Grubby little bars are without a doubt the best places to enjoy yakitori, but similarly grubby little take out shops are definitely the best alternative.
Old Tokyo shutters and smiles
The shop below has presumably long since closed, but like so many little businesses in Tokyo, it’s a part of the house, so is still in use for storage, comings and goings, plus now and again a good bit of gossiping.
The latter was briefly interrupted when they spotted me, but thankfully there was time for a clearly visible yet covered smile before they got right back to it.
A dilapidated and uniquely paint daubed old Japanese house
Ramshackle structures are incredibly common in Japan. Not just in rural areas either, as away from its main entertainment and shopping hubs, Tokyo has more than its fair share of them. There are countless homes, shops and restaurants that despite their utterly dilapidated states, are more often than not still in use. And yet despite seeing so many that I have an Instagram account almost entirely devoted to them, this particular house is like nothing else.
It’s still lived in for starters. The one remaining, relatively intact upstairs room provides a home of sorts, although how cold it is in winter doesn’t bear thinking about. Neither, to be honest, do the bathroom facilities, or indeed the probable lack of them. But somehow it must be manageable. A bit like camping perhaps, but in an ancient tent on a bit of waste ground.
Unsurprisingly there are all kinds of rumours about the owner. The one bona fide fact is that it’s a fella who is getting on a bit. But those limited details aside, the general consensus seems to be that he lost a lot of money when Japan’s economic bubble burst, or on the stock market, the two of which could obviously be connected.
It also appears he may have moved to, or possibly back to the area from Kyoto, with the relocation resulting in some kind of trouble with the house and a construction company. Elements that, along with so many other things, are alluded to in the mostly nonsensical statements on the walls. Writing that is regularly painted over, and then replaced with more of the same angry, colour coordinated incoherence.
What the neighbours think of it all is anybody’s guess, especially as there is also a speaker set up playing local radio at a volume that’s just about loud enough to warrant regular tutting and muttered complaints. But for now at least, the radio stays on, and the written rants continue unabated.
A tourist-free traditional Tokyo wedding
Rainy season, it has to be said, isn’t the nicest time of year. The humidity ramps up enormously, and, as the name suggests, it tends to rain rather a lot. Yet despite such unpleasantness, June is a popular month to get married in, and probably just as popular as a venue is Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine. A money making machine that at the weekend sees up to around 15 weddings in a single day.
Given the surroundings and the ceremonial outfits, the public procession element of each service is quite the spectacle. An aspect that used to garner a huge amount of attention due to the shrine being a popular tourist spot, but it was just me and a young family watching on Saturday. One of the many very visible changes of the world we now live in. A new world in which this young couple are starting a new life in. But it’s a journey they are embarking on together, and one that started out in some style to say the least.
A disturbing Japanese clown head kids playground
Some Japanese playgrounds are almost delightfully bleak, whereas others are just bleakly disturbing.
A window into a changing Tokyo world?
Things change a lot in Tokyo. Buildings go up and down, and businesses come and go. Perhaps none quite as starkly as this previously featured old bar.
Sometimes, however, the more things change, the more they somehow remain the same. Like the place below that I first photographed almost 4 years ago.
And then once again last weekend. It’s now different, but also the same, as well as similarly hinting at some kind of unknown story.
