frame stamps to add to my collection. (Frame stamp sheets: special, limited-edition sheets of customizable or themed postage stamps issued by Japan Post. I will post pictures of a few examples).
I checked out of my hotel in Asakusa on Monday morning.
There was a drizzle outside, and a taxi ride was in order for the transfer to my hotel in Shinjuku.
Shinjuku City is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, and functions as a major commercial, administrative, and entertainment hub.
Look for Godzilla at the left, on top of the IMAX theater in the last picture (the view from my hotel room on the 22nd floor). Shinjuku train station is towards the right side of the picture. Its inside is going to test my indoor navigation skills again!
My hotel is in Asakusa.
Asakusa is the center of Tokyo‘s shitamachi (literally “low city”), and a district where an atmosphere of the Tokyo of long, long ago survives. Asakusa’s main attraction is Sensoji, a very popular Buddhist temple, built in the 7th century.
I took the sunset picture from across the Sumida river, looking towards Asakusa. Sunset is at 4.48 pm Japan Standard Time.
The communications tower is Tokyo Sky Tree (it opened in 2012), a broadcasting and observation tower, located in the neighboring Sumida district, across the Sumida river from Asakusa.
I am at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, awaiting the departure of my flight to Tokyo’s Haneda airport on All Nippon Airlines.
The expansion of C Concourse here at Sea-Tac airport is complete, and I went up to the viewing deck to check out the action out on the runway.
Looking out towards the gates at Concourse D from the mezzanine at Concourse C.The extension to Concourse C has several new eateries and stores.Looking down from the new mezzanine level at Concourse C. These large wooden steps serve as a seating area.The new view deck at Concourse C is another flight of stairs up from the mezzanine level. (There are elevators to it as well). The triangular space is not large, but offers views through large glass panes with an inch or two space to the outside air between them. To the south one can see the runway and gates at Concourse A, and looking north, one can see the departing aircraft as well. Look for a Lufthansa bird that had just departed, to Frankfurt no doubt, in the distance just to the left of the lamp post in the middle of the picture.
Here are up-to-date pictures of the ‘747 sandwich’ at 1200 Stewart Street in the Denny Triangle, courtesy of The Seattle Times.
The Boeing 747 is sandwiched between the podiums of the two residential towers there, and will contain a little bit of office space.
We ran out to the Sunny Dunes Antique Mall today.
By evening it was time to take the EV pony to the Tesla Supercharger station at The Downtown Park.
We took an evening stroll along Palm Canyon Drive while the car was charging.
Sunny Dunes Antique Mall is packed with ornaments, books, pictures, and almost everything else found inside an old home.Vintage framed picture from inside the antique mall. I don’t believe the names of the men in the picture are known. The picture was featured on the cover of a book titled ‘Loving II: More Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850s to 1950’ by Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell.It’s about 6.15 pm, and here is the view of the mountains we had from our rented house.At the Tesla Supercharger station.The Marilyn Monroe statue is nicely lit up at night.Charles (Charlie) Manuel Pasarell Jr. (born February 12, 1944, now 82 years old) is a Puerto Rican-American former tennis player, tennis administrator and founder of the current Indian Wells tournament.We had dinner last night at this restaurant: Lulu California Bistro. I had Pacific sanddab (a medium-sized flatfish) with mashed potato and vegetables.Here is the Plaza Theatre at night.The Plaza Theatre.The Hyatt Palm Springs looks a little better at night. (Drab colors in daytime).Artwork at the entance of the Hyatt Palm Springs.
We braved the blazing mid-day sun today for a walk along Palm Canyon Drive. This boulevard is the primary commercial, retail, and hospitality thoroughfare through the downtown area of Palm Springs.
There is a Tesla Supercharger station inside the parking garage by The Downtown Park.North Museum Drive ends at the Palm Springs Art Museum.This sign at Ground zero for downtown Palm Springs offers a few statements about art.Here and there misters along the sidewalk offer a brief respite from the heat.Welwood Murray Memorial Library originally opened in February 1941. It is the home to the Palm Springs Historical Society archive.The David Clark Lee Plaza Theatre is an intimate, renovated 1930s landmark offering live concerts, theatrical productions, film festivals, and community events with exceptional acoustics. David Clark Lee is a longtime Palm Springs resident and the writer and producer of television shows such as Frasier, Cheers and Wings.
I opted for the Seattle Public Library (instead of the bookstore) for my book fix today.
