Tokyo Times

The vast majority of my photographs show a slightly different side of Tokyo — one that’s older and decidedly more dilapidated than the shiny, modern areas that tend to be more regularly depicted.

Of late, however, I’ve had a good number of comments and messages about images that included graffiti — the common theme being that such sightings were very unusual in Japan. To be honest, there isn’t as much to be seen as in some cities, but that said, Tokyo does have its fair share of urban art. Both creative and otherwise. In the city’s more suburban areas too. So here then are photos from a walk that eventually ended in central Shinjuku, where the last shot was taken. A stroll that took in quite a few scenes that in some ways show a comparatively grittier, and more rundown side of the capital.

It was the man and just a few of the colours that initially prompted me to take these two photos. A split second couple of moments that didn’t really give me time to fully appreciate how the lines, shapes, and in particular those colours, complimented one another. All of which turned out to be lovely little extras, although the fella’s wonderfully inscrutable expressions are still very much the main ingredient.

Last week I photographed the lady in the first frame. Her shop is always a treat to see. A truly tiny one, yet a space packed with numerous books on the likes of audio gear and transistors.

Located in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, it’s a real throwback to the area’s post-war period, when it was the place to go for handmade radios and their components. The beginnings of what later became known as Electric Town, a moniker the location still has. However, times change, and anime, manga and maid cafes now hold increasing sway, making stores like the woman’s a rare connection to that DIY and very different past.

Her father started the shop after the war, and she has been running it for about half a century, but now in her late 80s, she’s not sure how long she’ll go on for. Two similar and just as small businesses were also located in the same, narrow passageway, but they closed several years years — photos of which I’ve included. The lady retired at the grand old age of 93, and the fella rather earlier, although sadly not by choice, as health issues and the need to look after his elderly mother made that decision for him.

So now only the bookshop remains. The last of Electric Town’s old school little outlets. A business she’s set on continuing while she can, and just like her friends and former neighbours, she’ll do so with a similarly lovely smile.