Lee

Tokyo has no shortage of laundrettes, ranging from old, rundown places, all the way to fancy new enterprises that are far more cafe-like than merely functional. Yet despite such variety, the rather bleak locker and coin laundry double bill below remains genuinely unique in its appearance.

I’ve photographed this old lady in her very little shop before. Her similarly cramped neighbours too. But this time I was treated to a smile that seemed bigger than the almost ludicrously small surroundings.

Keen to cover new ground and enjoy Hokkaido’s cooler temperatures, a friend and I spent several days towards the end of August travelling the island’s eastern coast by local train. There was no real agenda as such. No tourist places to tick off. Just a semi-random exploration of the area’s smaller towns and villages, or occasionally, when connections dictated, the quieter side of bigger settlements.

Some of the trip’s resultant photos have appeared on these pages already, and one or two of them have been included here, as they seemed to fit a broader selection quite well. But basically, the chosen images are a fairly good representation of what we saw, and in many ways, what we set out to see.

The weekend before last, Typhoon Hagibis ripped its way through Japan, leaving death and immense destruction in its wake. Now, a little over a week later, all is calm and seemingly back to normal, with the clean up and repairs well underway. A full recovery and sense of normalcy for many individuals, however, will clearly take much longer.

Back in the day, this old Japanese fella clearly wasn’t your average salaryman, as he speaks both English and Italian. Time, however, marches on regardless, and nowadays his past is of no interest whatsoever to those who pass him.