Notes for the pictures: Black Tesla Model Y photobombs my picture of the William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse on 6th Avenue.
The Courthouse is a federal courthouse and primarily used by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It was completed in 1940.
I am not sure why the 13-star flag (for the original 13 colonies, used 1777-1795) is on the courthouse— possibly to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (Any past official national flag can be legally flown or exhibited for historical and patriotic displays.) Flags are flying at half-staff to honor the life and memory of country music legend and philanthropist Dolly Parton, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 80.
The yellow Lamborghini is a Lamborghini HuracánSpyder (the convertible Huracán, which is Spanish for hurricane).
Near the Hotel Sorrento off Madison Street is where I caught the G-line bus on the way back. The Hotel Sorrento was completed in 1909 and is Seattle’s longest-operating boutique hotel. Gas prices are still high. The war with Iran is now 6 months old. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, despite the insistence of the White House that it is ‘open’.
Danielle Dowling writes for the New York Times: If you missed this summer’s eclipse, don’t worry.
There are still a handful of opportunities to catch the “eclipse of the century” next year. Imagine standing beneath a blackened sun among the ancient Egyptian tombs in the Valley of the Kings or overlooking the Nile at the Hatshepsut Temple. The eerie darkness might fill you with a primeval mix of terror, awe and wonder. In other words, perfection. In the midmorning and afternoon of Aug. 2, 2027, ten countries (and a few territories) on the Mediterranean Sea and in the Middle East and Africa will find themselves in the 160-mile-wide, nearly 9,500-mile-long zone.
In some places, darkness will last as long as an incredible six minutes and 23 seconds.
Danielle Dowling also offers this cruise ship information in the NYT article: If you wish to combine travel around Spain and other nearby destinations with a cruise on the Mediterranean, where totality will last up to five minutes, you have options. Celebrity is offering two cruises: an 11-night Italy and Spain trip, with the eclipse falling on Day 8 (from $3,121 per person), and a seven-night Spain and Morocco journey, with the eclipse on Day 3 (from $4,883 per person). And there are still a few rooms left aboard VACAYA LGBTQ+ Vacations’ 10-day eclipse cruise (from $18,963 double occupancy), which sails from Trieste, Italy, to Barcelona.Aerial view during sunrise of the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor, Egypt. The mortuary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. The temple is considered to be a masterpiece of ancient architecture. Its three massive terraces rise above the desert floor and into the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari. Her tomb, KV20, lies inside the same massif capped by El Qurn, a pyramid for her mortuary complex. Across the river Nile, the whole structure points towards the monumental Eighth Pylon, Hatshepsut’s most recognizable addition to the Temple of Karnak and the site from which the procession of the Beautiful Festival of the Valley departed. Image by Diego Delso/ Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0 File:Templo funerario de Hatshepsut, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-03, DD 13.jpg Created: 3 Apr. 2022 Uploaded: 27 Nov. 2022 Location: 25° 44′ 17.66″ N, 32° 36′ 23.94″ E
The construction of the twin apartment towers with the wavy outlines at 1200 Stewart St in the Denny Triangle neighborhood started in May 2018.
So it will be 9 years when the 45-story towers with 927 apartments finally open in 2027—six years later than the original timeline had called for.
That’s a decommissioned United Airlines Boeing 747-400 fuselage mounted 14 feet (4.3 m) above the walkway between the towers.
It will house a little office space for Westbank, the project’s developer.
The fuselage was purchased from a scrapyard in Victorville, California, cut into 39 sections, and trucked up to Seattle.
It’s Tesla-Tesla-Tesla in the sunset photo that I took from the Melrose Avenue overlook.
Happy Friday.
It is almost time for the World Cup.
The June 11 opener game will be Mexico 🇲🇽 vs. South Africa 🇿🇦 in Mexico City.
Seattle will host 6 games in total, and the first two are— June 15: Belgium 🇧🇪 vs. Egypt 🇪🇬 (12:00 p.m. PT) June 19: USA 🇺🇸 vs. Australia 🇦🇺 (12:00 p.m. PT)
The dome of the Space Needle has been painted in the white and black hexagons of a soccer ball. Fun fact: A standard, classic soccer ball has 20 hexagons.
Pictures from the Seattle Times, courtesy of the Space Needle.
I took the No 8 bus to Westlake Avenue and walked up along Lake Union, hoping to still catch Mark Zuckerberg’s megayacht there.
Alas, she was gone.
Someone there told me she was out in the open waters of Elliott Bay.
