Photography

Shopping areas in Japanese cities are generally busy until surprisingly late at night, as even when the stores finally close, there are still plenty of cafes, restaurants and bars to keep things bustling. Away from the metropolitan hubs, however, it’s often a very different story. As along with years of economic stagnation, the combination of a shrinking population and large-scale urban migration have hit regional towns hard. Meaning that it’s really not that difficult to find places where the streets are empty.

Shuttered.

And mere facades of former times.

Not necessarily the kind of scene one usually sees on Tokyo Times, but some moments are so genuinely sweet it’s impossible to just pass by.

Underpasses invariably aren’t the nicest of places, so the unusual decision to use blue lighting may have been to give this one some charm, or possibly a sense of serenity of sorts. But whether it was actually a success or not is somewhat debatable to say the least.