Lee

I’ve been photographing these long closed businesses over many years now. For the bulk of that period, most of the changes were minimal. The awnings sagged and became increasingly forlorn, but other than that everything else was reassuringly familiar, with the little row remaining absolutely lovely to look at.

Several months ago, however, a house at the rear was knocked down, which for the first time in goodness knows how many decades exposed the back of the buildings to daylight, showing just how dilapidated and patched up they really were. Details that to me at least only added to their unique, decidedly ramshackle charm.

With an elderly lady still living in the old, former eatery on the left, I didn’t worry too much about the shops themselves. Being otherwise empty but seemingly connected, I assumed they would at least survive as long as she did, but then over the summer her one time business and home, along with building next to it, went the way so much of old Tokyo is going.

An outcome that if nothing else proves that one should never assume anything, particularly so as it turns out the woman herself simply moved three doors down into the once vacant structure on the right.

There are plenty of photographs on these pages of broken, but absolutely lovely looking old vending machines. There’s even some of a still operational retro toast dispenser.

The series below, however, is different, as it’s a collection of fully functioning old machines including not one, but two actual toast makers. In fact, the sheer variety of food and drink on offer could sustain life, albeit not so healthily, for a very long time, with even film available to document the endeavour.

A set of machines that are all there due to the commitment and passion of just one man. Someone who sources, mends and maintains them, with the obvious joy he feels for what he does reflected in the faces of those visiting, although not so much in ours when we ate one of the hamburgers.

Recently I posted a series of photos covering the impending demolition of two narrow drinking alleyways. A location that was fairly well known due to its old school vibe, so its demise, and indeed the area’s better days, were fully documented.

The tiny spot below, however, gets far less coverage. Unfortunately its dilapidated state suggests it’ll likely go the same way and also disappear, but until that day comes, it offers a wonderful little slice of the past, and a glimpse of sorts of how much more of Tokyo once was.

There are plenty of photos featuring old shops and the like on these pages. Buildings that all have a sort of ordinary charm, although very few of them were taken late in the day with the lights on, and as they tend to look quite different in the dark, here is a small selection of evening shots. The second and last ones were photographed very recently, with the others taken over the previous year or so, but each and every one has a beauty all its own.