Tokyo Times

Japan has plenty of old and dated coffee shops. Establishments that look and feel like they belong in a completely different era. At the same time, it’s a spell that can easily be broken by a TV playing in the corner, or even something minor like a modern appliance or menu.

This almost 80 year old establishment, on the other hand, has no such distractions. Everything from the dust and grime to the ageing proprietor takes you back to an earlier time. A business that has been in the owner’s family since its inception, and with coffee only costing ¥160 a cup, it’s very clearly love rather than money that keeps him going. For how much longer it’s impossible to say, but until the day it finally closes, it’ll remain a place that is truly like no other.

In Osaka’s Ikuno ward, where Tsuruhashi, the city’s Korea Town is located, 1 in 4 residents are foreign nationals, which in largely homogenous Japan is a truly huge number. An element that makes the area interesting on a purely sociological level, along with the history behind those statistics — particularly so as many of the listed ‘foreigners’ were actually born and raised in Japan.

At the same time, Tsuruhashi is also an incredible location to explore. A place that really does look and feel like nowhere else I’ve been to in Japan. On top of that, the people are interesting and open, making the whole area a joy to photograph. So below then are some shots from a few hours spent there several weeks ago.

This old school Chinese restaurant is ordinary in every way. The signage, red countered interior, and the ageing couple diligently working away just like they have done for decades. None of it is unusual or especially memorable. And yet at the same time, there’s so much beauty to be found there, along with that simple pleasure of a simple, everyday experience.

There is no shortage of stunning and wonderfully dated old shop signs in Tokyo. In fact, there are some I like so much that I’ve created a series dedicated to them on my portfolio site. And yet even in such rarefied company, the peeling and prominent name above this restaurant still stands out.

Old and faded Japanese shopping streets aren’t uncommon. Their sights, entrances and general dilapidation also make them as fascinating as they are faded, but this particular covered arcade in Hyogo prefecture is something else altogether.

Running alongside a newer, and far busier location, its best days are very much long gone, with only a small number of stores remaining. That said, a few spots have been stripped out and reopened as new concerns catering to a younger, more underground crowd, which will hopefully help preserve the surroundings. A truly tiny but also regularly booked music venue being one such example. Only time will tell as far as that goes, but for now at least, the shutters, decay and stretches of darkness make it a truly unique location.