Shibuya Station

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Photos by Jawaad Mahmood

Shibuya Station, originally uploaded by Jawaad Mahmood.

On my way to a Robert Walters event, I snapped this picture of Shibuya. I love that place, but I rarely get a chance to go (eventhough there is a direct train from my place).

It’s the kind of place that’s great to go when you have money, and torture otherwise.

The Canadian: Montreal to Vancouver by Rail (Part 1)

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Jawaad

: Me in Montreal’s grand central train station.

: A VIA station between Montreal and Toronto

: Toronto’s Union Station is the largest train stations in Canada.

: The Canadian, unlike the old Supercontinental, uses the Canadian National tracks to reach Vancouver. (The SC used to use the Canadian Pacific tracks)

: Eating and reading seems to be the only way to spend those 4 days between Montreal and Vancouver.

: On long haul trips, this car allows you to socialize while observing the outside. Parties happen inside as well.

: I heard it was a good movie.

: The Canadian has these metalic stairs to get onto the platforms

I’m back home in Montreal so I thought I’d share some of the older pictures, sans the idiotic text I polluted my old pics with. You are free to use this pics as you please, but please provide me with credit and link to this page.

Okubo Revisited

Posted on April 24, 2009 by Jawaad

It is a cruel reality truth that foreigners in Japan have a hard time finding a place to stay. Â I paid my dues while looking for a real place to stay with a 1 month stay in Okubo, the infamous “Korean town” of Tokyo. Â Although centrally located, real estate values here can’t compare to neighbouring Shinjuku. Â This is undoubtedly due to the (minimal) crime in the area.

Oddly enough, my stay in Okubo was quite good. Â The location was clean, there was a Halal grocery around the corner, and I was never accosted (even when walking outside late at night). Â Unfortunately, the shared house was sold to someone else and I had to move out. Â I have a wealth of stories from my time here (like the time I ran outside in my underwear to help a woman who was attacked by a purse snatcher), but they will have to wait for another time. :robot:Â

: Shin Okubo (New Okubo) is one of two train stations in the area; this is on the Tokyo loop (Yamanote) line, while Okubo Station is on the Chuo-ou (Central) line.

: Poverty is in plain display in Okubo. You can be sure he is Japanese; a foreigner would be deported immediately.

: I can’t forget how odd the powerlines looked to me when I first came to Canada. Unlike in Montreal, there are no back yards to hide these eyesores in.

: Okubo’s Korean minority serves up swine in bulk.

: Okubo is a last resort for unwanted foreigners to find a place to stay.

: Mere minutes from foreigner-filled Okubo, the prostitution-plaged Kabukicho is bright and black at the same time.

Whoops

Posted on April 16, 2009 by Jawaad

Hikarigaoka Park is used for Barbeques and skateboarding on the weekend. A lot of the boarders are new, and practice jumping over small obstacles. Not all of them make it. uch: