Food and Drink

Sugamo, the so-called Harajuku for old ladies, is thankfully not an area awash with geriatric gothic lolitas, but is instead a shopping area geared up for the elderly women (and indeed men) who flock there. Jizo-dori, its main thoroughfare, is lined with shops and stalls selling the kind of clothes, food and assorted bric-a-brac that appeal to its target audience; all of whom hustle and bustle their way between them and the street’s popular Koganji Temple, or Togenuki Jizo as it’s also known.

Despite the age of those who predominate, however, there is no hanging about. Not by any stretch of the imagination. If you are in the way, you’ll be moved out of the way.

Sugamo also isn’t an area simply catering to the elderly — it’s run by them too. Many of whom should have officially retired years ago.

These old-timers and a few young bucks offer food and snacks of a much more traditional nature. The variety of which can clearly be dazzling.

Plus along with numerous medical aids and potions for sale, the temple priests do a busy one-on-one trade in health-based prayers and blessings.

Presumably after which some decidedly non-healthy food can safely be consumed.

Also, like most areas of this nature, there are plenty of characters. Both walking about.

And working.

Many of whom, like those who visit, are intent on making the most of it.

October may well be just around the corner, but the summer-like temperatures have made September a stifling one to say the least — the heat and humidity simply don’t want to say sayonara.

Conditions that a parasol and that summer favourite, cold soba,

can’t even counter.

For those too young to enjoy the comforting properties of an ice cold beer on a hot summer’s day, kakigori (shaved ice) would appear to be the next best thing. And for this young fella, it looks like strawberry is the syrup of choice for the season.

Admittedly the selection may not be quite the same as a supermarket, but the freshness is far superior. And if it was possible to transfer even a fraction of the serenity of this west Tokyo ‘store’ to its more modern counterparts, then shopping would almost be pleasant.

It’s impossible to say whether he started drinking early or went at it ’til late, but either way, when most people were looking to get some lunch, all this fella could do was lie down and snore — loudly. A very public display that was done, perhaps appropriately, near the faint glow of a booze sign in the background.

Coming from a land where it’s often said that rules are meant to be broken, means living in Japan can sometimes be more than a little frustrating; a country where rules, regardless of their validity, are invariably adhered to.

And yet for all Japan’s inflexibility, when it comes to tobacco, it’s still pretty much anything goes in many places. Almost nostalgically so in fact.

Sure, many restaurants don’t allow smoking anymore, or at the very least have designated areas. Plus public buildings, train stations etc. are totally smoke free. But head just a little off the beaten track, away from the glitzy stores and chain restaurants, and it’s often a very different story indeed.

So much so that as even as a kid, when visibility on the top deck of a bus used to be down to a few feet because of all the smoke, I still don’t recall our butcher enjoying a ciggie as he served us.