Difference between revisions of "2012-10-08 35 139"

Revision as of 07:53, 8 October 2012

Location

On the edge of a street in Misato, Saitama prefecture.

Participants

Plans

Take Tsukuba Express to Minami-Nagareyama. Take JR Musashino Line to Misato. Maybe pass by a shrine indicated on GoogleMaps.

Expedition

After pondering whether to go on this geohash alone (I invited a fellow foreigner friend to come along, but he politely declined), I finally decided this might be the most accessible hash spot I would get during my stay in Japan. So I went for it!

I carefully copied the GoogleMaps map of the area (no printer...), and wrote down the names of the stations and train lines in "normal" letters and in Kanji (you never know when you'll stop seeing translations). I grabbed my compass and camera and I was off!

I rode my self-rolling-car ([[1]]) to the train station, charged my PASMO card and boarded the Tsukuba Express! Around me were sleeping Japanese, and I wondered how they know they will wake up in time for their station... For a reason unknown to me, we were instructed to transfer to a different train to get to Minami-Nagareyama, but it all went very smoothly. At Minami-Nagareyama a took a short train ride (1 station) to Misato, and there I was. Now, with the help of my (sometimes fickle) compass and the more reliable signs, I took the South Exit from the train station.

Misato is a small and, well, ugly, city. But it has the most beautiful sewer covers I've ever seen! I followed the "Wide Street" to the "River", turned right, turned left at the next bridge, kept to the right at the fork, and in a couple of minutes I was at the shrine I had identified on Google Maps!

I visited the shrine, but was too self-conscious to do the ritual of cleaning my hands and mouth. I made a small donation and took a couple of photos. I noticed a yucky smell all around, which I had noticed the day before during a bike-ride. I saw the same orange fruits on the ground, and some Ginkgo leaves, and I suddenly recalled reading on Wikipedia that female Ginkgos have stinky fruit and are therefore avoided in cities. I can now quote (see article for original references):

“	Female plants do not produce cones. Two ovules are formed at the end of a stalk, and after pollination, one or both develop into seeds. The seed is 1.5–2 cm long. Its fleshy outer layer (the sarcotesta) is light yellow-brown, soft, and fruit-like. It is attractive in appearance, but contains butyric acid (also known as butanoic acid) and smells like rancid butter or vomit when fallen.	”
—Wikipedia, Ginkgo Biloba article

How fascinating!

From the shrine it was just a short walk to the hash, and everything was quite clear from the map. In order to get as close as possible to the hash without a GPS, I had made a small calculation as to where on the length of the street the hash was. I "measured" the length in steps (54), and then multiplied by 0.26 and took that number of steps. I got close to the fence, and was at the hash!! I photographed my map, compass and striped socks + sandals at the hashpoint. Sadly I cannot share them yet, because I have no way to get the photos from the camera to the computer...

I then treated myself to a Japanese sweet at the local "Food Square". The Japanese are very enthusiastic about wrapping and packaging, so my sweet (already packaged -- already doubly packaged, I would later find out) was placed inside a paper bag before it was handed to me.

Photos

Photos yet to come (no camera cable...)

Achievements

This user earned the Globetrotter achievement

by visiting hashpoints on 2 continents.

