Hello globetrotters, welcome to another edition of Where & When. I’m being a bit oblique with this one because there are probably a few people who are far away out of town who will get this one almost immediately, or if they care to, they can look it up since it still exists; though in a restored fashion. This is sort of a tribute to folks who don’t get a chance to play, but still admire the way we play the game:
Click to enlarge photo
I’m just gonna leave this here and talk about it after the guessing is through. It might take all night to get the right answer, but we’ll revisit then if we must. A nice-sized teacup of floral Jasmine tea for winner and ramen for the rest of us. You know the rules; get at it fellows.
[Photo Credit: JT]
I have a feeling it's only because of time zones that I'm first up with the Tokyo Station Hotel, which opened in 1914.
A recent renovation included the opening of Tokyo Station Hotel, with rooms inside the historic structure, in 2012. But it's still also functioning as the country's busiest train station.
There is no justice whatsoever in my getting this by Googling "Japan rail station" from North Carolina (assuming I'm not wrong) while plenty of Banterites are in that very city right now. Please set up a round of floral jasmine tea on me for the whole gang!
Ha, I was just going to say, obliquely, that from Will's clues I figure I know the approximate location.
But I couldn't even tell it was a train station, frankly. Just for confirmation of my surmise, I scoured the pic for kanji, half-convinced myself I saw some, decided I was kidding myself, figured maybe if I could see a right-side steering wheel in one of the cars that would confirm it... nope, can't tell.
Will, our West Side (of the Pacific) friends may not even be reading these days. Haven't seen 'zilla or Mr OK for a while. Nice of you to think of them, though!
Thought it might be from the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 in Chicago, (though later) but nope.
[1] Did I give it away that easily? I sure did, dang... Okay, Tea for everyone! (and college ramen for me >;)
[4] I missed your clues, Chyll, but I am half-asleep so probably not a good judge. ;) I was also thinking somewhere in Europe - nothing like that on the east coast, which means nothing like that in the US - so needless to say, I was really, really off.
In any case, that's one heck of a beautiful building that I had never seen before, and I would like to see now.
[2] Oh they are for sure; they just pop up late and comment on earlier posts. I saw Jazz having a philosophical debate with MP just the other night. The time zone difference does make it problematic for them to participate, but I'm sure they enjoy the game as much as we do. I came across that pic while doing research on Game 39 and just knew I had to put it up there as a tribute, much like the Far Rockaway High School one for thelarmis. People who like the game but don't get a chance to play will get a shout at times, especially when you know a little something about them that a location will connect them to their profile; just "keeping it real" >;)
[5] Here's what it looks like today, or at least the left half of it. I would love to see this place in person; have to put it on a night time itinerary.
Dang, I was too busy yesterday.
Chyll, sorry for the non-reply. I knew it right away of course. This week has been insanely busy with work. I have 5 looming deadlines right now.
I see the building about every week. It's just a short walk from my office in Ginza. It really is quite beautiful. And it's great that they remodeled it "just like old."
There's still a little work they are doing in taxi area now, but the building restoration is complete after a decade of ugliness.
Across the street they just finished remodeling the original Main Tokyo Post Office building. It's now a vertical shopping mall called the Kite (Stamp) Building. (Pronounced key-tay). From the roof garden there's a fantastic view of Tokyo Station.
Japan tends to tear things down and rebuild them at an insane pace. It's really true that the only constant is change here. So it's a treat when they restore an old classic building.
Whenever he saw an old building in Tokyo, one of my American friends used to say, "How'd we miss that one?"
Sorry, that's bad...but truth in jest.
Great one, Chyll. Everyone is right of course, Tokyo Station one of the few nice buildings in a megalopolis of grey concrete. They finally finished the renovation a few months ago, I need to check out the 'vintage' Tokyo Station Hotel bar soon on the way home.
[2] Same here with work cutting down on my Banter time in the mornings but I do check in on occasion!
[1] I'm not sure it's the busiest station anymore though. Shinjuku Station (I used to use it every day as lived about 15mins walk from it) is usually rated the busiest with over 1.1 BILLION passengers per year (about 3 million per day. Rush hour there is epic..not for the faint of heart.) Over 180 separate exits into the streets above, hundreds of shops and eateries spread around it. 14 train lines (I think). When I was young and stupid I had this idea to live in Shinjuku Station for one year, live blogging every day on all you can experience there...
very cool!