I had always wanted to walk the Yamanote Circle Line on foot and finally got around to doing the first half today. It was a good 20 kilometer march, ten of which I walked together with a friend of mine. The JR East operated line carries about 3.7 million people each working day, more than the entire London Underground network. The circle divides the city into two – the parts that lie within and those that lie outside.  Almost every station connects you with another Metro or overland rail line. Cheap (love) hotels for those who didn’t make their last train, pachinko parlours and restaurants dot the areas around the stops.

Where it began at 3pm – Gotanda Station in the south of the Yamamote Line ring

Big tower block near Shinagawa

Tokyo Monorail on its way from Haneda Airport

Shinkansen near Tamachi Station

MacArthur Road from Shimbashi towards Toranomon, with Toranomon Hills in the back

New Shimbashi Building

An old steam locomotive commemorating the fact that Shimbashi Station was the first railway station in Japan

In between the train tracks by Yurakucho Station, an interesting maze of restaurants and shady-looking backstreets

Marounochi, the area west of Tokyo Station

The famous Nihonbashi Bridge is rather unspectacular given the motorway and rail lines that surround it

In between the tracks

The area between Akihabara and Okachimachi Station is worth seeing, also because of the (awkwardly named) 2k540 craft shop district (two photos above)

Ueno Station

Near Ueno Park, one of the darkest stretches of the walk

One of possibly 15,000 pachinko/slot parlours I saw

One of possibly 10,000 love hotels along the way, this time near Nippori

Today’s walk finished in Sugamo, the “Harajuku of the old ladies” – apparently because there are loads of fashion stores catering to the older generations