Shops and underpass in Yoyogi

JR Yoyogi Station on the Yamanote Line

The Yoyogi Station area.

The underpass for the Yamanote Line above has a great atmosphere about it.

Leafy green side roads make for good exploration.

These buildings look to have been around for a while. Very peaceful and relaxing.

The old style Odakyu Romance Car makes its way over the crossing.

The EXE train rolls through Yoyogi

Looking back at the Shinjuku Takashimaya building. Its only a short walk from Yoyogi to Shinjuku

Follow the tracks all the way down

No shortage of places for train spotting in Yoyogi.

These kids were also practicing their camera skills taking photos of the trains.

You can get really close to the trains at the crossings. Its almost possible to reach out and touch.

Time to reflect as people wait for the railway crossing to clear

There are some charming older buildings around in Yoyogi. Where is this style of architecture today?

The buildings of Shinjuku in the background

The power lines seem to disappear the longer you look at the photo as the buildings in the distance rise.

Old buildings blend with the new

Local cafe restaurant

A little bit of wild greenery in the middle of the city.

Quiet and relaxed, yet just minutes away from the hustle of Shinjuku

Plenty of promotion out for this eatery on a Yoyogi street

You can see it is very compact.

My headphone set for the tv and radio.

Curtain closed ready for bed. It really was quiet and cozy.

Instructions on how to use the capsule.

Here is my TV inside the cubicle.

A better view of how narrow the capsule is. It actually was very comfortable and not at all claustrophobic.

Bathroom faciities.

Accesories at the ready.

The view of Shibuya from the top.

Looking down from the bathroom

Inside the locker changing rooms

Or was that Rocker room? I couldn't find any of the band members, but I think there were some hard rockers around.

If anyone wants to try it out, here is the name and number.

Spanish Restaruant, Shibuya

Spain zaka, Shibuya

Nice sandwiches to go with the tea

Kimuraya Ginza

Time out in the busy city.

Everyone crowded around to get a snap.

Just taking it easy on a busy weekend.

The King of Ginza.

Looking down at the fans.

Cute.

Who's down there?

Tiger.

Plenty of fans taking photos for these cats.

Enough rest, time to play now.

Hey, we want to go back up on the sign again.

Choco snacks.

McVities with plenty of choice here

Vegetable, Tofu, Nasu, Tonjiru, Asari, Onions, Shijimi. Wow, what choices.

Small brownies in a pack.

I caught the Super Azusa express train from Shinjuku station at 12:00 heading for Yamanashi-ken

The trains in Japan always look nice and clean. Most people were already on board with bento's in hand.

Going past some of the stations on the Chuo line before picking up speed as we got more into the countryside.

Along the way I took some photos from the train window. When you are close in to Tokyo, you mainly get pictures of house roofs alongside the tracks.

The scenery slowly changed from houses to countryside.

The greenery of the countryside starts to develop as we get further out.

This station was just a blur as we sped through. Can anyone read the sign?

The hills start to develop a rolling landscape.

Some interesting concrete bridge structures along the way.

The winding road to Kofu.

Getting closer to Kofu there are lots of mountains. Kofu is surrounded by mountain ranges and is like a bonchi, very similar to Kyoto, meaning in winter it is quite cold but in summer can be very humid.

Not sure what was planted here, but it looked good from the train window. Maybe some sort of fruit. Yamanashi is quite well known for fruits including grapes.

Getting off the train at Kofu Station.

I took a quick visit with a friend to Takeda Shrine. It was only 5 minutes from Kofu Station by taxi.

A quick prayer at the Shrine and then moving on to the gardens.

Not sure when Hello Kitty showed up here, but I bet she wasn't around when Takeda was here.

Entering the gardens at Takeda Shrine.

There was quite a lot of greenery around the shrine area. It almost looked park like in its presentation.

Not a lot of business being done here, but if you want a frankfurt, this looks like the place to get one.

As with most country stations in Japan, there is a line up of taxis waiting to take you wherever you want.

A bit difficult to get a clean shot here of Kofu Castle in between the road, light poles and cars. The angle around the back of the castle may have been a better choice.

One of the buildings inside the Kofu Castle compound.

Tours for the Kofu Castle story.

The Castle is built in the center of town and is located on what used to be the highest point on a hill. Now other buildings tower above it, but walking to the top of this are with the green grass and welcoming breeze was really nice.

View from the top of the Castle area. You can see the mountain ranges in the background.

Looking down there are more historic buildings within the Castle compound.

More mountains, more castle remnants. I was enjoying taking in the breeze on a humid day.

The night view must be quite good from up here as well.

The city of Kofu.

The train line is close by. In fact you get a better view of the Castle from the train than when you are close by standing on the road.

Quite a few buildings are higher than the Castle mound now, but in the old days this would have been the best place to see advancing armies from.

One of the other Castle buildings with some modern gas structure tucked in behind.

Inside Kofu Castle grounds.

Always nice to see local trains outside of Tokyo.

Time to jump back on the train and head for Tokyo. Next stop Shinjuku.

The Super Azusa train to take me home approaches the station at Kofu.

While I was out taking photos at a friends party, I came across this set of chocolate sticks for Cheeba-kun.

Macadamia cookie or Almond crunch, hard to decide which one to get.

More variation for the takenoko no hoshi snacks. Macadamia twist and different packaging on this one.

The 'boku no oyatsu' brand has a lot of choice, but the plain packaging always makes me feel like the food is going to taste like plastic. Andoro-yaki could be good though.

More 'boku no oyatsu' to choose from.

These mango throat sweets looked like a good way to get better quick.

As the weather comes into the rainy season, people are catching colds again. Throat sweets are ready to cash in.