Food and Drink

Photographed in the early afternoon, it’s probably fair to assume that this fella’s night out went beyond the hours of darkness, and well into the less forgiving light of the following morning.

Back in July 2014, I took this photo of a young woman feeding a pigeon some bar snacks. At the time, I was going through more of a black and white phase, but returning to the image recently when assessing pictures to include in my portfolio, I decided to see what it looked like in colour. Not surprisingly it looks very different. Perhaps more than anything it feels a lot warmer, which considering the intimacy of the captured moment, seems to work better. That said, I was equally convinced monochrome was the right choice all those months ago, so there’s no guarantee that opinion will persist.

Despite the land prices in Tokyo, shuttered-up shops are surprisingly common sights in the capital; something I’ve documented here on several occasions, and much more extensively on my Instagram account. But now and again these closed properties do get repurposed, which is nice to see even if those doing the repurposing aren’t similarly pleased about being seen.

After a clearly committed, self-destructive drinking session, this young fella couldn’t have found a better (or should that be worse?) place to crash out.

This place has been in business for over 50 years. Originally it was a ramen shop, but for a long time now it’s just been a basic little bar. And yet despite all those years behind that wonderfully retro counter, the owner somehow manages to remain as warm and welcoming as ever.