Saturday, August 6, 2011

A Crowd


Shinjuku is a very crowded city, especially around Shinjuku Station.

Just for the JR train lines, an average of 736,715 people a day got on at Shinjuku Station last year. And Shinjuku Station also has the Odakyu, Keio, Toei, and Tokyo Metro lines, too. If you've ever been here, especially on a weekend, you know what it's like.

But it was actually even more crowded last weekend. Can you guess why?

22 comments:

  1. Wow that sure is some crowd Kaori, what an effective image you've shown us, brilliant! and I"m not sure how I missed it but your Friday sky watch picture is fabulous!!

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  2. It looks like the people in your photo are watching or waiting for some kind of event on the street, but I have no idea what. A Hello Kitty parade? The world champion (yay!) Japanese women’s soccer team?

    (According to Wikipedia there are about a total of 3,400,000 people entering and exiting Shinjuku Station daily. That is three million and four hundred thousand people every day!)

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  3. I’ve looked around as best as I can from here but I still can’t see what they are checking out.

    Hmm. The Korean group B2ST was surprise performing near here June 14th (performing “Bad Girl”—definitely not Hello Kitty).

    Maybe, could it be, a festival? If so, what kind of festival, Kaori?

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  4. that Chinese word means medicine. Is it Japanese too?

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  5. @Ann: Yes. As a stand-alone character 薬 is read as kusuri in Japanese. In compounds it is often yaku (as in 漢方薬—kanpôyaku:—Chinese herbal medicine; or 薬局:—yakkyoku—pharmacy). In Chinese it is yào, is it not? The traditional Chinese character 楽 becomes 药 when simplified. Simplified Chinese characters confuse me.

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  6. Brings back my memories of Shinjuku when I arrived as a new Mombusho English teacher in July 1989! Then I left Tokyo after my week training to teach in rural Gero-Onsen for 2 years!

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  7. I'm on the outskirts of Portland... a town of 5,000. Very nice. I see few people.

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  8. I find the advertising on all the buildings rather fascinating.

    No, I'm stumped about last week...

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  9. If it's crowded, chances are I won't be there...

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  10. Our crowds are never so disciplined...

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  11. This is like Mongkok in Hong Kong, the densest square kilometer on earth! What a super capture, Kaori? Were these people on their way to the Kagurazaka festival?

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  12. I'm with VP.

    No summer here. Rainy, cold then muggy then rainy and cold again.

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  13. Tell us please.
    What happened last weekend?
    Matsuri?

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  14. I can't imagine that many people. More people get on or off trains at that station than live in my entire city. That's extraordinary!

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  15. What a chance to meet friends, to make one, to melt into oneanother.


    Please have a good Sunday.

    daily athens

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  16. Last weekend? It was the Shinjuku Eisa Matsuri on the 31st of July, and the streets were very crowded indeed. Is that what you're referring to?

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  17. Thank you Rurousha. “Okinawan taiko drum and dance festival held annually in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Eisa is Okinawa's Bon dance.” A YouTube link here.

    Think I’ll go listen again to my CD of Yanawaraba— now.

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  18. Hi everyone! Thanks for your comments and for guessing! Some were VERY close!

    It truly is crowded around this station and I actually try to avoid it, too. But sometimes it's worth fighting the crowds ;D

    Ann, yes that kanji does mean medicine! We use it just by itself. Matsumoto Kiyoshi is a very large pharmacy shop :D

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  19. That is crazy about the number of people who go through there on the JR train lines! And this photo is too cool. I love the crowds and the buildings. It really shows the pressed in and tightly packed feel of the city.

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  20. I notice many of Japan's bldgs seem built for advertising. Like a form of billboard. And whatever is contained inside is only secondary to what is on the outside.

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  21. like this street scene.
    very Japanese. ^0^
    and yes, the lines can be quite confusing. ^-^
    about the crowd, we tried going to Harajuku on Christmas day and boy was it staggering.

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