The couple below must have been married for more than a few decades, which without a doubt is an achievement in itself. But to have also spent that time working together, in cramped conditions, and somehow still manage to get on, is arguably an even bigger accomplishment.
john says
and only a little vice between them.
Lee says
Yes. For better or worse, it’s their only vice.
john says
I’m sure you saw that coming :O)
Lee says
To be honest, I hadn’t even thought of it. Glad you did though!
Al says
Love the wallpaper ‘pattern’!! 😉
Lee says
I think it’s a pattern and structural necessity all rolled into one!
Hans ter Horst says
Amazing, the wonderful places you come across! I guess it is the definition of a mom&pop shop 🙂
Just wondering what they are making, who their customers would be and how such a small outfit can provide enough income for them
Lee says
It is, isn’t it?! Yes, always a treat to see what’s round the next corner.
They were small, button-like things. Components perhaps. But that’s only a guess. I’ve seen all kinds of little things being made in similarly small workshops. Amazing there are still so many in operation.
It would be very interesting to know how much they make, but having obviously done it for so long it presumably keeps them afloat at the very least.
Squidpuppy says
Do you know what they were making? Great shot of this kind of thing. I wonder how long they’ve been at it – decades, I’d guess.
What many don’t realize is this kind of small scale piece meal manufacturing is part of the core of Japan’s “miracle” of “just in time” manufacturing – so touted by the West in the 1960s and 70s, and poorly understood. Protection of these kinds of suppliers is key to how the system works, and why it can have problems too. Good for these folks though.
Growing up in Japan in the 1960s, I remember shops like this everywhere. I expect they still exist in large numbers, if less visible. They’re fading though, I understand, as younger generations refuse to carry forward – and as the robots take over…
Lee says
Cheers. Nah, small button-like things, but what they were for I have no idea. But whatever they are making, like yourself, I expect they’ve been doing the same thing for several decades at the very least.
That’s something I also didn’t realise til fairly recently. I also read that these little workshops played a big part in old neighbourhoods getting back on their feet again after the devastation of WWII. Fortunately I do see quite a few. Been invited into a couple of them, and it’s amazing to see where someone has spent the vast majority of their life…