Hamamatsu Shinkansen Station
While waiting for the shinkansen bullet train in Hamamatsu station in Shizuoka prefecture west of Tokyo I took these snapshots on a mini photo walk of the platform! Shinkansen platforms are divided from ordinary train platforms but even these come with kiosks, souvenir shops and automatic vending machines. Japan is a cash based society but you can also use one of the many different train ticket cards with electronic cash for kiosks and vending machines and most convenience stores near stations. There’s different cards for different regions but most cooperate so you can use them all over the country. Much more convenient than having to line up for the fewer and fewer ticket machines. I know, snaspshots from a train platform might not be the most blingy of subjects, but if you’ve never been there it might be interesting to see, and if you have, well, it’s good to recognize something every now and then right? Looking forward to my next visit to Hamamatsu city!
Tokyobling's Blog 
I like how one of Hamamatsu’s best known landmarks is subtly hinted at along the right hand side of picture 9. Yes, this innocent seeming beige building is 45 floors, the largest building in Japan outside the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya metropolitan areas, and was designed to look like a harmonica. As an aside, I used to work on the 13th floor. 🙂
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You’re the master of all things Hamamatsu Coal! Being a Tokyoite through and through a mere 45 floors wouldn’t even register on my tall building sense but I guess I need to take a better look next time! And you need to tell me, when we meet next, why you moved over here! (^-^)
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Hehe, it’s the only building higher than about 10-15 floors within a very very wide radius, so it sort of stands out a bit. You can probably see it from Kakegawa… 😉 Contract expired and there wasn’t much else going on there work-wise…
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Kakegawa, another town I have to visit soon! (^-^)
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One last chance for omiyage!
That little chick with the drink is cute.
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Indeed! Too bad I’m a sucker for these kind of kiosks, I always see something I haven’t tried before and… (^-^;) I wonder if the little chick is part of the toica electric money system? A maskot maybe?
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I love the little kiosks at train stations. Suica card was extremely convenient too.
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Absolutely! You know I even remember a time before Suica cards… what a drag that was! It’s so much better know! But then again, you might even remember a time before the ticket machines, right? (^-^;)
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nice shots !!
Do you know where i can find the JR sounds ?
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Thanks Larry! Are you referring to recordings of the actual platforms? Try Youtube for that! There’s also CDs with the melodies, on the Japanese Amazon shopping site. Or if you are interested in the midi files of Tokyo JR sounds, try this page: http://www.japan-railways.com/yatej.htm
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thank you very much !!!!
i really like those sounds, and this is a very good website.
🙂
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Thank you for the kind comment Larry!
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Almost scared to ask about the sweater vests and berets. Dan Rather meets French obsession? And it looks like the one with the Christmas wreath has the other on a leash!
It’s nice to see a quiet station, with Shinkansen running normally…unlike my experience with cancelled trains and absolute chaos!
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Haha… that’s a fashion match made in heaven! Or in Nagoya. (^-^) Hamamatsu is one of these smaller quieter stations where nothing ever really happens. I can’t even imagine any sort of train chaos here!
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I believe it’s understated bling, sort of like a diamond pendant, classic and timeless. And what can be more classic than a sweet yellow chickadee sipping from a bottle?
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Haha… “understated bling”! Good expression!
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I would be able to spend a day or two at a train station like this! 😀
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At least you wouldn’t lack for food! (^-^)
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They would need to prise my Suica card from my cold dying fingers before I would give it up! Pure genius…that’s what those cards are. It made my life so much easier when I visited Tokyo. Not to mention station vending machines and NewDays. 🙂
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Haha… I’d like to see that on a bumper sticker! (^-^;)
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