Photographs from a small group of islands
There is no shortage of stunning and wonderfully dated old shop signs in Tokyo. In fact, there are some I like so much that I’ve created a series dedicated to them on my portfolio site. And yet even in such rarefied company, the peeling and prominent name above this restaurant still stands out.
Old and faded Japanese shopping streets aren’t uncommon. Their sights, entrances and general dilapidation also make them as fascinating as they are faded, but this particular covered arcade in Hyogo prefecture is something else altogether.
Running alongside a newer, and far busier location, its best days are very much long gone, with only a small number of stores remaining. That said, a few spots have been stripped out and reopened as new concerns catering to a younger, more underground crowd, which will hopefully help preserve the surroundings. A truly tiny but also regularly booked music venue being one such example. Only time will tell as far as that goes, but for now at least, the shutters, decay and stretches of darkness make it a truly unique location.
Last week I was in Japan’s Kansai region to explore and photograph Osaka again, along with a brief hop over to Hyogo prefecture. There was, however, also time for a short evening stroll in Kyoto, and despite the weather not being the best, we did manage to see a little of the old and traditional in some of the city’s lesser known areas. So here then is a small series of photos from the country’s former capital.
With rainy season now upon us, the increasing heat and humidity, along with the aforementioned wet weather, means Tokyo’s already flourishing foliage is set to become even more lush and vibrant. Colours that are sometimes as amazing as the ability of trees and bushes to take over a building, and in a few cases almost become the building. So here then are some such structures from over the years. A few of which I’ve shown before. Each one is a businesses of some kind — or at least was a businesses back in the day. All of them, however, remain a treat to regularly revisit.
With their enormously varied stock, convenience stores certainly live up to their name, and the sheer number of them in the Japanese capital only makes that moniker even more appropriate. None of them, however, look anywhere near as lovely as this little Tokyo shop. A wonderfully old school place that offers colour coordination opportunities for passersby, as well as the far more important element of community and conversation.
