Tokyo Times

One of the many benefits of street photography is that you can regularly walk the same streets and still come away with different photos, as people provide almost infinite variety to an otherwise comfortingly familiar backdrop.

Tokyo being Tokyo, however, means that even the latter is prone to regular change, with demolition and regeneration a constant, often jarring occurrence. Yet on some occasions, the buildings remaining after the inhabitants have departed, can provide an even starker reminder of how transient life is, let alone the urban landscape.

On a different, and much more positive note, I’m very pleased to announce that my friend Giovanni and I have produced a photo book together. Tokyo Conversations is a unique, flip cover, 2 in 1 book featuring 20 colour and 20 monochrome photos. A visual, Tokyo focused back and forth we had over the course of several months.

In an attempt to get it published, we have just created a Kickstarter crowdfunding page, so if you’re interested, there is much more info, photos and also a little teaser video here: Tokyo Conversations.

Back in June I posted photographs of an old Tokyo hotel that is so overgrown it’s barely visible beneath all the foliage. An almost otherworldly sight that in some ways is as Ghibli-esque as it is grim.

The buildings below are different in that they are long-abandoned and remain more or less recognisable, but the location is still an incredible oasis of green amidst the mostly nature-less urban sprawl. A plot so wild and verdant in fact that even its next door neighbour can’t help being taken in by what nature is taking back.

On a slightly different note, I’m now back in Tokyo after my trip to Britain, so the usual Tuesday and Friday updates will resume as normal. A chance once again to share new photos rather than the reworked older ones I’ve been posting over the last month or so.

Last month I posted some photographs taken around the town of Muroran, Hokkaido, back in 2014.

This most northern of Japan’s prefectures is best known for its natural beauty, but on that first visit I also discovered several of the island’s many faded towns and settlements — locations that for me at least are much more interesting than the aforementioned scenery.

So here then is a selection of photos from a journey through east Hokkaido by local train in the summer of 2019.

Back in 2014, I had the pleasure of visiting a friend and being shown the mostly lesser known sights of Osaka. It’s a city I really like. Similar to Tokyo, and yet at the same time quite different. It’s somewhat rougher around the edges, which appeals enormously, although in some parts there is truly shocking poverty rather than just shabby urban decay. Glimpses of which can be seen in images 6 & 7. The park in the latter is the only one I know of with a TV. It was showing the sumo when we we there, although what it broadcasts, and indeed when, is all controlled by the authorities.

Also, and obviously in general, the people are noticeably more open and direct, which makes a nice change from Tokyo. In fact, a few interactions around that park area in particular were some of the kindest and most touching moments I’ve ever experienced in Japan.

Below then are some of the photos from that visit. A variety of locations representing what was a similarly varied exploration of Japan’s second city.