An old and abandoned house like this is a rare find to say the least in Tokyo, especially so with its vast array of personal items — the sheer scale of which made trying to document them almost dizzying. Added to that were the dark and mostly cramped conditions, creating further challenges. Elements that needless to say didn’t make it any less interesting. Quite the opposite in fact. A location that without a doubt was like no other, and one most definitely tinged with an air of genuine melancholy.
It was hard to try and piece together how many people called it home over the years, but it was undoubtedly a house that held a multitude of memories from multiple generations. Remembrances only truly meaningful to those connected with them, and yet they still lived on in a way in the rooms they belonged to. Now though they have disappeared forever, as just like many of those in the photos, the house no longer exists.
Sean says
Wow, these are so atmospheric. Kinda creepy also. You are a braver man than I am!
Lee says
Thanks a lot. The faces staring down from the walls were certainly quite something, but exploring was much more poignant than scary.
MrSatyre says
Any idea when it was abandoned? Looks like 80s?
Lee says
It was a weird one. Upstairs was very clearly abounded a long time ago. Like you said, quite possibly the 80s. But one room downstairs (the one with the TV and cat ornaments) was used until the early 2000s. A whole house and family shrunk down to one person in one room…
R. Shepard says
I saw the aftermath of this a number of times when I was an estate buyer for a used book / antique shop, and then again w/my father-in-law in the house I now live in. Sometimes catalyst is just no longer being able to climb the stairs.
I don’t know anything about how this is done in Japan or if confidentiality laws make it harder, but have you ever done any public records research on the abandoned houses you’ve photographed to get more context?
Lee says
That was an element here to some degree at least, as the ground floor was used much longer than the upstairs. Decades longer I suspect.
That’s not something I’ve ever tried to do to be honest. The bureaucracy involved doesn’t even bear thinking about. For places like this though it really would be fascinating to get some details.
cdilla says
Thank you for sharing these photographs. More than most, they sharpen memories for us. We have our own photos, and they regularly spend ten minutes on one of my screens as they randomly cycle in the pool of thousands from that Tokyo visit. But seeing yours, so clear and sharp and wonderfully framed in that dark and difficult environment is different altogether. The absent life really seeped in. The quiet dust of years, the over-watch of the ancestors, the solemnity of the long lost threads of those whose home it was. One of your best, for many reasons.
Lee says
Thanks ever so much. That’s really nice to hear.
It was an incredible place, wasn’t it? So much to try and take in. And so many memories. A shame it has gone, but very glad we got the chance to experience it.
Jen in NZ says
Goodness me, what an amazing find. So many different eras… that first photo is striking – a really old phone (how do you dial? Is there a dial under the cover?) but Tokyo phone numbers with 8 digits on the wall (that happened in 1991; I was living there then so remember the change). And then a box above the wardrobe with 37nen on it (1962!)
And yet the cigarettes could have been there only a few days.
Lee says
I know eh? So many different time periods and so many unanswered questions.
The calendars went up to the early 2000s on the ground floor, and yet that phone was still there at the entrance. No idea how it worked though. Another mystery.
Victor G. says
Very fascinating, really. It always saddens me how memories gathered over decades or even centuries can quietly disappear and be lost forever in an instant, without no one noticing it. With these pictures (and those of your all other sets) at least you are giving those fading memories a chance to live a bit more, so they don’t get totally lost in time.
By the way, you mention that the calendars go up to the early 2000s, but the one on the tv (picture n. 16) shows 2015, so it looks like the house wasn’t abandoned for more than a decade.
Lee says
Thanks a lot. That’s really good to hear. And yeah, always a genuine sense of melancholy in these places. Things that once meant so much, and held so many memories, left to slowly fade away.
Ah, good call. These photos are a combination of a couple of visits, so I’d totally forgotten about the later date on the TV calendar. That was in the last room occupied. An elderly person who was clearly receiving home care. All that life reduced to one person, in one room, made it all the sadder.
Damien says
Great stuff Lee. Those framed kimonoed portraits of deceased ancestors hung around the walls are amazing. So glad you captured all of these details for posterity (including whatever choreographing of open pages of photo albums and arranging of personal effects may have been necessary to bring out the true spirit of the place) before the house itself was demolished, otherwise, who would have ever known what was there. It’s illustrative for all of us that the photo albums we accumulate through life full of photos of loved ones might well one day end up having to be just scooped up by a bulldozer, tipped into the back of a truck and sent to landfill along with all the other household items. I really hope that someone rescued those lovely vintage radios, televisions and telephones from the ‘Long Running Showa’ period and laid them out for sale at a flea market so they could go to a loving home of some young person or people. There’s always a real respect for place and past that comes through with your still life images and portraits that transcends the banal or voyeuristic . Well done once again.
Lee says
Thanks a lot Damien, that’s really good to hear. Sometimes feels like a fine line, so very happy to hear I’m on the right side of it.
And yes, so much of what we cherish and feel is important will likely end up unceremoniously thrown out. Or perhaps at best, stored at the bottom of a cupboard and never looked at.
I often wonder about what, if anything, is salvaged. Phones regularly appear these days in second hand shops, so hopefully that at least will have a new home.
YesterdaysHero says
Great documentary work as always, Lee. A real poignancy in these photos and very thoughtfully handled.