Photographs from a small group of islands
Many of the clichéd images of Tokyo distort what the capital is really like, or at least what it’s like if you bother to look below the surface. But the scenes of horribly packed trains and heaving streets are mostly accurate, particularly so in the city’s more central areas and its commuter hubs.
Mercifully, however, there are areas of escape. Like below, on Tokyo’s northern border, where there’s silence, serenity, and only the slightest suggestion of so-called civilisation.
Seen, but at the same time, unseen?
In many of Tokyo’s little bars, clutter is seemingly very much the order of the day, along with signs all over the walls allowing you to know what to order on any given day. But such a mishmash of stuff does give each place character. And fortunately this establishment, like so many others, also has its characters.
A wide-eyed reaction to Shibuya that more than a few people have probably recreated — both for positive, and negative reasons.
