Photographs from a small group of islands
Despite its sometimes maddening quest for modernity, Tokyo does still retain a decent amount of old, fairly untouched places. Even then, however, there are usually plenty of giveaway signs that it’s most definitely the present, and not some undetermined time in the past. But now and again a scene does appear that arguably wouldn’t have looked any different decades ago.
Studying form at a racecourse in Tokyo, this young man was sat all by himself, and yet at the same time he was also in the very visible presence of a long line of gamblers who have placed bets before him.
Tucked away down a quiet little side street, this man was working away on a Sunday. Presumably just like he has done on countless other traditional days off. But that didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. And fortunately neither did a foreigner poking his head through the window to take a photograph.
Big and shiny buildings may well be sprouting up all over town, but even on dark, damp afternoons, Tokyo’s narrow little alleyways remain considerably more compelling.
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