EMU Sotetsu 12000 series stands at JR East Shinjuku station on the Shonan-Shinjuku line
Winter is known as a season of street illumination. Urban streets are nicely decorated with millions of LED lights. It is not known exactly what the origin of this event was, but I think that it can be traced to the Christmas lights to attract customers to shopping malls.
This year, I visited the Southern Terrace of Shinjuku station for the first time in three years. I saw many visitors, who were sewing in the woods of lights, called "Minamillumi". Minamillumi is a compound word of minami (south) in Japanese and illumination in English. Different from several years ago, winter illuminations in Tokyo became simple. For instance, colorful illuminations disappeared, probably because people were bored. Instead, single-colored illumination such as "champagne gold" became popular among Tokyoites. Minamillumi is no exception. I enjoyed the new illumination design with my family.
On the way back home, I found a Sotetsu (Sagami Railway) train, the EMU 12000 series, standing at JR East Shinjuku station. Why was the Sotetsu train there? It was because Sotetsu trains started to be directly operated onto the JR East line on November 30th. Using the newly constructed JR-Sotetsu direct line, residents on the Sotetsu line in Kanagawa Prefecture, can directly come to Shinjuku, a subcenter of the Tokyo Metropolis. As you may know, Shinjuku is the world's largest railway station. The ridership is 3.5 million passengers per day.
I am going to report this new Sotetsu-JR East direct operation in the next post. To be continued...
This year, I visited the Southern Terrace of Shinjuku station for the first time in three years. I saw many visitors, who were sewing in the woods of lights, called "Minamillumi". Minamillumi is a compound word of minami (south) in Japanese and illumination in English. Different from several years ago, winter illuminations in Tokyo became simple. For instance, colorful illuminations disappeared, probably because people were bored. Instead, single-colored illumination such as "champagne gold" became popular among Tokyoites. Minamillumi is no exception. I enjoyed the new illumination design with my family.
On the way back home, I found a Sotetsu (Sagami Railway) train, the EMU 12000 series, standing at JR East Shinjuku station. Why was the Sotetsu train there? It was because Sotetsu trains started to be directly operated onto the JR East line on November 30th. Using the newly constructed JR-Sotetsu direct line, residents on the Sotetsu line in Kanagawa Prefecture, can directly come to Shinjuku, a subcenter of the Tokyo Metropolis. As you may know, Shinjuku is the world's largest railway station. The ridership is 3.5 million passengers per day.
I am going to report this new Sotetsu-JR East direct operation in the next post. To be continued...
Night view of Southern Terrace (Minamillumi) of Shinjuku station