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Oct 03 2018 12 Comments

Old, crumbling and utterly dilapidated Tokyo

Tokyo is always in a state of flux, and with the Olympics now on the horizon, the speed of change seems to have been ratcheted up way more than a mere notch or two. Wander away from the city’s main hubs and stations, however, and it’s possible to see a very different side of the city. One that’s older, rough around the edges, and now and again completely and utterly dilapidated.

Old, crumbling and dilapidated Tokyo

Old, crumbling and dilapidated Tokyo

Old, crumbling and dilapidated Tokyo

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Linda says

    10/3/2018 at 9:13 am

    The third one – someone is keeping a shiny new car in there? amazing.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      10/3/2018 at 10:31 pm

      Yes, clearly very confident that the building is in much better structural shape than it looks.

      Reply
  2. Harry says

    10/3/2018 at 5:06 pm

    Wow that wall in the third pic really needs some work! 😮

    Reply
    • Lee says

      10/3/2018 at 10:31 pm

      Just a little bit!

      Reply
  3. Steve says

    10/3/2018 at 8:02 pm

    The third pic — I wonder what’s going on there. In the poorest areas of my large U.S. city, you wouldn’t see that. Dilapidated buildings, yes, like the first pic, but the third one would be condemned by the city government, barricaded (someone could get hurt by falling surfacing), and torn down (if the owner did not follow an order to fix it). I can’t square that level of ongoing decay with a country having the level of sophistication of Japan.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      10/3/2018 at 10:42 pm

      That building is a bit special, but it’s definitely not a one off. Seen a surprising number in similar, and occasionally worse states. In Tokyo too, not just out in the back of beyond.

      I’ve been here long enough now to not be shocked by scenes like that. They simply fascinate me. But yeah, I can well imagine how odd, and wholly unexpected they must seem. It’s simply not a side of Tokyo, or Japan in general, that gets much coverage.

      Of course the modern, clean and sophisticated country generally portrayed is there for sure, but it’s very often a thin veneer over the much older, traditional and sometimes downright shambolic.

      Reply
      • Steve says

        10/4/2018 at 8:11 pm

        Just amazing to me. I appreciate your personal insights along with the photos!

        Reply
        • Lee says

          10/5/2018 at 9:27 am

          Thanks, that’s very nice to hear!

          Reply
  4. cdilla says

    10/4/2018 at 4:36 am

    Your photographs of outdoor decay really hold the eye. Well, mine at least.
    Whilst the things humans make are often lovely to look at when new, it takes the attention of nature and the environment to bring out the deep beauty of a thing.
    I wonder if the appeal is some vestigial ancestral nostalgia for the truly olden days when we didn’t fabricate so much as move what was already created (rough stone from ground to a wall, fur on an animal’s back to our own back).
    The palette of patinas in the first photograph is particularly strong

    Reply
    • Lee says

      10/4/2018 at 11:28 am

      Thank you. Definitely not a universal interest, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised how many do enjoy such sights.

      That’s a very interesting idea. I’ve often wondered why I find such things not only fascinating, but also quite beautiful, and that makes more sense than anything I’ve ever come up with.

      Reply
  5. john says

    10/5/2018 at 5:56 am

    I’m wondering if ‘vestigial ancestral nostalgia’ is related to wabi-sabi but fairly sure that the effect might well be offset if howling gales are accessing your property or your garaged shiny car ends up in a large puddle with V.A.N. sprinklings.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      10/5/2018 at 9:31 am

      Yeah, whoever’s car (and indeed building) it is must have been very nervous last weekend when the typhoon hit. These were taken a week or before, so god knows what state it’s in now…

      Reply

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