Life in Japan - Pictures galore !! Arcades, Temples, Rainy days, etc

[Martin]

Snowing a bit here in Tokyo!





Some guys clearing the roads...

[DCharlie]

Woo - it's been a while! :) Went down to the seaside, sat tooking pictures of birds mainly :)

[Tatsujin]

Very nice Tobi shots :)

[Martin]

Rather nice car at work; not mine :)

[hashiriya1]

OK, let me preface this by saying I am a California native.

When I saw this car I could not believe it. I was just standing there staring at it. When the shock wore off, a little nostaligia kicked in from when I used to get ticketed by these guys. I am glad I wasn't driving when I saw this car so that I could take pics. I kinda wanted to wait around for the owner, but that would be creepy plus I didn't have time.
















Compare it to the real thing: (pulled from google images)

[Yakumo]

THe owner woudl probably be some Yankee (Japanese Yankee that is) or some oyaji I'd guess.

[Martin]

The weather on Sunday was lovely (19C) and so we went for a walk in Shinjuku.

Went up this famous building:



And some $BEm(B (peach) blossoms in the park:

[Tatsujin]

Compare it to the real thing: (pulled from google images)

Lol, I think that just is the real thing. Nice enough that someone can buy old patrol cars from US and us them in Japan. I don't think I could do that in my home country (if i wanted so, which sure would never happen).
Or do you think it's just a decoration kit?

[alphagamer]

Lol, I think that just is the real thing. Nice enough that someone can buy old patrol cars from US and us them in Japan. I don't think I could do that in my home country (if i wanted so, which sure would never happen).
Or do you think it's just a decoration kit?

Maybe there is a different engine in it now to comply with japanese laws.

[graciano1337]

Amazing photos as always DCharlie.

Also, the patrol car is AMAZING. That would be hilarious to drive around Japan. I'm sure I'd get in to trouble abusing it...

[DCharlie]

hashiriya1, where did you take that patrol car shot?

Just curious as there was one just like that parked up near where i used to live. It was parked on a very similar car park in the back streets of Oookayama in Tokyo.

[Tatsujin]

The car plate says narashino[習志野], which is in northwest of chiba. Sure that can say anything.

[ave]

I was always wondering what's the system behind the kana next to the numbers on the Japanese plates? For instance, せ911. Why "se" and not "sa"?

I like that he chose 911 for his plate number though :lol:

[Yakumo]

Thanks to Wikipedia

White plates can have the following hiragana:

さすせそたちつてとなにぬねのはひふほまみむめもやゆよらりるろ

and for rental vehicles

れわ

Green plates can have the following hiragana:

あいうえかきくけこを

A license plate in Japan thus follows this format: KK?*H##-## (e.g., 足立500き21-41), where KK is the name of the issuing office in kanji, H is a hiragana, ? is a 5 for vehicles less than 2000 cc and a 3 for vehicles greater than 2000 cc (other numbers are less common—1 for large trucks, 2 for buses, etc.[1]), * is a number from 0 to 99 (pre-1971 license plates will omit this), and # is a number from 0* to 9 (*leading zeros are replaced by centered dots).

It still doesn't state what the Hiragana means though. My number plate has さ SA on it. My city name is Shimonoseki so it's nothing to do witht he city the car is Reg' with. Maybe it's like the system they use in the UK were by each year a number plate features a different starting or ending letter?

Yakumo

[Tatsujin]

I believe it means nothing, just the usual japanese way of syllables increase.

[GaijinPunch]

Maybe there is a different engine in it now to comply with japanese laws.

Cars leaving the US isn't an issue. It's coming in.

>> Tobi shots

Amazing, btw, DCharlie. Zoom lens or did you just get really lucky? I could take some photos of crows, but that's about it.

[Fudgexx]

anybody in japan can take pics of a local gamestop or game store i would like to see them

[Fudgexx]

Question why is in mostly pictures in this thread people wearing masks?
is there a flu going around

[GaijinPunch]

I believe Yakumo has taken some pictures of some used game stores. There are very few chains like Gamestop... and they're not really famous. At least not nation wide. They're just somewhat convenient. If you live in Tokyo and you're into used games, you'd go to Nakano or Akihabara (or of course, the internets).

The reason for the masks is two-fold: 1, life in most parts of the country, definitely the cities, is very closed-quarters. They are wearing masks to prevent the spread of colds/flu/whatever. 2: Japanese are genetically predisposed to be highly hypochondriac. The answer to everything is "go to the hospital". Most of the drugs prescribed are placebo as well.

[Fudgexx]

Thanks for answering, after seeing all these pics i really want to go to japan