This user earned the Land geohash achievement

by reaching the (35, 139) geohash on 2012-10-08.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 <!-- If you did not specify these parameters in the template, please substitute appropriate values for IMAGE, LAT, LON, and DATE (YYYY-MM-DD format)
@@ Line 10: / Line 9: @@
 -->
 {{meetup graticule
-| lat=latitude of graticule
+| lat=35
-| lon=longitude of graticule
+| lon=139
-| date=date of expedition, in YYYY-MM-DD format
+| date=2012-10-08
 }}
@@ Line 18: / Line 17: @@
 __NOTOC__
 == Location ==
-<!-- where you've surveyed the hash to be -->
+On the edge of a street in Misato, Saitama prefecture.
 == Participants ==
-<!-- who attended: If you link to your wiki user name in this section, your expedition will be picked up by the various statistics generated for geohashing. You may use three tildes ~ as a shortcut to automatically insert the user signature of the account you are editing with.
+[[User:Lizwiz|LizWiz]]
--->
 == Plans ==
-<!-- what were the original plans -->
+Take Tsukuba Express to Minami-Nagareyama. Take JR Musashino Line to Misato. Maybe pass by a shrine indicated on GoogleMaps.
 == Expedition ==
-<!-- how it all turned out. your narrative goes here. -->
+After pondering whether to go on this geohash alone (I invited a fellow foreigner friend to come along, but he politely declined), I finally decided this might be the most accessible hash spot I would get during my stay in Japan. So I went for it!
+I carefully copied the GoogleMaps map of the area (no printer...), and wrote down the names of the stations and train lines in "normal" letters and in Kanji (you never know when you'll stop seeing translations). I grabbed my compass and camera and I was off!
+I rode my self-rolling-car ([[http://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E8%87%AA%E8%BB%A2%E8%BB%8A%0A%0A%E8%87%AA%0A%E8%BB%A2%0A%E8%BB%8A|自転車]]) to the train station, charged my PASMO card and boarded the Tsukuba Express!
+Around me were sleeping Japanese, and I wondered how they know they will wake up in time for their station...
+For a reason unknown to me, we were instructed to transfer to a different train to get to Minami-Nagareyama, but it all went very smoothly. At Minami-Nagareyama a took a short train ride (1 station) to Misato, and there I was. Now, with the help of my (sometimes fickle) compass and the more reliable signs, I took the South Exit from the train station.
+Misato is a small and, well, ugly, city. But it has the most beautiful sewer covers I've ever seen!
+I followed the "Wide Street" to the "River", turned right, turned left at the next bridge, kept to the right at the fork, and in a couple of minutes I was at the shrine I had identified on Google Maps!
+I visited the shrine, but was too self-conscious to do the ritual of cleaning my hands and mouth. I made a small donation and took a couple of photos. I noticed a yucky smell all around, which I had noticed the day before during a bike-ride. I saw the same orange fruits on the ground, and some Ginkgo leaves, and I suddenly recalled reading on Wikipedia that female Ginkgos have stinky fruit and are therefore avoided in cities. I can now quote (see article for original references):
-== Tracklog ==
+{{quote||Female plants do not produce cones. Two ovules are formed at the end of a stalk, and after pollination, one or both develop into seeds. The seed is 1.5–2 cm long. Its fleshy outer layer (the sarcotesta) is light yellow-brown, soft, and fruit-like. It is attractive in appearance, but contains butyric acid (also known as butanoic acid) and smells like rancid butter or vomit when fallen.|Wikipedia, Ginkgo Biloba article}}
-<!-- if your GPS device keeps a log, you may post a link here -->
+How fascinating!
+From the shrine it was just a short walk to the hash, and everything was quite clear from the map.
+In order to get as close as possible to the hash without a GPS, I had made a small calculation as to where on the length of the street the hash was. I "measured" the length in steps (54), and then multiplied by 0.26 and took that number of steps. I got close to the fence, and was at the hash!! I photographed my map, compass and striped socks + sandals at the hashpoint. Sadly I cannot share them yet, because I have no way to get the photos from the camera to the computer...
+I then treated myself to a Japanese sweet at the local "Food Square". The Japanese are very enthusiastic about wrapping and packaging, so my sweet (already packaged -- already doubly packaged, I would later find out) was placed inside a paper bag before it was handed to me.
 == Photos ==
-<!-- Insert pictures between the gallery tags using the following format:
-Image:2012-##-## ## ## Alpha.jpg | Witty Comment
+Photos yet to come (no camera cable...)
--->
-<gallery perrow="5">
-</gallery>
 == Achievements ==
 {{#vardefine:ribbonwidth|800px}}
 <!-- Add any achievement ribbons you earned below, or remove this section -->
+{{Globetrotter6
+| name =
+| europe = true if visited Europe, omit if not
+| asia = true if visited Asia, omit if not
+| continents = 2
+}}
+{{land geohash
+| latitude = 35
+| longitude = 139
+| date = 2012-10-08
+| name =
+| image =
+}}
 <!-- =============== USEFUL CATEGORIES FOLLOW ================
 Delete the next line ONLY if you have chosen the appropriate categories below. If you are unsure, don't worry. People will read your report and help you with the classification. -->
 [[Category:New report]]
-<!-- Potential categories. Please include all the ones appropriate to your expedition -->
-<!-- If this is a planning page:
-[[Category:Expedition planning]]
--->
 <!-- An actual expedition:
@@ Line 58: / Line 77: @@
 -- and one or more of --
 [[Category:Expeditions with photos]]
-[[Category:Expeditions with videos]]
 [[Category:Expedition without GPS]]
 -->
@@ Line 64: / Line 82: @@
 <!-- if you reached your coords:
 [[Category:Coordinates reached]]
---><!-- or if you failed :(
-[[Category:Coordinates not reached]]
--- and a reason --
-When there is a natural obstacle between you and the target:
-[[Category:Not reached - Mother Nature]]
-When there is a man-made obstacle between you and the target:
-[[Category:Not reached - No public access]]
-When you failed get your GPS, car, bike or such to work:
-[[Category:Not reached - Technology]]
-When you went to an alternate location, or decided early on to abort the expedition:
-[[Category:Not reached - Did not attempt]]
-(Don't forget to delete this final close comment marker) -->


Mon 8 Oct 2012 in 35,139: 35.8410183, 139.8790975 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox