Rent Life Real Estate Agency, Japan: January 2015

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Yokohama District Immigration Office Access - Part III Torihama Station

This is Part III of our guide to the Yokohama District Immigration Office via the Seaside Line. Today's post will focus on leaving the train station and the approach to the Mitsui Outlet Park Yokohama Bayside, which is more often referred to simply as Yokohama Bayside Marina.

When you exit the station through the West Exit, you should see this sign with a park in the background. Once outside the station, make a quick right turn.

After making a right turn, you will see the red, paved sidewalk that runs parallel to the overhead rail line.

Walk down the sidewalk heading north. Keep an eye out for the pedestrian overpass on your right once you pass the station building.

These are the steps and bicycle ramp at the bottom of the pedestrian overpass. Take this overpass and head upwards.

Go up to the top of the pedestrian overpass where you will see a T-intersection. Going straight will send you back down. So, at the top, take a left and go over the highway (while going under the overhead expressway).

If you see this sign, you know you are following along the correct way.

This is the view at the top of the pedestrian overpass. Don't go back down the opposite stairs. Follow this pedestrian path under the elevated expressway.

If you see this sign, you know that you are following the correct route.

After passing under the elevated expressway, the pedestrian overpass will split in two. Avoid the path on the right. It will take you down to a street that lacks a pedestrian crossing. Take the path on the left which has a bridge going over the street and goes down on the other side of the street.

At the time of this shot, the bridge was under construction. So by the time of this post, the bridge may have been made wider.

Go across the pedestrian bridge.

Head down the other side of the bridge where you should see the water.

Another landmark is the red/rust colored building.

At the bottom of the bridge, there is an open space with railing at the water's edge.

Make a left turn and walk over to the sidewalk that runs opposite the 7-Eleven convenience store.

Rent Life Co., Ltd.
Shin-Yokohama Branch
Kaede Bldg. No. 2, 6th Floor
2-5-10 Kohoku-ku, Yokohama
Kanagawa Prefecture 222-0033
JAPAN
Tel. 045-470-3214
Email: e-yokohama@r-life.co.jp
URL: http://www.rent-yokohama.com/english/
Copyright Ⓒ 2014 Rent Life Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Yokohama District Immigration Office Access - Part II Torihama Station

This is Part II of our guide to the Yokohama District Immigration Office via the Seaside Line.
Once you board the Seaside Line at Shin-Sugita Station, you need to head for Torihama Station.

Above the doorways of the train, there signage that shows the name of each station and the estimated amount of time to reach each stop. Each stop has also been assigned a number. As shown above, Torihama Station is the third stop from Shin-Sugita Station.

Also, above the doorways are LED monitors indicating your current location along the train line. The monitor will switch between three different versions. The sign above is in standard Japanese. The red arrow indicates that you are between stops No. 2 and No. 3.

Then, the signs will switch from standard kanji characters to only hiragana characters. My guess that is version is intended for non-Japanese with some very basic Japanese reading and skills, and obviously for Japanese children who can't read kanji just yet.

Finally, the monitor will switch to an English version with the station names written using the English alphabet. So, once you get on the train, just be patient and the name of the station will eventually appear with a version that you can read.

After you disembark from the train at Torihama Station, your will notice what appear as two different routes for leaving the platform to reach the ground level. However, please take special care not to take the escalator since it is only for going up from the ground level to the platform.

The only two ways to leave the platform is to take the staircase shown in the foreground of the above picture. If you have a child and a baby stroller, or if you are unable to use the stairs, you can take the elevator as shown in the background of this picture above. Regardless, just remember not to try to take the escalator.

When taking the stairs, be sure to keep to the left. If the train or station is crowded, everyone will form two lines: keep to the left when going up and keep to the left when going down. Failure to follow this social convention will cause a "traffic jam" on the stairs, and you run the risk of getting injured or causing injury to others. Be safe and follow the customary rules of pedestrian traffic flow.

If you take the stairs or the elevator, you will see this view at the ground level. Vending machines on your right, the escalator in front, and straight ahead you can see the ticket gates for entering the station.

Follow the exit sign showing that you'll need to take a quick left.

Right past the escalator, you will see the ticket gates for exiting the station. Notice the red arrows.

Go through the ticket gates and once you go through the gates, you will need to make a quick left.

As you exit the station, you should see the entrance to a park and a blue sign with the words, "Yokohama Bayside Marina."

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Yokohama District Immigration Office Access - Part I Shin-Sugita Station

Do you live in Kanagawa Prefecture and need to renew your alien residency card? Maybe you still have the old one issued by your local city hall and need to convert over to the new one?

Well, the Yokohama District Immigration Office, which used to be behind the doll museum across the street from Yamashita Park has moved to a rather inconvenient location compared to before. Although you can take a bus to get there from Shin-Sugita Station on the Keihin Tohoku Line, I'd rather take the train there and turn the dreaded immigration office visit into a day of exploring and enjoyment. This post is first in a short series on how to get to the immigration office and what you can do on your way there or on your way back.

First, catch Ofuna-bound train or the Isogo-bound train on the Keihin Tohoku Negishi Line. Get off at Shin-Sugita Station, which is the 7th stop from Yokohama (approximately an 11- or 12-minute train ride).

Depending on which car you disembark from, you may first see this sign with the escalators going up and down.

Since there is only one exit, it doesn't mater which way you take to leave the platform.

This is the sign that you will see on the platform indicating that you are at Shin-Sugita Station.

Opposite the escalators is a staircase. If you disembark from one of the train cars near the front, you will see these stairs first. If you walk past the stairs, you will see the escalators on the other side.

Once you reach the bottom of the stairs or the escalator, you will come to the main corridor leading to the exit.

This is the only exit at the station, so it is quite easy to navigate.

Exit through the ticket gates with the green arrow. You can use a standard paper ticket, or an IC card like Suica or Pasmo.

Once you go through the exit, there will be a long corridor of shops on both sides. At the time of this picture, the right side of the corridor was under construction as was the ceiling.

Look for the sign that points to the staircase and elevator going up to Shin-Sugita Station on the Seaside Line (On some, but not all, JR has misspelled their own station name as "Sea Side" so just ignore the spelling. It's still the same station.)

This is a view of the stairs and escalator that will take you up to Shin-Sugita Station on the Seaside Line.

Just keep an eye out for the blue sign as shown above.

If you don't have a Pasmo or Suica, you will need to buy a paper ticket at any of these ATMs.

Since your destination is Torihama Station, your train fare will be 260 yen as shown in black in this photo.

If the ATM is not already on, just tap the screen to get started.

Tap "230" to purchase your ticket.

Use this part of the ATM when purchasing your ticket with yen bills.

This section is for purchasing tickets using coins. Note that 5-yen coins and 1-yen coins are not accepted.

After you tap the ticket price and then insert your cash, the ticket will come out here.

Although Suica and Pasmo cards are pretty much the same, I encourage anyone staying in Japan to get the Pasmo card. Suica is mostly limited to JR companies and their partners. Pasmo, however, can be used on any JR line in the Kanto area, convenience stores, private lines, as well as private and public buses and subways.

After you purchase your ticket, you need to then head toward the platform, which is on the same floor.

Enter the platform via the ticket gates closest to the ATMs on the left side of the corridor.

The entrance gates will have green arrows as shown above.

This train is actually an automated people mover. There is no conductor, and since Shin-Sugita is the terminal station, you can catch the train to Torihama using either track. In this shot, the train was waiting for departure on Track 2.

Here, we can see a passenger waiting for the train on Track 1.

Again, it doesn't matter which track you take. Either one will get you on your way!