Checking out the Boeing 747 fuselage ‘public art’ installed between the apartment towers of 1200 Stewart Street. (I’m still on the No 8 bus).A new eight-story banner installation designed by Seattle artist Ernesto Ybarra on the east façade of the 9th & Thomas building in South Lake Union. It is called ‘The Hostess’, and celebrates Seattle’s role as a host city for the World Cup soccer matches this summer.Once upon a time many years ago, I brought my 1996 Toyota Camry to this building at 400 Westlake Ave for new tires. The Firestone Auto Supply & Service Store building was constructed in 1929 with concrete and terra cotta details in the art deco style. The façade was kept when a new 15-story commercial tower was built on the property.Nearby is the 2021 artwork by Patti Warashina called ‘Dreamer’. It was sculpted with aluminum and painted in geometric patterns.This corner of South Lake Union’s waters is for rowers and kayakers. That’s the MOHAI building in the background (Museum of History and Industry).The Marina Mart building is still there. Constructed in the early 1940s, it has deep ties to Seattle’s maritime heritage. It has transitioned from an industrial maritime site into a major dining and recreation hub.With Memorial Day behind us, sailing season is now officially open. There was a light breeze around and lots of sunshine🌞.
I had a blast at the stamp show but it’s great to have made it home.
Ar Boston Logan airport, my checked bag weighed in at 48.5 lbs, 1.5 lbs shy of the weight limit. The medium size suitcase was stuffed with packs of stamp album pages and a giant binder to put them in, along with brochures and other papers.
These pictures are from yesterday, taken in and around Boston Common— the oldest city park in all of the United States.
The building with the iconic gold dome overlooking the Boston Common is the Massachusetts State House.
The next world stamp exhibition is in Prague, in the Czech Republic in March 2028.
The site of the Boston Tea Party incident is a short walk from the Convention Center.
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest on December 16, 1773, where American colonists, frustrated by British “taxation without representation,” destroyed 342 chests of tea. Led by the Sons of Liberty and disguised as Mohawk warriors, the group dumped $1.7 million worth of British East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.
The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum had already closed for the day when I got there last night.
I took a few pictures and then walked to South Station at 700 Atlantic Avenue. It is a large train station that serves the MBTA Subway, bus lines and an Amtrak line.
The site of the Boston Tea Party in Boston harbor.The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.A block of four 1973 stamps to commemorate the Boston Tea Party.A modern walkway and arches leading to South Station. The tall skyscraper above South Station is the South Station Tower. Standing at 690 feet tall with 51 stories, it is the sixth-tallest building in Boston.The main entrance into South Station, at the corner of Summer St and Atlantic Avenue.The main lobby inside South Station.I took the Red Line with three stops to Charles/ MGH* station. *Massachusetts General Hospital.The Puffers Building, located at 214-218 Cambridge Street in Boston’s Beacon Hill, is a historic Queen Anne-style brick building built in 1899. Financed by carbonated beverage magnate Alvin D. Puffer, the building originally functioned as sweatshops employing newly arrived immigrants in the West End’s cigar-making industry. – Google AI Overview/ Boston Women’s Heritage TrailAnd here is what must be one of the orginal Massachusetts General Hospital buildings. Founded in 1811, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is the third-oldest general hospital in the United States and the original, largest teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School. Conceived to treat Boston’s sick and impoverished, MGH has grown into a world-renowned biomedical research and clinical care center.
Barnes & Noble is back in downtown Seattle with a new two-level, 18,000-square-foot store at 520 Pike Street. (The store in Pacific Place closed down during the pandemic in Jan. 2020).
I like their selection of books.
From there, I walked to the Seattle Public Library, taking a few pictures on the way. I usually don’t have to wait too long for a Tesla to appear in view, and then I take the picture 😁.
I walked down to the Capitol Hill light rail station this morning, and took the new 2 Line extension to Judkins Park station (it opened on Saturday March 28).
At Judkins Park station, my two amigos joined me, and we went on to Bellevue Downtown station to go to a movie theater there. (I will report about the movie later).
The map and the drone picture below it are from the Seattle Times. The rest of the images are my snapshots from the roundtrip on the 2 Line from Capitol Hill Station to Bellevue Downtown, and back.
The Judkins Park station and Mercer Island station were the ‘missing link’ between the 1 Line and 2 Line. These were the two that opened on Mar. 28, and now commuters can go from Lynnwood City Center all the way up north to Downtown Redmond, or to Federal Way. A light rail train crosses the I-90 floating bridge during testing this month. [Photo by Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times]Here’s a new view of downtown from the light rail, from the 2 Line after it left the International District station. That’s Lumen Field stadium on the left, home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Seattle Reign FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.Going under Interstate 5 along South Dearborn Street and the steel truss bridge called the Jose Rizal Bridge (constructed in 1911).The platform at the new Judkins Park Station, looking where I came from, from Seattle downtown. Trains on this side go through Seattle downtown and up north to Lynnwood City Center.Artwork at Judkins Park station. My amigos arrived on foot at Judkins Park station, and here comes our train that will take us to Bellevue Downtown station. We arrived at Bellevue Downtown station, and walked up to the little plaza above it. Here comes a train that started out at Downtown Redmond station. The City Hall plaza by the Bellevue Downtown station has a new reflection pool. That’s the City Center Plaza building on the left. The building with the orange accents is brand new and called Bellevue 600: a 43-story high-rise office building developed by Amazon.We’re making our way on foot to Bellevue Square. I am stopping to turn around and admire the vanishing edge of the Symetra Center: a 25-story office building built in 1986. We went to the movie theatre to see Project Hail Mary, and went for a beer and a bite, and made our way back to Bellevue Downtown station. Here comes our Lynnwood-bound 2 Line train that will take us back to Judkins Park station and Capitol Hill Station. It’s nice to see people already lining up to take the train, even though it is still early (4 pm).Inside the train.A view of the intersection of Interstate 90 and Interstate 405, from the train. The marina with its boat slips on the shore of Lake Washington that is called the Newport Yacht Basin. Going through a tunnel on the way to Mercer Island station. Arriving at Mercer Island station. Going over the floating bridge on Interstate 90 that take us over Lake Washington. The Mountain was out today. Almost across Lake Washington, and Judkins Park station. I am spotting a Cybertruck on Interstate 90 (in the middle of the picture).
I spend a lot of time scrolling through the listings of stamps and postcards online. Here is a postcard with a photo from Tel Aviv, Israel (circa 1942) that I find very interesting.
King George Street (named after King George V) is an iconic road in central Tel Aviv. In 1942, Tel Aviv was part of Mandatory Palestine, a territory administered by the British under a League of Nations mandate from 1920 to 1948. During this period, Tel Aviv was a rapidly growing Jewish city adjacent to Jaffa. The entire region was known as Palestine, not as the state of Israel, until 1948.King George Steet—a July 2022 image from Google Streetview. There are still Palestinians living in Tel Aviv, specifically in the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo, with most residing in Jaffa (Yaffo). Palestinians make up 4 to 5% of the city’s population. These are largely Palestinian citizens of Israel (or Arab-Israelis) who remained after 1948, rather than residents from the occupied West Bank or Gaza. Palestinian citizens of Israel possess legal rights such as voting and holding office, but do not have the same, equal rights as Jewish citizens in practice or law. While holding citizenship, they face systemic inequalities, discrimination in housing, land access, and education, and are governed by laws privileging Jewish citizens, such as the controversial 2018 Nation-State Law. Palestinian citizens of Israel (Arab citizens of Israel) hold Israeli passports, which allow them to travel internationally and access the same rights as other Israeli citizens. Their rights are distinct from Palestinians in East Jerusalem, who are generally permanent residents without Israeli citizenship or passports.The stamp on the postcard was first issued in 1927, and still in use in 1942. It depicts Rachel’s Tomb— a site revered as the burial place of the Biblical matriarch Rachel. The site is also referred to as the Bilal bin Rabah mosque. The tomb is held in esteem by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is located at the northern entrance to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, next to the Rachel’s Tomb checkpoint. This stamp’s denomination is 10 mil, 10/1000ths of a Palestine pound (£P) which was pegged 1:1 to the British pound at the time. So one penny’s worth of postage was good for sending the postcard down to South Africa. The number 39 is a unique identifier for the individual censor from the Royal Air Force or the specific censorship unit that examined and approved the message.
The sender was a Harold McMaster, on active duty in the British Army. (The British Army controlled Palestine in 1942 as part of the British Mandate, which lasted from 1920 to 1948.) It certainly seems that Mrs. McMaster that resided in Vereeniging, South Africa, was his mom, or at least a close family member. At the time there were lots of South Africans of British descent, and of Jewish descent, residing in South Africa (and there still are, to this day).
