Tokyo Times

Smoking is still very much a thing in Japan, but with the capital’s many convenience stores plentifully stocked, small tobacconists are slowly but surely disappearing. The sighting of a new and shiny one the other week then was something of a surprise. A reformed space that proved to be as unexpected as a curious foreigner was to the apparent owner.

Below then is that aforementioned shop, along with several faded and long-closed Tokyo cigarette sellers. Plus to round out the set, a rather comical frame featuring possibly the city’s most unrepentant smoker.

Over the weekend I lost my beloved pet bird, Bobby. He provided a huge amount of joy to my late wife and I, and since Akiko passed away, he’s been a truly incredible companion. Always there with a chirp at just the right time, or chatting contentedly on my shoulder — both of us simply happy to be together. He was also a good listener, although despite being bilingual, his vocabulary wasn’t the best, so his responses were rather limited. But that was ok. He was always there. That was the main thing.

Time, however, can’t be stopped, let alone turned back, and despite being as tough as he was terrific, age finally caught up with the little fella. A long life ended, but one that was filled with fun, and no small amount of naughtiness, just like it should be.

A loss that got me thinking about many things, but it also made me realise how important pets are, along with animals in general, in a metropolis like Tokyo. The capital may well have a truly massive population, but it can be a very lonely city for many of its inhabitants. All that concrete and steel sometimes creates an unhealthy detachment from the natural world as well, so below is a series of photos I’ve taken over the years of Tokyo residents interacting with their non-human counterparts. Several of the moments are poignant. A few may even be deemed inappropriate. In one way or another though, I think they all show a connection and simple pleasure that it’s all too easy to lose out on.

Japanese electioneering invariably involves little more than repeatedly bellowing the candidate’s name over a loudspeaker and waving meaninglessly from a moving vehicle.

Now, whether a photograph of that process passing by a business offering decidedly adult entertainment euphemistically labelled as a health service says anything about Japanese politics I don’t know, but it definitely feels like it should.

There’s documentation on Tokyo Times of homes, bars and favourite old structures left empty and unceremoniously demolished. Scenes that are difficult to look at sometimes, but ultimately it’s the way Tokyo has, does, and likely always will go about reinventing itself.

Below though is something on a different scale altogether. A truly huge number of houses and buildings that are being torn down to make way for a 50 floor apartment complex. A development that is merely the latest in the area, meaning nearby little streets like this one are more than likely living on borrowed time.

Time for this location, however, has been and gone. Well, gone except for one man who still hangs on in the home he was born in 74 years ago. A last stand that he knows is coming to an end, but until then he continues to water his plants as usual. The simple, mundane sight of which was strangely reassuring as well as terribly sad.