The Yamanote Line

Now the Yamanote Line she’s a mighty good road
Oh the Yamanote Line she’s the road to ride
Oh the Yamanote Line she’s a mighty good road
Well if you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Yamanote Line.

I’m sure that we all recall Stan Freberg’s version of "The Rock Island Line."

***

The Yamanote Line runs clockwise and counter-clockwise around Tokyo, stopping at all of the major neighborhoods, but I never did quite figure out how to tell which direction to take. Access to our hotel was from the Shinbashi station; getting off the train one is confronted by a maze of buildings, wires and signs. I took a three-photo panorama from the station platform.

Down at street level there are small businesses as part of the station, with trains rushing overhead and the buildings of Shiodome in the distance.

Photos: Shinbashi Station Platform—Tokyo, 2008; Restaurant, Shinbashi Station—Tokyo, 2008