So near and yet so desperately far.
Too drunk to even reach the toilet
Photography
Where’s Wally? In Shibuya with Astro Boy of course
Small Tokyo bar, big friendly smile
This fella’s bar might well be small, with an open window having to double as a service hatch of sorts for the few seats outside. But, what clearly isn’t lacking in size is his big, welcoming smile.
Not to mention his equally large, and similarly smile-inducing, drinks.
Unique Japanese office space after artists take over
Japanese offices generally aren’t the most inspiring of places, with conservatism and practicality the overriding themes. Work is what’s to be done there, so that’s their sole, and thus soulless, role. No startup-like table tennis tables or soft seating — just desks, chairs and drab surroundings.
However, when such spaces are emptied due to a building’s planned demolition, and a bunch of young artists are let loose inside, things can be really quite different.
So much so in fact that it’s almost impossible to imagine the more than likely banal, day-to-day drudgery that once went on there.
Instead there is now brightness.
Colour.
Imagination.
Plus a real feeling of space.
And perhaps more than anything, a genuine sense of escape.
Young Japanese woman in a dirty Tokyo alley
When working in a seedy part of the city, it would appear that cigarette breaks aren’t necessarily much of an escape. Or at least that’s certainly the case in this passageway, as the smoker below is the second young woman I’ve photographed there. The first, should you have a similar soft spot for such squalor, can be seen here.
