Due to the increasing problems of a shrinking population and urban migration, it’s not really surprising that abandoned homes, along with countless other kinds of crumbling buildings, are now common sights outside Japan’s major cities. Yet despite the capital’s continued growth, and the often prohibitive cost of land, it’s also not that unusual to see similar structures in Tokyo.
Photographed not far from the busy hubs of Ueno and Asakusa, one of these spaces was an office, the other quite possibly a house. But regardless of their former purpose, both of them were long since locked up and somewhat inexplicably left to rot.
Denton says
Cool shot. Really like the reflection of the woman. Nicely framed as usual!
Lee says
Thank you. Had just enough time to focus on her, and fortunately she was reflected just at that moment. Couldn’t have timed it better if I’d tried!
Kim says
Nice, love the gritty back streets in Japan.
Lee says
Cheers. Likewise, they are so much more interesting than the main streets.
Linda says
Love this. I take a lot of photos of old buildings when I’m in Japan, and I wish I could remember more often that it’s better NOT to wait till the person walks out of the shot!
Lee says
Thanks. Such buildings can be wonderfully photogenic, can’t they?
Haha, I know what you mean. My problem is having the patience to wait for the right person to walk past…
Carl says
Love this photo. It says so much about the aging of Tokyo and its inhabitants. I’ve never understood how ‘bright, new, modern and shiny’ is mere blocks away from ‘run-down and abandoned’ in that city. It’s also sad to see something that was once loved and someone’s pride-and-joy business or home, forever dark and quiet.
Lee says
Thank you.
Yeah, it’s a constant surprise, isn’t it? Staggering really how many buildings there are like this in Tokyo. Possibly even more staggering, however, is the number of buildings not too disimilar to this that are actually still lived in. All a far cry from the modern, neon-lit scenes the city is know for.
cdilla says
Another great photograph of urban decay. It’s funny how the inclusion of a figure changes the image from total abandonment to still being, albeit a passive, part or some people’s lives.
I would always wait for the clear shot, partly because I don’t want to hassle people – I drop the camera to my side or point the lens down so the know I’m not intruding on them – and partly because the subject is the building for me. And that why I just take snaps and you take publishable photographs 🙂
What is it that makes old buildings attractive? What is it about human nature that makes this kind of scene so visually compelling. Like our predisposition to collect things is probably an echo of our hunter gather days, does a clearly abandoned building echo our search for shelter in the dim and distant past.
Lee says
Thank you. To be honest it all depends on the person for me. Let a few people pass by as they didn’t seem right for the image. The woman in the frame, however, fortunately did.
I don’t know. That’s a very good question. For me there’s a genuine beauty in such decay, although it’s a beauty connected to its history. The unknown stories behind it. The hints of what it once was. How it must have looked etc. Not a conventional sense of beauty of course, but something that appeals nonetheless.