3 Days in Shimbashi

I pass through Shimbashi(acctually I pass through Shiodome, but same thing) every day going to school. Up until last Friday, I also worked there, so I was going all the time. However, with this project, it was definately the first time I had ever stopped and just observed the area around the station. I actually worked in Ginza, so it was a different, but Shimbashi has more or less the same type of people.
First, I should probably started by saying Shimbashi has quite the history as a station. In fact, it has THE longest history of any train station in Japan, as the first train on Japan's Shimbashi - Yokohama line departed from there in 1872. Although it was destroyed in 1929 during the great Kantou Earthquake, it was then soon rebuild and took its place as one of the hubs of Tokyo Transit.
In 1972, they even placed a C11 Steam Locomotive near the station for its 100th anniversary. It now sits right outside the gates and serves as a meeting place and is in the middle of the 「SL広場」 or SL Plaza, which is so named for the Steam Locomotive in the middle of it.
Seeing as how Shimbashi station has been a staple of Tokyo Trains for over a hundred years, I figured I would go and see for myself what people thought of the area, and whether it's changed since they have been visiting it.



Before I explain my problems, One of my questions was "What do you think of when you think of Shimbashi?"

Younger Non-Salaryman


"It has a kind of 'Old Man's Town' image"



Mid 30's Salaryman

"Eh? A Salaryman's Town?"

As you can see from their answers, everyone thinks of it as an "Old Man's Town" and that is where I ran into problems. Most Old Japanese Businessmen willl not stop for an interview. Observing and writing about them on the first two days, it didn't seem like a problem at all, tons of people waiting in front of that train, tons of traffic, I figured with that many people, it'd be no problem to find enough people to talk to. However, after spending two hours asking people, I ended up only getting two people, both of which were rather on the young side. I had a multitude of excuses ranging from "I'm waiting for something" to the strangest being "I'm a security guard for over there" by a guy in short and drinking a beer. I'm gonna walk out on a limb and say that he may have been lying just a squidge, but who knows, plain clothes guards may be allowed to drink on the job, I doubt it, but then again, this is Japan.
What I really learned from this exercise is just sitting and observing and writing about someplace is a completely different thing that trying to actually get in and figure out what those people you are watching think. I ran into another group with a Camera and Mic trying to interview and such as well, they seemed to be having a bit more luck, probably because they both looked more professional and were Japanese. So, I think when I do my full project, I will definately do at least some of it with another person to try and make it look a bit more professional.


The Original plan was to also ask the interviewed about how Shimbashi station had changed since they the first time they had come to it. This was also planned with the thought of how many older Salarymen there were, as I could ask them how it was 20 or 30 years ago. This also failed as they kept ignoring me, or simply refusing/walking away/lying..etc etc. I also hit the wall of Japanese Tatemae( giving stock answers and whatnot) when I asked "How has Shimbashi Station and the Area around it changed since the first time you came?"


Younger Non-Salaryman



"It's only been a year since I first came here, so I'm not really sure what's changed"


30's Salaryman

"It's gotten a bit cleaner." "Trash and Such?" "Ya...like that"


This too kinda turned into a learning experience, so I definately need to figure out a new interviewing strategy and such before I do my main project.