Shopping is a genuine source of pleasure for many people in Tokyo, but for some it would appear to produce only despondency.
A retro Tokyo peep show entrance
Four years or so ago I photographed the retro entrance to the peep show club featured below. Partly it was for posterity, as the red light district it’s a part of is rapidly disappearing, and partly it was because the sign is just so wonderfully saucy. But saucy in a seaside postcard sort of way, or in the bawdy but inoffensive fun of the Carry On films. An element that makes it something of a rarity theses days — especially so in the area it’s situated in.
Despite my fears of demolition, however, it happily still exists. So to celebrate its continued survival, and its almost landmark-like status, here’s another photo. This time in colour, which definitely has a different feel from the monochrome version of 2013.
A beautiful little Tokyo bar
Friendly little bars are wonderful escapes wherever one happens to be. Each and every one offering a welcome chance to drink, unwind and briefly forget about all that’s going on in the wider world. And when they are as genuinely appealing as this place from the outside.
As well as incredibly calming the moment the door opens on the inside.
Then the only thing left to worry about is how difficult it’s going to be to leave.
Tokyo exuberance and effort
A glimpse of the young man this old man once was?
Tokyo 2017
Glamour in an old Tokyo shopping street
Looking at these pages, or indeed my portfolio site, it’d be fairly easy to assume that the average age in Japan is about 82, which obviously isn’t true. Well, not yet, anyway. And, as photographic proof, here’s a rare shot of someone considerably younger. Although to be honest, I suspect she may be a tourist.
