Day 4 - Nakano and Yotsuya
Still waking up too early, still a bit grey and cold outside.
The breakfast options are limited around 6am, still relying on the 7-11 and Lawson, good selection of sandwiches, and noticed they also sell individual soft boiled eggs, will try next time.
After the morning meal, decide to go towards Nakano Broadway, a good 2 hour walk at least, passing by main sights such as the olympic stadium, Sendagaya park, Shinjuku and all the cool buildings around it and then towards Nakano City.
Only bring one lense for a more street photography perspective, and I'm rewarded with a few good shots of daily life around the parks, the streets as they get busier and busier, the extravagant people that walk around them, and the usual workers loading up vending machines, toy machines, and other salary men.
As I pass by Shinjuku, I decide to grab a small coffee from the main station and check out Tokyu Hands to see if they have an elastic band so I can exercise on a budget while I'm here.
They do, alongside every single tool one person could not imagine would exist for making everyday things a bit more interesting.
Keep walking towards Nakano.
After a long stretch of high rises, I cross the Kanda river and enter what should be Nakano City, the buildings become less prominent and more small houses appear on my way, some cemeteries and temples, some parks with steam engines parked in them, and the station approach feels like every shop has been open for at least 70 years and never redecorated
As I cross the station, I see the big and colourful corridor, with colourful koi carps hanging and giving it a vibrant feel. A lot of opportunity for photos, on every main and side street of this broadway.
I walk the full extent of it, but know that there's a camera shop that I want to check out. It's a smaller shop still with a great selection of used gear, good prices for reference , but not really anything that catches my eye instantly.
It's around 1pm, I wonder if i should grab a meal here, or head towards another area, as I can't seem to find anything to sit in, I decide to just catch half a train back and walk the rest.
It stops at Yatsuya and the first stretch of the walk, I manage to enter a university called Sophia, which I thought i could walk through, but apparently not, thanks google maps, I walk backwards to the main entrance, take a few rounds and find myself next to a more casual Chicken Katsu place, ordering done outside on the machine via tickets, I always forget tea is free, so I order a drink like an idiot.
It's another good meal, fills me up and makes my walk a breeze towards the hotel, where I need to catch up with the collegues and some more work.
As it's monday in the UK, there's always a lot to discuss, and the work carries on and on to the night, until i finally crash, since waking up too early is still taking a toll on me...