Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/9, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Huh?

The other day while scootering around western Kyoto, I paid a visit to something that looked odd in Google Maps, to see what it actually was.

It seemed to be a building of cube rooms...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/200 sec, f/9, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102mm — ¹/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

It turns out to be an assisted-living nursing home named “Life in Kyoto” (ライフ・イン京都) with 226 units ranging from 350 ft² to 920 ft². It seems a bit pricey to move in... of the four units currently available, the largest is a scant 445 ft², but costs $350,000 for a single person to move in, or $470,000 for a couple. As far as I can tell, that's just a fee... you're not getting any equity.

On top of that, there's a monthly fee of about $1,000/month for a couple, and $650/month per person for meal service (about $21/day for three meals, which seems like a good deal).

You have to be 55 or older to move in. If you're like my grandmother-in-law who passed away this summer at 99, the $350,000 fee to move in at 55 prorates to $8,000 a year. If you move in at 65 and live to 83 (the average life expediency in Japan), that works out to almost $20,000/year. I guess, like everything in life, it's a gamble.

The view is nice... here's a shot from the neighboring building, with Kyoto Tower about 7km (4¼ miles) away:

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos

Not far away, while slowly puttering through a very residential area on the western edge of the city, I came across a tiny park, large enough to accommodate only a few cars were it a parking lot. But it was a park, and it accommodated exactly one 1911-era steam locomotive:

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Circa 1911 O&K Type C1 Steam Locomotive
at “SL Park” (SL公園), Kyoto Japan

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/10, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Information Display
what's left of it

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Inside

This is the unsurprising answer to last week's A Black-on-Black “What am I?” Quiz.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 180 — map & image data — nearby photos
Choo-Choo

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos

Odd to find this tucked away in a fringe residential area. It calls to mind the one-man kamikaze submarine that used to be on display not far away in Arashiyama. Here's a photo of a marble monument that I took seven years ago:

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 72mm — ¹/20 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Type 10 Kaiten One-Man Kamikaze Sub

The sub (torpedo really) itself used to actually be on display here in this pretty little garden off on one side of a restaurant, but it was moved to Hiroshima. There was also a crudely-carved painted wooden sign:

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 25mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos

I noted in a blog post in 2011 that the marble plaque had been removed as well.

Anyway, one can certainly come across some odd things in western Kyoto.