A Trip Less Wasted

Today, I went to a school I had never been to before, but I didn’t have to. To make a long story short, I was supposed to go to the school yesterday and today, but the schedule was changed. The person at my company who handles scheduling said he had emailed me yesterday, but I didn’t get the email. That has happened before, so I’m not sure what happened. But I wasn’t upset. It was such a nice day, I enjoyed taking some pictures on the way back.

On the way to the school, I took a cab. I had checked the school’s website the night before, and seen a map, but I wasn’t too confident. I didn’t know how long the bus would take, so I just took a cab. When I got to the school, they were surprised to see me. So, I just laughed it off. I took the scenic route home. I got to see an area of Tokyo I never go to. i don’t know if I had ever been there before. Who knows if I will ever go there again.

And the best part is, I had my camera with me.

The school is a little far from the station. Like many areas outside of central Tokyo, there are a lot of big, western style houses. Admit it, when you think of Tokyo, you don’t think of houses like ~~this~~these, do you?

I love these mirrors…They’re all over. And with all the narrow streets, they are often lifesavers.

As I got closer to the station, I saw this parking lot. It had a big sign for a Chinese restaurant.

They even have smaller versions of the sign on each parking space!

In front of Kiyose Station.

The bus stop in front of the station. Actually, like at many stations, there are several bus stops, with a bewildering number of busses going all over the place.

A nice walkway leads from the Seibu Line train to the Seibu-owned Seiyu Store. Convenient. I have always done a lot of my grocery shopping at Seiyu. It is a big chain.

And of course, Starbucks!

There’s the train. I’ll take the next one…

In honor of my friend, who is a big Ramen nut, I had lunch at that shop (the one with the red, 「ラーメン」 sign.) I live in Ogikubo, which is famous for ramen, but I don’t eat it very often. I like soba (buckwheat noodles) better. But this place was good.

I’m not quite sure if I’d ever been to Kiyose before, but I had definitely walked down this street before. I can take the Chuo Line directly from my station (Ogikubo) to Nishi-Kokubunji. But then you have to take the Musashino Line to Shin-Akitsu Station (新秋津駅) and walk along this road to Akitsu Station (秋津駅). By the way the “Shin” 「新」means, “new.”

Getting ready to take the Musashino Line.

In honor of my friend, who is a huge Ramen nut, I had lunch at this ramen shop near Kiyose Station. It was yummy…