The neighbourhood may well have seen better days, but that definitely doesn’t mean one can’t add a bit of colour and character when out on a Sunday saunter.
A comical little kid, in a Pooh Bear outfit, in an old part of Tokyo
Photography
Christian worship, Tokyo style
Definitely no spire. No stained glass windows either. In fact there aren’t even any bells. Well, apart from the one connected to the door that is. But, this tiny church in room 303 does follow one custom — services every Sunday.
A Tokyo host and hostess getting intimately acquainted?
For anyone who has seen the fascinating, The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief, the depressingly cyclical nature of Japan’s host and hostess business will be horribly familiar. Scores of young women who make good money flattering or otherwise servicing men, then go on to quickly recycle their gains at similarly cynical host clubs. A practice that arguably sums up the lonely, destructive nature of Japan’s vast adult entertainment industry.
But, after a very long night, these two at least found some company.
Regardless of the possible financial cost.
The morning after the very long Tokyo night before
That drunken, falsely confident feeling of, ‘one more can’t do any harm, I’ll be fine’, generally results in a sore head, or more often than not, horrors far worse. Times when the comfort of a bed and the shaky embrace of feeling sorry for oneself slowly but surely win out the day. But how much those horrors must be magnified when waking up. In daylight. Outside a grotty convenience store. Really doesn’t bear thinking about.
Tokyo drinkers in a wonderfully grubby drinking den
Tokyo may lack some things, but not drinking establishments — not by any stretch of the imagination. And yet despite many being lavish and elaborately decorated affairs, it’s almost impossible to resist the dirty little places down dark alleyways that offer wonderful, character-filled glimpses of the past. Cramped escapes that happily exist in the modern world, but very rarely give the changing times more than a cursory glance.
