Tokyo Times

Photographing in the rain isn’t something I do all that often. My camera isn’t fully weather sealed, and so an umbrella is necessary. That in itself isn’t such a big deal, but then attempting to focus manually while also keeping a brolly wedged between my neck and shoulder is far from ideal and similarly uncomfortable.

Inclement weather does have its advantages though, and the other day, with spring very much in the air, the dampness did bring out the colours. Below then are some of them, and even better, a few of the scenes are also old favourites.

Community life in most of Tokyo’s countless apartment buildings is distinctly lacking. People generally keep themselves to themselves, and after over a decade of living in my place, the most I get from the vast majority of residents is the briefest of greetings or a cursory nod at best. That said, one older lady has always chatted, and knowing my wife died she’s made a real effort to check I’m doing ok, offering advice and encouragement from her self-proclaimed role as my Japanese mum, which as you can imagine feels absolutely lovely.

In the city’s older, and more traditional neighbourhoods, however, it’s possible to see much more in the way of interaction. Particularly so with the elderly residents, as many of them have quite possibly known each other their whole lives, or at the very least for many decades. And so below then is one such example.

Last summer I documented this crumbling, and at the time fabulously overgrown old Tokyo hotel.

Needless to say it isn’t one of Tokyo’s regular places of stay, as along with its appearance, the business caters to the city’s poor, situated as it is in an area filled with similarly cheap and visibly rundown accommodation. That said, none of the others look anything quite like this one. Words simply can’t describe its patched up and ramshackle nature. In fact I’m not even sure photos do it justice either, but here at least is an idea of what it looked like last week before that lush summer camouflage completely covers it once again.

This dusty old Tokyo ceramic business has been in operation for nearly half a century, and it’s fair to say that every single year is there to see in the incredibly faded surroundings. Something the current, and second generation owner doesn’t seem to care about in the slightest, making it one of Tokyo’s many such shops. Places that continue to open on a daily basis simply out of habit rather than any real sense of actual commerce.