Photography

There are lots of dilapidated structures on these pages, from dated markets to once busy drinking streets, but due to its location and truly tumbledown nature, this old corner building is without a doubt really quite extraordinary.

A lot of my time is spent in Tokyo’s older, eastern districts, but I also like to wander areas more towards the west, and especially Shinjuku and its environs — a part of the city I’ve been photographing for years. These then are images taken on a couple of recent meanders in and around those neighbourhoods.

Tucked away near a dated shopping street, this small block of houses was a traditional oasis of colour and old school charm. There was also its narrow, stone paved pathway, which was an incredibly appealing little extra.

However, just like so many other spots, its time was always limited, and as more of the properties emptied, the more likely demolition became. And when it did eventually happen, the end was swift and stark, leaving behind an empty plot with no lasting remnants of the lives lived there whatsoever.

The mundane, everyday moments of Tokyo’s older neighbourhoods have increasingly become a focus of my work. Little snippets of life, and the things left behind, that in many ways mean so little, and yet at the same time contain such a lot.

Below then is a selection of some more, with all of them taken on a Photowalk tour I did just over a week ago.

On a cold and windy day, the only resident I saw, apart from the couple running the restaurant I stopped at for lunch, was a man on a small motorbike. The handful of other people pottering about all arrived and left on the same ferry as me.

With a population of only 150 or so, the lack of visible life probably isn’t all that surprising. Even more so considering I was only there for a couple of hours or so. Still, exploring Ogijima’s sole settlement said a lot, as many of the houses were empty, with more than a few of them in a pretty bad state to say the least. Elements that made the island feel like a microcosm in many ways of the demographic challenges Japan is facing.

That said, while the number of inhabitants has dropped considerably — it was around 300 at the turn of the century — there are efforts to reverse that trend, or at the very least halt it, with 1 in 3 residents now migrants. A shift that may well just save the island, along with its continued involvement in the Setouchi Triennale art festival. But on a wintery day when the only noticeable activity was at the ferry port, it was hard not to think about the island’s past rather than its potential future.