Yeah, that’s him asleep with his head against the fridge. It was taken a bit before 3pm, so it was either a very early start, or an incredibly late finish. My guess is the latter.
Excellent photo work here again Lee. As others have said I’m surprised to see the owner passed out too. By the way is that a Sex Pistols poster I see in the background?:) hard to imagine an old bar owner enjoying their music. But this is a neat little place. Any food served there?
Yeah, that’s a Sex Pistols poster. I’ve seen him in better shape than this, and my guess is he’s about the right age to have enjoyed punk when he was a young fella.
To be honest I’ve never been in, so don’t know. Only ever walked past. Apart from this particular time, when I have passed by, it has been either closed or busy, although clearly it doesn’t take many people to fill it!
Yeah, that’s a good call. Didn’t notice any other posters, although there could have been some. I was concentrating too much on getting what I could in the frame.
I wonder about the context of that tiny drinkery – what’s around it? I imagine a gaggle of incongruous surroundings and stuck in the middle, easily lost, is this cubbyhole. More of a drinks closet with than a bar?
It really is very closet-like, isn’t it? It’s in a grubby little alleyway. There are a couple of equally small places next to it too. And in between, there is a shared, similarly compact toilet.
Having eaten vastly and drunk recklessly in London over that past few days this scene gives me some recent flashbacks 🙂
How does such a place stay open. Three seats can’t possibly make enough profit to pay rent.
Dan Waldhoff says
The Suntory Highball Zone …
Lee says
Indeed. Not exactly the best ad for Suntory’s popular beverage, is it?
Linda says
Good of her to let him be seeing as he’s taking up 1/3 of the seats in the place.
Lee says
The owner was similarly wasted, so not sure how conscious a decision that was!
YTSL says
Was the barkeep knocked out as well as the customer? What time was it when you took the photo? :O
Lee says
Yeah, that’s him asleep with his head against the fridge. It was taken a bit before 3pm, so it was either a very early start, or an incredibly late finish. My guess is the latter.
Coli says
Excellent photo work here again Lee. As others have said I’m surprised to see the owner passed out too. By the way is that a Sex Pistols poster I see in the background?:) hard to imagine an old bar owner enjoying their music. But this is a neat little place. Any food served there?
Lee says
Thank you!
Yeah, that’s a Sex Pistols poster. I’ve seen him in better shape than this, and my guess is he’s about the right age to have enjoyed punk when he was a young fella.
To be honest I’ve never been in, so don’t know. Only ever walked past. Apart from this particular time, when I have passed by, it has been either closed or busy, although clearly it doesn’t take many people to fill it!
Denton says
I’m a big fan of this one. The size of the bar. The drunkenness! So much to enjoy! 🙂
Lee says
Cheers! I was very happy to find such a fascinating scene. Up to that point it had been a very fruitless walk, so this made my day.
Karl says
That’s the whole bar? What we see? Three seats — I can’t imagine.
Lee says
Yes, that’s the whole bar. There is though that little bench seat on the left. So room for perhaps a couple more to squeeze in.
Ron says
Right hairstyle for the 70’s punk era as well, but a bit more rockabilly than punk.
Lee says
Yeah, that’s a good call. Didn’t notice any other posters, although there could have been some. I was concentrating too much on getting what I could in the frame.
Squidpuppy says
I wonder about the context of that tiny drinkery – what’s around it? I imagine a gaggle of incongruous surroundings and stuck in the middle, easily lost, is this cubbyhole. More of a drinks closet with than a bar?
Lee says
It really is very closet-like, isn’t it? It’s in a grubby little alleyway. There are a couple of equally small places next to it too. And in between, there is a shared, similarly compact toilet.
scruffy says
Imagine their surprise when they come to and realized they never even locked up the place before passing out.
Lee says
I know eh? Fortunately for them, it’s highly likely that nothing will have been stolen.
cdilla says
Having eaten vastly and drunk recklessly in London over that past few days this scene gives me some recent flashbacks 🙂
How does such a place stay open. Three seats can’t possibly make enough profit to pay rent.
Lee says
Must have been a big few days if this photo bring back memories. Or at least remnants of memories!
That’s a very good question. One that could be asked of many places in Tokyo. What the answer is though I don’t know…
Z says
In Japan it seems like their workforce is very overworked and has bad morale.
Lee says
Hard to say about morale. At least generally, anyway. But yeah, an awful lot of people work an awful lot of hours…
Jon says
I actually like it a lot. It’s quite poetic almost. What district is it in? Which quarter? Golden Gai??
Thank you for answering.
Lee says
Thanks. Definitely a memorable scene. It was photographed in Kabukicho.