Where Towed Bicycles End Up

If you leave your bicycle around Edogawabashi Station and are unlucky enough to have it towed away, it ends up at the Bike Warehouse close to the station, underneath the highway near Megurozakashita. It could be worse -- if your bike is towed away near Iidabashi Station, you have to go all the way to Yotsuya Station.

It's right past the exercise area that runs underneath the highway, and before the parking lot/unofficial cat habitat. 

These drawings have been made by local elementary school kids.

There are so many bikes here, you'd think it was a parking lot.

It costs 2000 yen to get your bike back.

The nice old man in charge gives your bike seat and handlebars a wipe with his rag before letting you go.

Under the Highway

The highway near Mejiro-dori, another example of efficient urban planning. One section is used as a park/training space for both kids and adults, another serves as a parking area.

At 30,000 yen a month, though, it's quite pricey.

And surely the renters cannot get behind this.

The cats living near this space receive better treatment than the homeless.

Just Your Neighborhood Mom-and-Pop Store Shutters

(In Edogawabashi)

This would be my inspiration for Project Runway's Design Your Own Textile challenge.

Last Phone Standing

Once upon a time, a woman probably sat behind the counter where the green pay phone is, selling cigarettes and dispensing worldly advice. The phone is probably the newest thing in the building, and even it feels like a relic from another era.

Sideways Vision

(In Edogawabashi.)

A tangle of weeds, visible only in shadow through the gauze of a construction tarp. 

Why the kanji for the construction company is written sideways, I do not know.

Night for Day

(In Edogawabashi.)

The pavement makes the photo look quite bright, but this was actually taken at night.

One flash and it all goes away.

Earnest and Lazy Salescats

In this shoe store in Edogawabashi, a cat and kitten are allowed free rein of the shop. They seemed to be quite popular with passers-by. Spot the two in the photo above.

The older cat likes to lounge around the tops of shelves. Occasionally, it will hop up onto the cash register, where the food bowls are, and make it impossible for the owner to do his work.

The kitten (unrelated to the cat) is a mostly frightened baby. It jumps at each and every sound and stays on the lower rungs of the shelves.

The Blinding Doorway

(In Edogawabashi.)

What's up there?

In the bottom right corner, a white cat with an oddly squashed face.

Wild in the Head

The Suidobata Public Library.

I can't think of a more apt way to invite people to join the world of books.

Not Quite

(In Edogawabashi)

By the time this statement has been made, the climber has fallen off the mountain.