Like I’ve said before, if I see a hill, I want to go up it. Here’s a photo from the top of one such intriguing hill in Kajigaya. I took this photo on an aimless morning walk after checking out of my hotel in Kawasaki. After posting it, I wanted to show a friend in Japan the actual location that I took the photo…
Since “hill that Slonie found to be intriguing” doesn’t appear to be in Google’s directory (yet), I found the actual location by virtually following the route I walked that day. When I found it, a custom map was born!
The photo was taken facing North-East across that empty lot...
But, I started to get a little carried away, by searching out all kinds of locations I visited in Japan and adding them to the same map. Perhaps it’s obsessive, but it’s so fun to do! So here we go, my map of Japan…
Slonie Japan » (Google Maps)
This isn’t the first time I’ve done it, either. Back when I found out that Google had enabled Street View for Japan, I was struck with a serious bout of nostalgia for my 2007 trip. I wanted to see the apartment that had become my adopted home in Japan, but I didn’t have the address. With Street View, I was able to use my recollection of the walk to virtually find my way from Tsutsujigaoka station to John’s apartment (thanks John!). As a bonus, I was able to see what it looked like when it snows in Tokyo.
Of course, such obsessive attempts at recalling the location at which a photo was taken have already been rendered obsolete by geotagging technology. I have no doubt that my next pocket camera will have a GPS receiver, and I’ll never “have” to do such a thing again. But with it, I’ll lose the sense of discovery that I get by re-tracing my steps on a map. Oh well, that’s progress!
Addendum:
Some details on the regular (non-satellite) mapset on Google are amazing! It blows my mind that somebody actually mapped the staircases inside this small park that I wandered through on a walk from Takanobaba to Ikebukuro. Yet here they are…
A bit 
I did the same thing.. Used Street View to locate that ramen shop near the police station in Shibuya that Kia had recommended, so that I could direct a friend there.
Blog looks very nice… chapeau. I’m pedaling squares with the stylo at the moment but have managed, unoriginally, to not jot down a few sentences about getting fat during the winter. Keep on traveling.
Thanks man! When you do write new posts, we’ll be ready to read them! I’m on my own winter de-training plan myself, having been mostly off the bike for a few weeks. But more on that later. The first Grasshopper is only a week away!
You walked down that far?!?! I didn’t know. I’ve never even been to that area haha.
I walked even further, actually! I walked as far as the Toys R Us… Added to the Map, of course…