Virtual Aobadai - Photos of Aobadai in Yokohama, Japan

Virtual Tour of Aobadai, Yokohama

Introduction

Unlike cities in North America, city dwellers in Japan have a much stronger local identity with their local communities. Apart from work, they can carry on most life functions within a small area. As a result, the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area is essentially made up of many, many small towns, connected by a complex network of train lines used by virtually everyone. For that reason, most businesses cluster within a five minute walk of the train stations. After the small business districts, residential neighborhoods start. First, you have neighborhoods where everybody can tell you exactly how many minutes (walking) they live from the train station. Then you reach a point where they ride bikes, and then buses and cars. Generally, housing gets cheaper as you moved further from the station, because it's a hardship to rely on buses and cars in daily life.

Each community tends to reflect the nearest train station. Some are fast paced urban centers. But just five minutes down the line, you'll come to a community in the city where rice paddies spread out from the edge of the station area. Even within Tokyo, you come across cabbage patches in the shadows of condominiums. Actually, that's a tax shelter. Land under cultivation is not subject to the normal property taxes.

Just a few years ago, Aobadai was a sleepy train station with a few businesses and then older residential neighborhoods. You would have found many small shops selling the essentials and not much happening. But then the developers came. Today, Aobadai is a large, thriving station with a modern mall, trendy stores, and lots hip things to do. That sets the character of the community. Many young families have moved into the area, and lots of shoppers come from nearby communities each day.

We live within a five minute walk of the Aobadai train station, right on the edge of the business district. It's an ideal place for us in many respects, because we can find all our daily needs within a five minute walk from our home. Our rent was a good deal, too, because we moved in right at the end of the "moving season," just when owners start to get desperate.

That's enough introduction. Please come back. This version of "Virtual Aobadai" is just scratching the surface. We are new here. As our relationships grow, this page will grow and offer deeper insights into the life and people of this place.

Scroll down and click on any photo to see a larger version.

	Aobadai Station is a really a modern mall, with trendy clothing stores and shops, including this bakery. Outside to the right you catch a bus to other parts of Aoba-ku. Outside to the left is Tokyu Square, where you'll find a Starbucks and more places to spend money in a hurry.

It's a place to watch people, and to make sure people are watching you.		Schoolgirls rule the streets with attitude and the power to sway marketing execs. It's a fact that many of their skirts suddenly get shorter as soon as school lets out.
	The station is the hub of the community, so people of all ages and varieties pass on the streets outside going about their daily business.
Aobadai is a home to many young families, so children and moms pushing strollers are everywhere.		And just about all of them buy Aprica strollers...
	These children dancing outside Tokyu Square belong to a local sports club. For 7000 Yen (US$50) a child can go to the club with a parent, starting at the age of four months, and participate in many activities. The club often has fifty or more strollers parked outside. After watching the kids dance for awhile, I realized that they were performing to an absolutely violent and profane rap song. Oops.
Step inside Tokyu and grab yourself a cup of coffee, a latte, or a Carmel Macchiato. The standard size that most people order in Japan is "short." They have those cups in the USA, but somewhere under the counter. A cup of coffee is only slightly cheaper than a latte, so you'll be tempted to upgrade (or stop drinking coffee at Starbucks, as in my case).
	Life passes by in front of Starbucks. A young girl in a private pre-school uniform waits for her mom.
A high school boy heads for the escalator. Every school has a different uniform, and it's generally fashionable to wear them.		A young woman checks for email messages on her cell phone. Everywhere you go people are reading and sending email.
	Just a few meters form Starbucks, the clothing store on the first floor provides this table for children. Videos play all day, and the children can play with big Legos and crayons.
	Muji is on the second floor of Tokyu. Everything there is plain. It's a Japanese Ikea, but with higher prices. Muji has a trendy cafe right above Starbucks, but their coffee is just plain bad.
You can walk to three big electronics stores within a short distance of Aobadai Station, and different people say each one is the best and cheapest. They all carry the same merchandise with small variations. These photos are from Ishimaru, on the fourth floor of Tokyu Square.
	Cell phones are an essential gadget for young people. To stay trendy, upgrade to the latest model twice a year. Fax machines are common because most people still don't use email from home. The Walkman continues to evolve in style and function. You can buy a toilet seat for 900,000 Yen (US$700) that will clean and blow dry your posterior. Or spend a similar amount on a rice cooker that does who knows what, in addition to cooking perfect rice. Every decent electronics store has several rows of massage chairs to sample. The latest washing machines seem to be slightly bigger than they were last year. Finally, many companies are strongly promoting ADSL for home Internet access.



Outside Tokyu Square, the regular business district begins.		Starting with the ever present Mister Donut, which used to be the only place to get a cup of coffee.
	Banks cluster around the station. Bikes are parked outside. Inside people use ATM's not only to get cash, but also to pay their rent and other bills.
	Young people gather at a bookstore across the street. They mainly like magazines about fashion, trends and girls. The most popular books are comic style and target the same basic instincts -- er, interests.
Japanese people of all ages spend inordinate amounts of time and money playing Pachinko. Players shoot little steel balls into a maze, hoping to win small prizes.		Aobadai has at least five huge Pachinko complexes within a short walk of the station, and they're always packed with people lost in their own private worlds.
	Heading out from the station, the 100 Yen store is great for bargain hunters. 100 Yen is about 75 cents (US). A nearby arcade fills up with high school students each day after school.
	Along the way, you may may be surprised by the some of the products available in vending machines.
Notice the World Cup poster in the window. The final will be here in Yokohama!	The main branch of the Post Office is just across from the 100 Yen store. Post Offices in Japan offer many services: savings accounts, money exchange, and insurance. Recently the Post Office has been converting all its ATM's to work with international Visa credit/debit cards -- good news for foreigners living and visiting here!
		Many markets are located within minutes of the station. Tsunekawa and Seijo Ishii are almost side-by-side. Tsunekawa is cheaper, and Seijo Ishii has more imported foods (and pretty good deals on cheese!).
	The markets are all quite similar overall. They are small compared to grocery stores in the USA, and they focus on ingredients for Japanese cooking. Items are packaged in small quantities, like this package of hamburger (which comes to about US$8 a pound). Even Oreos come in smaller bags, but the price is right!

Beans is one of the coolest shops in Aobadai. Choose from a selection of raw coffee beans, and the owner (a very friendly young man) will roast and grind it for you on the spot. He will invite you to sit down at a small table in the back (usually with another waiting customer). Then he will serve you coffee while you wait. It's amazing, and the price is reasonable.		Raw coffee beans are lined up in baskets along the wall.
	As you continue to wander in the area around the station, you will marvel at all the hairdresser shops, and at the young, fashion elite being shampooed, massaged and coated with mud inside. It's tempting to stand and stare through the large windows. The owners or workers in each shop are fashion icons themselves, with amazing hair. They dream of rising above the competition.	The sign outside a salon.
The street behind Tokyu is refreshingly quiet. Straight ahead, you can just see where the train passes on the way to Tokyo.		As you face this direction, the J-Phone outlet is behind you, two big bicycle parking lots are under the train tracks, and Freshness Burger is ahead and to the left. Would you care for a Lasagna Burger?

XAX is the Sports Club where those dancing kids came from. It's quite huge, as you can see. There is a full size swimming pool on the fourth floor.		Plus there is basketball, aerobics, some martial arts, and even a place to hit golf balls. On the bottom floor there are rows of massage chairs where you can sit and read the paper.
	Residences start appearing just 50 meters from the train station. The "manshons" on the left are built on top of businesses. Looking down a side street, you can see nice homes crowded in a row.
We live in this "manshon" style apartment building, right across the street from the sports club.		And Beans, the coffee roasting shop, is in the building next door.
	Parks are an important part of the community, too. We can walk to three small parks. Usually, there are several mothers with children. Sometimes, fathers come.
	See you!
Sayonara!		Matane!