Food and Drink

The vast majority of my photos tend to be taken in the older, eastern areas of Tokyo. Places that in many respects are a world away from the usual image of the city, and yet at the same time they are just as much (if indeed not more) a part of the capital as the bright lights and bustling streets it’s more famous for. The one exception, however, has been Shinjuku. An area that despite its changes and my shifting interests, has remained a firm favourite.

Being a popular entertainment hub, Shinjuku has no shortage of fancy shops and the like, but there’s also so much more. It’s intimate as well as crowded, rough and ready but also refined, plus more than anything, it’s simply interesting, with similarly interesting people. A location that has also been more on my mind of late, as the photobook my friend Giovanni and I recently released (now available to buy here), contains half a dozen photos I took there over the years. Hence this post with those six pictures included.

The book is a visual conversation, so the images were chosen as a response to the previous photo rather than simply picking out some favourites like I’ve done here. The former was often incredibly difficult, but somewhat surprisingly, so was whittling down a set from the many Shinjuku pictures I have. Below then are the ones I settled on. Some inclusions I’ll no doubt question the moment this is posted, along with likely failing to understand why I left one or two others out. But either way, as a whole I still feel they represent a part of Tokyo that has changed enormously, and yet at the same time has barely changed at all.

It was once a little hub of local shops, but these days this narrow arcade is more or less just a wooden shell with empty spaces where most of the businesses once stood. Only two of the original stores are still open, and even then, the green tea outlet looks more like a museum piece than a fully functioning operation. The tofu place next door, on the other hand, is very much a going concern, and considering the location, it still has a steady enough supply of customers.

A more modern appendage at one end seems to enjoy the majority of visitors, but presumably when either that or the tofu shop call it a day, then the bulldozers will finally move in. Until then, however, it remains a fascinating glimpse of Japan before supermarkets and convenience stores became common.

Some of these photos have appeared on Tokyo Times before, but with the addition of several taken very recently, and others from quite a few years ago, it seemed like the right time to put them all together as a document of sorts. My little photographic homage to a part of Tokyo’s subway system that is genuinely unlike the rest of it.

There have been changes in the time I’ve been visiting. The bars have new owners and now look quite different. Also, the unusually located vending machine is sadly no longer there. But on the whole it’s pretty much still the same. Presumably the same as it has been for many decades too. A rare glimpse of how things once looked, and in regards these photos, how it has looked over the last 10 years or so.

Many of the little bars and eateries I like to visit are completely unknown quantities on the inside — their faded exteriors not always reflective of what lies behind the sliding doors. The contents of this ramshackle structure by the side of a road several hours north of Tokyo, on the other hand, were pretty much exactly as imagined, right down to the septuagenarian owner. A man who has been running the place for nearly half a decade, and at 78 years of age, has no intention of shutting up shop just yet. In fact he rarely even has holidays, opening seven nights a week and only taking time off to celebrate special occasions.

The one unexpected thing, however, was the complete lack of a toilet. A situation that’s not ideal when beers are being consumed. So it was either try and somehow gallantly hold on, or pop round the side and brave the elements. And so somewhat inevitably, several unceremonious sojourns into the bushes were added to the experience of the evening.

The little Chinese restaurant below looks suitably dated from the outside, and while that can be rather deceptive when it comes to the interiors of some places, it’s absolutely not the case with this one.

In business for over 50 years, and situated in the middle of a red light district, the changes around it must have been substantial to say the least, but inside it feels like nothing has changed for decades — if indeed at all.

The last photo has been shown on Tokyo Times before, but the first three were taken very recently, so it was nice to put them together as a small set. A brief snapshot of a place that feels as much a part of the past as it does the present, and fingers crossed it’ll also be a similarly interesting feature of the future.