My first trip to Japan was Mumbai – Osaka – Tokyo (Haneda) on an ANA flight. I remember taking the Tokyo Monorail from Haneda Airport to reach Hamamatsucho. The city view was fantastic dotted with various warehouses along the way of the bay area of Tokyo. Significant development has happened over the past 15 years especially around Shinagawa area and Tennozu Isle with many high rise buildings and commercial operations in this warehouse dominated area. I took a morning walk in the area around Tennozu Isle and took some snaps with iPhone 6.
The Tennozu Isle is close to Shinagawa and in the past few years when the Shinagawa Shinkansen (bullet train) began operations, you can spot them from around this station. We parked our car and from the parking lot got this Monorail in the front and the Shinkansen in backdrop…
The bay area has good walkways built and we spotted many joggers giving us company. It is not at all crowded though and you can enjoy a leisure walk in and around the area. A Tokyo Monorail passes by while we enjoy our walk as below. Surprised to see a couple of paddle boats too early in the morning enjoying their boat rides while Tokyo Monorail goes around doing its task carrying passengers from the Airport to Tokyo. The leisure activity when observed from the train must be quite relaxing after a long flight trip…The seafront area has really changed. Once a warehouse district, the area was transformed by waterfront planning that saw the area reborn as a modern city. Apartment complexes have come up in this area. With the Olympic coming up further development is expected to happen around the bay area.With residential complexes other facilities have also started coming up, with the most significant one being the addition of a connection to the Rinkai Line, which makes access to recreational spots like Odaiba and Disneyland smooth and easy.The area has many bridges and the Monorail travels up and down around these installations, below is one ascent of the train going towards Haneda while passing below the red bridge structure. Our morning walk also took us up a pedestrian bridge over a national highway road and the view of the Tokyo Monorail from up there was simply superb. The highway did not have traffic since access was closed due to a cycling competition in the town. We waited for cyclists to appear, but none in sight…A few clouds and no strong sunshine keeps the walk bearable and I was thankful that I had a good exercise without sweating a lot and getting exhausted. I am lazy, hate heavy “sweat” workoutsA guard railing on the bridge and the Tokyo Monorail in the background..After a walk of around 4 kilometers, I returned back to Tennozu Isle. At the foot of Tennozu Isle Station is Seafort Square. Greeted by a wooden walkway that stretches along the river, lined with popular shops, cafes, restaurants, theaters, I started hunting for a coffee shop. A morning cappuccino with no sugar yeah awesome walk, awesome coffee, life is great! I am pretty sure that nighttime here, with a backdrop of apartments and skyscrapers reflected in the river, is perfect for an unforgettable date. Will come back again evening time.
A morning well spent, got into car and my wife drove us back home, a last look from the car window for one final shot of the Tokyo Monorail, my first train experience in Japan.