Japanese housing of the future fading slowly into the past
In postwar Japan, the desperate need for housing resulted in the mass construction of concrete tower blocks of varying heights and sizes — the initial design and efficiency of which were at least partly influenced by Soviet planned Khrushchyovka. Known as danchi, these government projects primarily offered affordable, but at the same time well-equipped apartments for the growing number of young, urban middle class families moving into the suburbs.
In the mid-1950s, when these new danchi began to appear, they were seen as the accommodation of the future. Along with modern fittings, they had the benefit of separate rooms for parents and children, although at the same time not enough space for different generations of the same family — an element that was a key factor in Japan’s gradual break with the long-held tradition of extended family members living under one roof.
The rush to build, and the similar rush of people wanting to move into these futuristic, concrete estates, eventually peaked in the early 1970s, when the authorities officially determined that the housing crisis was over. A decision that, planned or otherwise, resulted in the slow, perhaps inevitable decline of the once fabled danchi, both in regards reputation, and actual real estate.
Yet to this day a huge number of buildings still remain, and having initially moved in with their young, or soon to be young families, a considerable number of those early residents decided to stay. Nowadays though they are old, often alone, and their surroundings are far from ideal when it comes to the needs of the elderly. Isolation due to limited mobility and a dwindling network is an obvious problem, and along with other hardships, it has given rise to the terribly sad phenomena of kodokushi, or lonely, unnoticed deaths.
However, despite such issues, and to a certain extent stigma, some danchi are once again at the forefront of change by providing accommodation to Japan’s growing number of foreigners. For starters, such apartments are relatively cheap, especially as they don’t demand the often large, up-front payments that private property does. And arguably even more important is that for a section of society that suffers considerable prejudice when it comes to finding somewhere to live, public housing is on the whole far more open-minded. An element that in many ways takes these ageing complexes back to their original, and indisputably idealistic beginnings.
Plus separately, and on a decidedly more superficial level, some of these structures can still make one stop and stare. Like this bold, striking, and once optimistic monument to modernisation completed in 1972. A danchi that seen in the present feels genuinely poignant, as the future it once pointed towards is now irrefutably in the past.
An elderly Japanese lady in her half-century old ramen shop
From the outside, this little ramen shop looked like it had tales galore to tell.
And it did. Or more accurately, its elderly owner did. Opening the restaurant at the relatively sprightly young age of thirty-eight, she has been working behind the counter ever since. For fifty years to be exact, doing two shifts a day, six days a week, with no thoughts of retiring just yet.
Tokyo police officers and a grimacing graffiti face
A selection of my favourite photographs from 2019
With 2019 nearly done and dusted, it’s time, just like last year and the year before that, to choose my favourite photos from the last 12 months.
Even by recent standards, this year has been an absolute shocker, but in a world seemingly gone mad, photography has once again been an incredible source of joy, and to a certain extent, escape. The gift that without a doubt just keeps on giving. What’s more, the constant desire to photograph the city, and indeed the country I live in, has taken me to all sorts of places, and in doing so, allowed me to meet all sorts of different people.
In this sense I’ve been doubly lucky, as 2019 has also seen my freelance photography and bespoke Tokyo photowalks business experience its best year yet. Most notably in a pure photography sense, I achieved a long-term goal of having a photo series in The Guardian, and photowalk-wise I’ve done more than ever before. The latter providing the chance to meet a huge variety of people, from a whole host of different countries. Visitors who have happily proven that there really is hope after all, as contrary to how it sometimes seems, the world is actually full of interesting, open minded individuals who are intrigued by the world around them.
And on that unusually positive note, these are the photos I like the most, or in some cases, simply mean the most — each with a link to the original post below. A set of images that wrap up Tokyo Times for the year. So until January 3rd, when normal posts will resume, Merry Christmas and all the very best for 2020!
A Tokyo salary man emerging from the shadows
A photogenic Tokyo subway station at night
A truly lovely old Tokyo bar owner
The loveliest of lovely old couples
Tokyo wildlife, laughter and working life
Portrait of an old Tokyo bar owner
A wonderfully old Tokyo tofu shop and its owner
A slightly odd, elderly lady in old Tokyo
The Tokyo quiff of all quiffs?
A really young Japanese newspaper reader
Tokyo urban art zip, and urban style looks
Huge, Hello Kitty-related urban art
The self-confident swagger of a Tokyo salaryman?
An old Tokyo chef at his grill
Tokyo rainy season lights and reflections
Dramatically downing a beer in a dingy Tokyo bar
Distinctive Tokyo taxi looks, and lines
A disused Tokyo tram in the middle of nowhere
The sad, silent beauty of an abandoned Japanese train platform
A Japan photo essay: Looking for the lost
Abandoned scenes from a faded Japanese hot spring resort