Pokemon Stamp Rally Aug. 2011

[gmat]

I'm adding this belatedly. I shot this poster the week before the stamp rally started. It provides dates and stations participating and the prize that you can get if you get every stamp.










Three steps to complete the rally.
Step one, get the pamphlet/brochure. All of the stations in the Tokyo area have them at the brochure stands. It says you should carry only one at a time. I carried three. Sorry.


Step two, visit each station and get your pamphlet stamped. There are two courses. The black ones are on the Zeguron course. The white ones are on the Leshilam  course. The two red stations are where you take your completed pamphlet to get your prizes, a plastic folder and a fan.


Step three, these are the prizes. It's hard to see, but there is a song on the left side.


You can also visit the Pokemon Center next to Hamamatsucho Station and get a free headband. The Tokyo Monorail has a few machines decorated with the Pokemon theme. There was an event at Tabata Station, but I didn't attend it.




I spent a day collecting stamps and photographing various aspects of the rally.

I started at Meguro Station and visited the 12 stations, plus the Pokemon Center at Hamamatsucho Station as well as Ueno and DShinjuku Stations, where you had to go to get the plastic folder and fan decorated with Pokemon characters.

As you can see there were ample guides posted pointing the way to the tables where the stamps were placed.






















This character was Mushana.


Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Next was Osaki Station.















This on is Daikenki.




Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Yurakucho Station.
You can get a special ticket to use on the Yamanote Line for multiple re-entries. As the stamp tables at each station are all outside of the ticket turnstiles, you would save money getting it. 500 yen for adults, 250 yen for children.








Shinagawa Station had a lady holding a sign but most stations had staff at the tables to help the parents and children. One thing is that at Meguro, the tables are gone at 16:01. That's the green brochure that you stamp.














This character is Zegurom.


Best wishes,
Grant

[bill937ca]

How many stamps do you need to complete the rally?  You pass out of the fare gates at every station to get a stamp, right?

[gmat]

Yep, you need to go out to stamp your brochure. There are 12 stations plus two more to get the plastic folder and fan. If you only have one brochure filled with all of the stamps, you just need to go to one of the last two. Last year, you had to go to every station on the Yamanote Line. A mother who did it with her two kids last year said that it was too much and wouldn't have done it this year if it was the same.

Yurakucho Station.





Instead of just outside of the turnstiles, You had to walk a little farther. It took just a little more searching to find this place. The green poster with the arrows weren't so obvious here.





Some stations had a sample of the stamp page so that the kids knew where to place the stamps. A good idea as many of the kids were quite young.




This one is Magyo.


Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Tokyo Station.You had to go out and down a flight of stairs to bottom t find the tables.









Once you get out, you go down these stairs.









This one is Leshilam.




Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Akihabara Station.



















This one is Emonga.


Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Nippori Station.








In a crowded station, someone will step in front of you taking a photo every time.






Just like that a crowd of kids converges on the table.





Janobee.



Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Tabata Station.




















Jambola.


Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

What is a Pokemen Stamp Rally without a Pokemen train. Taken at Meguro Station. The ads on the train were sponsored by Garigari Rich. I believe it's a cookie. There are at least 3 maybe more. I believe all ran clockwise on the Yamanote Line. This one is moving North towards Shinjuku. I actually didn't get a chance to properly shoot the train. These are the best that I happened to shoot.













Taken at Tabata Station. This one should be moving South towards Ueno and Tokyo.










Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Also taken at Tabata Station at the same time. The Pokemon shinkansen.



















Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Taken after I took the earlier Pokemon photos.
I was at Tokyo station shooting the Shinkansen trains from the lower platform when this one sneaked unannounced. I had been shooting the arrival/departure board and the next one was supposed to arrive a little later, so I wasn't in position to shoot its arrival. I didn't compensate for the contrast between the white top and the dark blue bottom, so in some of the shots, the white is washed out.



















































Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

It didn't stay long either and it pulled out before I could shoot the front of the train.








































Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

While I'm posting trains, I might as well post the Tokyo Monorail Pokemon monorail. I shot these last June.I have a SHS student studying in the US and every vacation time, he comes back to Tokyo for a week or two and his mother asks me to tutor to help him with his studies. He lives between Meguro and Shinagawa Station. After the morning lesson, I shot at the crossing between Shinagawa and Kita-Shinagawa Stations on the Keisei Line. Then I go to the overpass that crosses the Oi Freight Terminal and shoot diesels and then head towards Omori Station. This is Keibajo-mae Station on the Tokyo Monorail Line. There is a large horse racetrack nearby.




























Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

The rest of the Pokemon Monorail shots. Too bad it's against the sun.








































Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Continuing the station run, Ikebukuro Station.
















This one is Pokabu.


Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Mejiro Station.








Pretty lonely looking. It was close to 15:00 so the rush had subsided. I don't know why large stations like Tokyo had lots of tables and stamps and this one had only one table and five stamps.




This one is Zurug.


Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Shibuya Station.
















This is is either Doryuz or Doryuwazu.


Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

This was the last station. It took me about three and a half hours but much of it was trying to take photos.





They're starting to clear things away.




I came back another day to shoot it better.

Might be wondering WTF I'm doing. Sorry.







Say hello to Chirachiino.


I wanted to get to Meguro before 16:00 to shoot a few more pics of the stand, but even though it was a minute or two past, everything was gone.

Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

A couple days later, I shot a few more detail shots that I had missed and visited the Pokemon Center and went to the two stations where you collect the prizes.

This is Shinjuku.
























If you have the time, you can fill out a survey and put it in here.








The guy at the end say I could only get one folder and fan. That's OK, the guy at Ueno took my other two pamphlets.

CaptOblivious, if you're reading this, I have one for you. Hope you only have one kid.
Sorry.

Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Ueno Station Prize Table.

























I also noticed a few pairs of young ladies, not mothers, coming to the table to get their folders and fans.


Best wishes,
Grant

[Shashinka]

I wonder how much of racket that must be for JR-E for the folks who need to board and alight each Yamaniote Line train and go through the gates to get a stamp.

[gmat]

Actually the cost for a parent and one child would run 750 yen for the Yamanote Line Pass. 500 yen for the adult and 250 for the child.    More if you stretch it over several days. Pretty reasonable. Figure 150 yen times thirteen if you bought separate tickets for an adult. Don't know what the basic ticket for a child is. The thirteen is for 12 stations plus the prize station. But you get hordes of people riding the line during those two weeks.

Best wishes,
Grant

[cteno4]

amazing! its about 500yen here to take the metro a couple of stops and return!

hey its a good outing, gets folks on the trains, doesnt cost a fortune, pretty safe and you can do some railfanning at the same time. beats sitting at home on the playstation...

jeff

[Shashinka]

amazing! its about 500yen here to take the metro a couple of stops and return!

hey its a good outing, gets folks on the trains, doesnt cost a fortune, pretty safe and you can do some railfanning at the same time. beats sitting at home on the playstation...

jeff

I like how DC's all day pass is $8 now while Baltimore's is still on $3. As for Japan, that ¥750 doesn't sound bad til you look at the exchange rate.

[cteno4]

I like how DC's all day pass is $8 now while Baltimore's is still on $3. As for Japan, that ¥750 doesn't sound bad til you look at the exchange rate.

yeah true the yamanote day pass works out to $6.50, but hey could you imagine doing this on metro! it would take week to get around! and not the views of the yamanote or cool places to pop up into for a break!

jeff

[gmat]

This should be the last batch. I had trouble loading this set onto PhotoBucket. Must have tried too much that day.

Not one  of the stamp stations, if you visit the Pokemon Center, you can get the round fan and the headband.

















































Best wishes,
Grant

[CaptOblivious]

Grant,

I know Acadia will love that fan, thank you! (we have only the one; I could not imagine travelling like this with two!)

[Toni Babelony]

AWESOME!

I had to share this topic on Facebook, as I'm also a big Pokémon fan next to railway related stuff (though I don't care much for the Pokémon stickered trains).

[gmat]

CaptOblivious,
Sorry but the fan that I got was the dark greenish stick fan that the man is grabbing at the Ueno Station Prize Table. It's not the colorful circular one from the Pokemon Center.

Sorry.

Toni,
Glad to be of service. I'll keep an eye out for Pokemen related stuff. They're all over the place.


Best wishes,
Grant

[CaptOblivious]

No need to apologize! Any little thing like that is still very thoughtful of you! Also, Acadia is not picky :)