It’s certainty got a big of character. Passed by so many times since I first found it, always hoping to photograph someone walking in or out. In the end it perhaps wasn’t someone as interesting as I’d hoped for, but it was someone nonetheless.
A dank underpass, I can see how that would can be easily mistaken for the world outside. 🙂
Great interaction with the bloke though, makes the photo work very nicely!
Indeed. Dangerous too, with international people lurking suspiciously!
Cheers! As I mentioned in the comment above, I’ve long been hoping to photograph someone in the underpass. Nice to actually the get the shot. Or at least a shot along the lines of what I wanted.
Is this the one in Chiyoda-ku? If so, it’s actually listed on Fodor’s website LOL They call it a “ragtag collection of shops”, most of which are duty-free – you can hear cars rumbling above on the freeway that forms its roof. Looks like a good place for International Shady Characters to hang out…
Ah, I just found it on Tourist’s Eye, another travel site. They have a color version of the same shot without the somewhat perplexed pedestrian. Your shot is more redolent of, I dunno, failed ambitions? I wonder if this place ever matched the dreams of its developers.
Interesting. Just had a look myself at those sites. Cheers for that. And you’ll be happy to hear that standing and waiting not so patiently at the entrance, I perfectly achieved the international shady character look!
To be fair, it’s nowhere near as bad as it looks. Well, the actual arcade isn’t anyway. But putting the sign in the underpass does suggest it’s situated down there. I know the first few times I wandered down it I assumed it had gone out of business. Only later did I realise it was next door!
so much obsession with ‘international’… When i went to Japan in the 80’s they were all on about ‘international this’ and ‘international that’.. I guess in this internet era all that has become a bit passe…
YTSL says
Hi Lee —
I was in Shikoku a couple of weeks ago and came across an “international public style” place in Takamatsu…
http://webs-of-significance.blogspot.hk/2015/10/international-public-style-dining-and.html
I guess it qualified for international since there were some Korean-inspired dishes on its menu along with local ones… 😉
Lee says
Often the sign itself is all the qualification needed!
Sounds like you had a good time though. And enjoyed a nice variety of food and booze.
John says
Looks like a scene from a cheap horror movie.
Lee says
It’s certainty got a big of character. Passed by so many times since I first found it, always hoping to photograph someone walking in or out. In the end it perhaps wasn’t someone as interesting as I’d hoped for, but it was someone nonetheless.
Hans ter Horst says
A dank underpass, I can see how that would can be easily mistaken for the world outside. 🙂
Great interaction with the bloke though, makes the photo work very nicely!
Lee says
Indeed. Dangerous too, with international people lurking suspiciously!
Cheers! As I mentioned in the comment above, I’ve long been hoping to photograph someone in the underpass. Nice to actually the get the shot. Or at least a shot along the lines of what I wanted.
Squidpuppy says
Is this the one in Chiyoda-ku? If so, it’s actually listed on Fodor’s website LOL They call it a “ragtag collection of shops”, most of which are duty-free – you can hear cars rumbling above on the freeway that forms its roof. Looks like a good place for International Shady Characters to hang out…
Ah, I just found it on Tourist’s Eye, another travel site. They have a color version of the same shot without the somewhat perplexed pedestrian. Your shot is more redolent of, I dunno, failed ambitions? I wonder if this place ever matched the dreams of its developers.
Lee says
Interesting. Just had a look myself at those sites. Cheers for that. And you’ll be happy to hear that standing and waiting not so patiently at the entrance, I perfectly achieved the international shady character look!
To be fair, it’s nowhere near as bad as it looks. Well, the actual arcade isn’t anyway. But putting the sign in the underpass does suggest it’s situated down there. I know the first few times I wandered down it I assumed it had gone out of business. Only later did I realise it was next door!
willy says
so much obsession with ‘international’… When i went to Japan in the 80’s they were all on about ‘international this’ and ‘international that’.. I guess in this internet era all that has become a bit passe…
Lee says
Don’t hear it as much, but it’s still a word that gets bandied about every now and again. But as ever, it almost never gets beyond just a word…