Due to its colours and fantastically faded old sign, this ramshackle shop has been a favourite of mine for a long time. Trouble is, it had been in the shade each and every time I’d walked by, plus the angle I wanted to photograph it from was always blocked by a parked car. A vehicle (just out of shot on the right) that never, ever seemed to move.
All too aware that the building could be demolished at any time, it seemed like a good idea to head out to it on an overcast day and see if that would work. The car, of course, was still there, but the light was much more manageable, allowing me to get something that seemed half decent.
That said, I still wasn’t sure about the angle, so I let the photo sit for several weeks, and going back to it with a bit more detachment, I now think it works. Maybe even more than the shot I actually wanted.
Richard says
Great shot! I wonder if it is still there?
Lee says
Thanks a lot. Happy to say it is (or at least I hope it is), as I took this not long ago at all.
Steve says
Amazing. Every square inch showing decades.
Lee says
Yeah, it really does. A genuinely fascinating little place.
john says
The angle reminds me that Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz both got some shrubbery blocking their view of the Flatiron Building (New York).
The colour harmony is quite splendid!
Lee says
Oh, that’s interesting. I’ll go and have a look at those photos.
Yeah, the colours really are something. Must have been positively dazzling in its pomp.
phil says
Does anyone know the coordinates of this place on Google maps? I wanted to make a model of it but need to see around the corner 🙂
thanks
Sean says
I think the angle is perfect and those signs are just awesome!
Lee says
Thanks a lot, and yes, those signs are very special indeed.
cdilla says
I think the lighting actually suits the environment faded tones of the signs. That yellow (or #cec278 on my colour picker – I want to use it :-)) is something else.
I looked up the logos from a date point of view and the Sprite one was in use from 1961 through 1964, so that narrows the age down somewhat to around 60 years ago.
On the post box are those stickers the ones that indicate the property has paid it’s NHK license? I’ve come across a references references to that in different books I’ve read recently. Kinda like the yellow irremovable stickers* you put in your window in the UK in the post war years and on into the 70s to indicate you had taken part in the annual “Bob-a-Job Week” scheme so you wouldn’t be plagued by scruffy urchins demanding shillings with menaces for waving a grey sponge at your car for a bit 🙂
Anyway, I digress. Great find and proving hard to locate. Arakawa is my guess at present. That number 38 will nail it eventually …
* yep I found one. Almost the same yellow as the sign.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-IeBGzXsAAKDIN?format=jpg&name=360×360
Lee says
The colours really are lovely, and yes, I agree about the light. Worked out really well in the end.
Don’t have access to the full-sized version at the moment, but they could well be NHK stickers. People often have them on post boxes, or above their door. Sadly the NHK people are far more persistent, and regular, than bob-a-jobbers. They want way more than a bob too…
Oh, and as for location, I’ll just say that you know exactly where this is.
cdilla says
Man, you can’t leave me with a clue like that! Good job work is slow today.
I’ve tried at least a dozen places I know you know I know but to no avail.
Such virtual wanderings are never a loss though. Today I came across a wonderfully named “In Butter” mobile phone shop with a toast logo and the promise that you can create your own mobile life, and hastag #BUTTERS in Okuba. I also wonder why there always seems to be an ABC shoes next to a Don Quixote – both excellent places to get those things you forgot to pack.
I was also pleased to finally track down that wonderful bar near the Pachinko parlour. I don’t recall drinking that much but I hadnt even been able to remember the name of the train station we used 🙂 It sure looks different during the day.
Anyway – maybe I’ll have another quiet day tomorrow.
Just don’t you dare follow this up with a “It’s near that Video shop” ! 🙂
Lee says
That bar is really quite nondescript, isn’t it? Inside though it’s a place of real wonder and joy.
Haha, happy to say it’s not near the video shop. Let’s just say we started near a joyful area and the shop offered a similarly joyful experience as we headed north.
cdilla says
Marvelous. Got it! That was the first area I started at, given my first guess, but I hadn’t wandered that far north.
Saw a program a while back that suggested they wanted to offer tourist trips along the walkway ontop of the Joyful arcade. There is a great view from up there. I made a mental note to see if they actually do get it up and running before we visit again.
phil says
Does anyone know the coordinates of this place on Google maps? I wanted to make a model of it but need to see around the corner 🙂