Last week I photographed the lady in the first frame. Her shop is always a treat to see. A truly tiny one, yet a space packed with numerous books on the likes of audio gear and transistors.
Located in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, it’s a real throwback to the area’s post-war period, when it was the place to go for handmade radios and their components. The beginnings of what later became known as Electric Town, a moniker the location still has. However, times change, and anime, manga and maid cafes now hold increasing sway, making stores like the woman’s a rare connection to that DIY and very different past.
Her father started the shop after the war, and she has been running it for about half a century, but now in her late 80s, she’s not sure how long she’ll go on for. Two similar and just as small businesses were also located in the same, narrow passageway, but they closed several years years — photos of which I’ve included. The lady retired at the grand old age of 93, and the fella rather earlier, although sadly not by choice, as health issues and the need to look after his elderly mother made that decision for him.
So now only the bookshop remains. The last of Electric Town’s old school little outlets. A business she’s set on continuing while she can, and just like her friends and former neighbours, she’ll do so with a similarly lovely smile.
Denise says
Oh these are so utterly adorable!! 🙂
Lee says
Yeah, such lovely people and spaces. Very glad I got the chance to photograph them.
confracto says
Shimayama-san’s shop (the last of the 3 pictured) has been preserved. I saw it in person earlier this year. The person who bought it all up and rebuilt it made a youtube video about it.
Lee says
Yes, I heard about that. Will seek out the video later. That must have been quite the endeavour.
Luis Lozano says
hey is the “Tokyo Lens” video of the relocation of the shop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsimPVu1aLU
Steve says
On a business trip in Tokyo when I didn’t have much time left I took a quick swing through Akihabara looking for shops such as these but didn’t see them. I saw the “anime, manga and maid cafes,” big electronics retailers, restaurants, but that was not the vision I had of the neighborhood. Maybe I was on the edge and not the core of Akihabara. Next time I’ll research, exactly, where these shops are and try again.
Lee says
This area is right by the station. Still aspects of the past there, but just like the rest of Akihabara, the manga and anime side is rapidly taking over.
Richard says
I am not an electronics geek so I have rarely gone to Akihabara. Thus, I have not seen these shops. Bittersweet to see 3 people who love/loved their work. Thank you for sharing these!
Lee says
You are very welcome. Glad I got the chance to take these photos. And yes, definitely a bittersweet element to them.
john says
Tokyo Lens for Shimayama-san coverage as above. Thanks!
Lee says
Cheers. Going to watch that later.
Paul says
The second photo is on today’s (17th Oct) Guardian website along with a couple of other of your photos! It made me do a double-take when I saw it – was I really seeing a Tokyo Times photo here?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/oct/17/after-marie-kondo-the-return-of-japans-joyful-clutter
I love it when one of my “niche” loves appears on a mainstream news site.
Congratulations to you Lee!
p.s. I also recently saw the “Perfect Days” film (Dir. Wim Wenders) set in some locations that you would recognise and it brought to mind your work. A recommended watch if you haven’t seen it yet.
Lee says
Thanks ever so much. That’s really kind. Very happy to be in the Guardian, and this time the print version as well. That was a nice little bonus.
Cheers. It’s a lovely film, isn’t it? And yes, set in areas I’m very familiar with.