Walking along the Kanda River | Discover Yodobashi Bridge! | Shinjuku - Takadanobaba

Walking along the Kanda River | Discover Yodobashi Bridge! | Shinjuku – Takadanobaba

As a lover of electrical products, I often visit Yodobashi Camera at Shinjuku West Exit. On a walk along the Kanda River, I found the Yodobashi Bridge, which gave the camera its name. The Yodobashi Bridge got its name from the Yodo River.

I found a pylon with no power lines!

I continue my walk from Takarabashi Bridge, which I reached in my last walk along the Kanda River.

Training pylon at TEPCO’s Tokyo Customer Center No. 2

Soon, I found a short pylon!

But there were no wires strung to the pylon, and there were no wires extending from the three guises on the left. It was obviously strange.

When I came closer, I found that the sign on the tower said, “Nishi-Ome Line No. 1, Nishi-Ome to Kun 1, 66,000V. As for the voltage, I know that 66,000V is applied, but I don’t know much more than that.

When I got home and googled, I found out that this is a TEPCO customer center, and the equipment seems to be for training purposes.

However, the old 25,000:1 map that I have at hand has a substation marked on it, so there may be a substation in the building or underground.

Found the Yodobashi bridge!

Yodobashi Bridge

At the intersection of the Kanda River and the Ome Road, I found the Yodobashi Bridge, from which the Yodobashi water purification plant and Yodobashi Camera got their names.

It is said that Iemitsu, the third shogun, named the bridge Yodobashi because the scenery reminded him of the Yodo River.

The original Yodobashi water purification plant and Yodobashi Camera are 1km away in a straight line, which seems a bit too far to be the origin of the name. Was it a nod to the Shogun’s prestige?

While I was taking pictures, the pigeons on the “Shinjuku-ku” sign came down one after another and surrounded me, so I ran away as soon as possible.

I found a mermaid statue!

Monitoring garbage dumping? Mermaid Statue

As I passed Okubo-dori, I came across a statue of a mermaid. There is no explanation near the statue. But there is a sign that says “No Trash”, so I guess she is monitoring people to make sure they don’t throw trash. It looks as if she is shedding tears for people who have bad manners.

I discovered that Tezuka Productions has an AED!

Kotakibashi bridge

The mermaid I saw earlier was a bit cartoonish.

And now I was at Kotakibashi bridge.

At this point, I felt as if I had received a revelation that I should look for Tezuka Productions in the vicinity. So I decided to take a detour about 400 meters to the east.

Tezuka Productions

Tezuka Productions is located on a street just off Suwa-dori. So the sign is Atom.

Tezuka Osamu is a licensed physician and has a doctorate in medicine. This is different from Black Jack.

A search of his dissertation in the National Diet Library Search shows that the date of conferral is January 19, 1961 (Showa 36). His degree is Doctor of Medicine. The report number is unknown, so I don’t know if it is a doctor within a course or a thesis doctor.

I don’t know if it was directed by Tezuka Osamu, who had those qualifications, but pay attention to the lower right corner of the photo. It says “AED. I thought it was a message from Tezuka Production to convey the importance of life.

Kanda River and Myoshoji River

Ochiai Water Reclamation Center

I returned to the Kotaki Bridge and soon found the Ochiai Water Reclamation Center. The name “Ochiai” refers to the confluence of rivers. In other words, it is near the (old) confluence of the Kanda River and the Myoshoji River.

As we walked around, we saw water reclamation centers here and there. The Ochiai Water Reclamation Center doesn’t look like a huge plant from the outside.

Takadanobaba diversion channel

The Takadanobaba diversion channel appeared.

There are steps so that when the water level of the Kanda River rises, water flows into the diversion channel.

The water level was low that day, so the diversion channel was dry.

The confluence of the Takadanobaba diversion channel and the Myojoji River

From near Shimo-ochiai station, the road along the Kanda River disappears.

I had no choice but to cross the Takizawa Bridge and cross the Seibu Shinjuku Line. As it turned out, I was fortunate to have taken this route and found the confluence of the Takadanobaba diversion channel and the Myoshoji River. The water flowing out of the curtain-like area on the left is the Takadanobaba diversion channel, and the one flowing from the right to the front is the Myoshoji River.

Hey, the Takadanobaba diversion channel was dry earlier, wasn’t it? Why is there water coming out?

The reason could be that the water from the Ochiai Water Reclamation Center flows under the Seibu Shinjuku Line and joins the Takadanobaba Diversion Canal, which in turn joins here. This would mean that the water level from the Ochiai Water Reclamation Center is higher than that of the Takadanobaba Diversion Canal. I wonder if the reason for the curtain is to prevent people from going to the confluence point, which is dangerous because it looks like a waterfall.

The re-junction of the Takadanobaba diversion channel and the Myojoji River

If you look downstream, you will see that the water streams that have been brought together have diverged again.

They seem to flow under Shin-Mejiro-dori Avenue and join at Takado Bridge near the intersection with Meiji-dori Avenue.

It is unclear why they are bifurcated. Is it for maintenance purposes?

In the photo, it looks like there is a dividing ditch cut into each channel to dam up the water.

Kanda River and Sakaedori Shopping Street

I came to the entrance of Saekaedori. Sakae-dori is a nice street with a Showa era atmosphere.

It goes all the way to the front of Takadanobaba station, so I just came back.

Walking data

Course: JR Yamanote Line Shinjuku Station -> Kanda River -> JR Yamanote Line Takadanobaba Station
Distance: 7.4km
Time: 1h30m