Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- 1 Odakyū-sen
- 2 Shinjuku Station
- 3 Shinjuku
- 4 Mukōgaoka-yūen North
- 5 Mukōgaoka-yūen South
- 6 Mukōgaoka-yūen Platform
- 7 January Monday
- 8 Odakyū Notables
- 9 Odakyū Line Sounds Familiar
- 10 Train Notices
- 11 Odakyū Commercials
- 12 February Tuesday
- 13 Odakyū Keitaispracht
- 14 By-line, Setagaya Line
- 15 March Wednesday
- 16 Odakyū Day-out Sendagi
- 17 Shimo-Kitazawa
- 18 Bicycle!
- 19 Odakyū Bike Interview – Toda-san
- 20 International Interlude via Narita Airport
- 21 Keitai Train Culture
- 22 April Thursday
- 23 Odakyū Tamagawa
- 24 Station Sights
- 25 Odakyū-sen, Yoyogi-Hachiman Eki
- 26 May Friday
- 27 Mukoōgaoka-yūen, Day for Night
- 28 Odakyū Day-out, Hakone
- 29 June Saturday
- 30 Odakyū Commercials
- 31 Odakyū Smokes
- 32 By-line, Nambu Line
- 33 Odakyū Bag Watch
- 34 Seijo Times
- 35 Odakyū Day-out, Yokohama
- 36 July Sunday
- 37 Odakyū Trains of Thought
- 38 Train Signs, Train Sounds
- 39 By-line, Tama Express
- 40 August Monday
- 41 Odakyū Day-out, Chiba
- 42 September Tuesday
- 43 Odakyū Lady-grooming
- 44 Odakyū and Near-Odakyū Women’s Hairday
- 45 Odakyū Evenings-out
- 46 October Wednesday
- 47 Odakyū Day-out, Ibaraki
- 48 Chikan! Odakyū Misbehaviour
- 49 November Thursday
- 50 Odakyū Blues
- 51 Odakyū Men’s Haircut
- 52 Odakyū Day-out, Ō-Sumo
- 53 December Friday
- 54 Odakyū Store
- 55 Odakyū Bookshelf
- 56 Last Train
- Glossary
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- 1 Odakyū-sen
- 2 Shinjuku Station
- 3 Shinjuku
- 4 Mukōgaoka-yūen North
- 5 Mukōgaoka-yūen South
- 6 Mukōgaoka-yūen Platform
- 7 January Monday
- 8 Odakyū Notables
- 9 Odakyū Line Sounds Familiar
- 10 Train Notices
- 11 Odakyū Commercials
- 12 February Tuesday
- 13 Odakyū Keitaispracht
- 14 By-line, Setagaya Line
- 15 March Wednesday
- 16 Odakyū Day-out Sendagi
- 17 Shimo-Kitazawa
- 18 Bicycle!
- 19 Odakyū Bike Interview – Toda-san
- 20 International Interlude via Narita Airport
- 21 Keitai Train Culture
- 22 April Thursday
- 23 Odakyū Tamagawa
- 24 Station Sights
- 25 Odakyū-sen, Yoyogi-Hachiman Eki
- 26 May Friday
- 27 Mukoōgaoka-yūen, Day for Night
- 28 Odakyū Day-out, Hakone
- 29 June Saturday
- 30 Odakyū Commercials
- 31 Odakyū Smokes
- 32 By-line, Nambu Line
- 33 Odakyū Bag Watch
- 34 Seijo Times
- 35 Odakyū Day-out, Yokohama
- 36 July Sunday
- 37 Odakyū Trains of Thought
- 38 Train Signs, Train Sounds
- 39 By-line, Tama Express
- 40 August Monday
- 41 Odakyū Day-out, Chiba
- 42 September Tuesday
- 43 Odakyū Lady-grooming
- 44 Odakyū and Near-Odakyū Women’s Hairday
- 45 Odakyū Evenings-out
- 46 October Wednesday
- 47 Odakyū Day-out, Ibaraki
- 48 Chikan! Odakyū Misbehaviour
- 49 November Thursday
- 50 Odakyū Blues
- 51 Odakyū Men’s Haircut
- 52 Odakyū Day-out, Ō-Sumo
- 53 December Friday
- 54 Odakyū Store
- 55 Odakyū Bookshelf
- 56 Last Train
- Glossary
Summary
Seijo has become something of a stellar station, still only two platforms but double-tracked on either side. It has a newly minted Mall, four levels. Why? It does not, after all, have interconnecting Lines. There is a university but that would not quite do it. There is the Kurosawa/Toho Studios connection. But the real reason, one has to suspect, is that this is prime Tokyo turf. Prime real-estate.
Seijo exists at the southern edge of Tōkyo-tō – the tō signifying metropolis, right at the border with Kanagawa-ken where Mukōgaoka-yūen and all stations on to Machida and beyond belong. It is full of high-price mansions, veritable trophy housing. So maybe the station has been be-malled to suit. Whatever the explanation it now has a whole phalanx of restaurants, clothes shops, knick-knack places and up-market groceries.
MALL
Four levels. Enter by the street and you have a comprehensive wallwarning: ‘No Smoking, No Open Flame, No Dangerous Goods.’ You also have the Organic Caf e Gris (‘Green Innocence Organic’) and the Albion Caf e (‘Precious Coffee Moments’). To the groundlevel 1F South there is a Starbucks, a kōban, a Trois Gros bakery. To 1F North you have the Hotel de Suzuki for fruits and the Pharmacy Nira. Head up the escalator and one upon another gallery opens to you. 2F has the Hansel and Gretel clothes shop, plus an Italian-style restaurant called Elévé. At 3F and you have access to the Gaba, the English Language School, and Asta Aveda, the toiletries and hairdressing salon. Reach 4F and you are literally at a ceiling of restaurants. Tempura and soba Japanese. Slow Chinese Food (socalled). Another Italian restaurant. A French-style restaurant.
The whole amounts to Seijo as tiered shop and eat parade. A silhouette of Tokyo. With Odakyū trains ever-ready.
And in a nice flourish
Seijo
Mall
gives
you
a
rooftop
olive
tree
garden
with
restaurants
to hand
Eating in
Eating out
Different
Menus
SEIJO TRAIN TIMETABLE
This is something of an electronic beauty. It not only gives all arriving and departing trains as expected. It alternates Japanese with English and in colour-coded interactive design. Worth staring at for itself and never mind the trains.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Tokyo CommuteJapanese Customs and Way of Life Viewed from the Odakyū Line, pp. 129 - 133Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2011