Sandwiches, there will be no more above ground Odakyu-sen trains at Shimokitazawa station ever again. It's so sad. The Odakyu-sen at Shimokitazawa went underground from today. They are calling it 'Shimo-chika'. ('Chika' means basement.)
We went and watched the last train pull into Shimokitazawa station at 1:03am this morning and recorded it in this little video below. This video even made me cry - and I made it! The music in the video is by the incredible Priscilla Ahn (if you have headphones please plug them in before watching this little movie).
I'll cherish the memories of the fumikiri and above ground Odakyu-sen trains at Shimokitazawa.
If you have any interest, you can see more videos of the final train on the Shimo-chika facebook page.
Love Love
Hello Sanwich
xoxo
This is kind of sad... I got teary eyed, but I am sure better things will come out of this!
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure about the better things :(
DeleteThanks for sharing this bits of Tokyo life.
ReplyDeleteI used to live a bit down in Komaba and often took either my bike or the train to Shimokitazawa. Remember this crossing very well!
Yes, a bit sad :)
Arigato!
My pleasure. I'm pleased you could enjoy the post.
DeleteI was there too that night ,I had a lump in my throat as well. Its quite a change for the area.
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed. :(
Deletehi hello sandwich!
ReplyDeletei just want to let you know that Shimokitazawa is my favorite place when i traveled to tokyo. it makes me so sad to see there would be no more above ground Odakyu-sen trains at Shimokitazawa station. and seeing the video made me think of everything i've done there and now i feel like crying. it was such a unique place different from most of the cities in tokyo. and i loved to stand and watching the train passing in front of me. :(
I have never been to Japan but your photos makes me want to visit and perhaps I will since Malaysia is not too far from Japan :) btw, I enjoyed the video and the accompanying soundtrack. i could feel the emotion.
ReplyDelete