The golden era of Japanese danchi, or social housing projects, peaked in the early 1970s when the large-scale construction of concrete tower blocks eventually caught up with the huge number of young, urban middle-class families looking to move out to the suburbs.
Influenced by Soviet architecture designed to deal with similar population demands, danchi were relatively cheap and efficient to build, but at the same offered a new kind of lifestyle to a generation of Japanese looking to make a break from the past. Some of them were also massive, visually striking monuments to modernity, that even today, in all their faded glory, still conjure up visions of the future, and perhaps more than anything else, the sense of optimism that once surrounded them. Photographs of one such building can be seen in this series I took earlier in the year, along with a more detailed write-up of the ideas, decline and also adaptation of such accommodation.
Unlike the building linked to, however, most danchi are much more utilitarian in their appearance, and as well as showing their age, so are many of the people who live in them. Lots of those early residents have grown old in the apartments they once raised families in, and as that generation begins to slowly disappear, so do the actual structures — the ones below being a perfect example. It’s a housing estate near where I live, and on a couple of local walks last week, I had the brief opportunity to document how it looked after everyone had moved out, and before the main demolition crew had moved in.
Padlocks on some of the post boxes suggested that one or two places still hadn’t been handed over, and there was also the occasional visitor taking the last of their possessions away. But workers aside, the area, once alive with the sound of families and friends, was quiet and mostly empty — the only lasting element of its former days being a vague sense of lives lived, and lives that have moved on.
Carl says
Many years ago I lived in a danchi. I have nothing but good things to say. It was cheap to move in and a great location. Happy days!
Lee says
Glad to hear it. Something I’ve only ever experienced from the outside.
Some of them do look a bit grim, although even in these old buildings, I was surprised by the size of the apartments. Definitely bigger than I expected.
DavidT says
Awesome set of photos. You sure know how to tell a story! 🙂
Lee says
Thank you very much! Really good to hear.
cdilla says
An amazing set of photographs. It’s interesting that they don’t effuse the same hopeless desolation of similar projects in the UK. More just the natural order of things decaying.
I’d been doing my usual location hunting – and on this occasion used the mountains in the distance (mount Buko?) to eventually locate these – but you can imagine my happiness when I panned back a little and saw the two park gazebos from earlier this week, which I had totally failed to find previously. Today is a happy day 🙂 And no – I still havn’t found that video store. Time yet though.
Lee says
Thank you. Yeah, that’s a good point. You do see the odd place that is especially grim, but generally they aren’t government owned.
Hmm, maybe, not sure about the mountain, I’d have to look into that, but very nicely done! Glad you found the park as well. If I remember correctly, I took that photo on my second visit to the danchi. Went back on a day when I thought the workers wouldn’t be there so I could explore properly.
Good luck as ever with the video shop. That is on a whole other level!
Ron says
Nice photos. You will be happy (?) to know that buildings like this are alive and well in China, AND are still inhabited. And they actually look like just like these photos of an abandoned building 🙂
But even there, slowly on the old buildings are getting torn down and more modern medium/high rises are replacing them.
Lee says
Cheers. There are still a lot of these left here, although a lot are being torn down. I think it’s partly because of age, and partly because of a lack of occupancy. Very common when you pass them to see lots of the post boxes taped up.
Interestingly that’s the same deal here. Nearby some much bigger, more modern building have gone up. Less space used but more people in them.
Sophie says
I cannot help but feel how wasteful it is to tear this down then rebuild. In my area it would only be torn down if it was in a very disaffected area and very run down. Otherwise you can improve any building to recent standards, and reconfigure flats…
In europe they tend to destroy mid to high-rise residential buildings in order to build smaller scale, more liveable buildings. Just like the ones you photographed look.
Especially seeing how japanese population is declining, is there really a need to put more people in the same space? Or will it be less people in bigger flats or houses?
Lee says
It does seem wasteful, but there could well be structural concerns with them being old. New, much bigger towers have been built nearby, and they’ll have lifts and such, so presumably everybody will be transferred to those.
The weird things is, while Japan’s population declines, Tokyo’s continues to rise, so there’s always a need for housing. But presumably housing that’s newer and more desirable.
john says
They don’t seem too bad, but much would depend on the neighbours! Some would be sad to leave.
Plenty of overhead cables, passing cyclists and a unicycle; nothing Mickey Mouse about that!
I like your goldfish, leaf and blue orb, and the sanitary assemblage with woodpiles is frameable!
The last image “Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret” (courtesy of Tom Waits) – nature is peeping over and sneaking back.
..and always a lone TV!
cdilla says
lol, the lone TV. That reminds me of the old great TV News company comedy series “Drop The Dead Donkey”, where one of their reporters carried around props (teddy bear, child’s shoe, handbag) to salt disaster shots with for greater effect.
I can just see Lee’s assistant pulling a handcart with a selection of old TVs in it for just this purpose 🙂
Lee says
@John No, not that bad at all. Photographed a privately owned apartment building I found yesterday, and that really was bad. Made these look quite lovely. But yeah, I imagine a lot of people would have been sad to leave. Some must have been there for years and years.
I thoroughly enjoyed photographing that toilet. Never shot one quite like that before. Of course no washlets in those places.
Always good to hear a bit of Tom Waits. Always good to those incredibly red plants too. Stunning on a bright day.
@Cdilla Haha, that really would be something. To actually warrant an assistant of course would be special, but ah, to have a ready handcart of old TVs. That’s the stuff dreams are made of!