When growing up, one of the most popular children’s TV shows was Rainbow; a programme based around a house inhabited by a man, a bear, a pink hippo and an odd-looking puppet with a zip for a mouth. However, despite such a memorable premise, what always stuck in my mind was the theme tune. A song that, despite its brevity, effortlessly captured the wonder and optimism of childhood. And even though I hadn’t heard the music for more years than I’d care to remember, it’s what unexpectedly popped into my head when I took the photograph below. The lyrics suddenly much more poignant than positive:
Everyone can see it smiling, over the sky.
Paint the whole world with a rainbow.
john says
..and now the optimism of dreams, and smiling faces to wake up to.
Very poig!
Lee says
I know eh..?
Cheers. Not the nicest of scenes to say the least, but sadly not that uncommon these days.
YTSL says
Does Tokyo have a higher percentage of homeless people than other parts of Japan? I remember visiting there around 2006 and being shocked to discover that the park near our hotel in Shinjuku had what looked like a tent village for homeless folks.
Lee says
I really don’t know. But you’d imagine so, wouldn’t you? Only Osaka may have a similar problem, but I haven’t spent enough time there to make even a semi-informed guess.
Yes, those encampments are a shocking sight. Perhaps not quite as prominent as they once were, but I’m sure that’s not because the numbers have decreased. Rather those who once stayed there have simply been dispersed.
cdilla says
I remember looking down on Shinjuku Chuo Park from our hotel at night for the first time and seeing all the mats and tents and people. As the cherry trees were in full bloom I though it was something to do with that, but was soon disabused of that perception when we went for an evening stoll a few nights later. What is amazing is that during the day there is no sign of the night-time homeless camps at all, nothing. We’ve walked through it a few times since and it’s a pristine park lively with office workers on breaks, tourists and old folk enjoying the surroundings. Aside from a single stray cat alternately eyeing the terrapins and people eating handmeals there was no sign of the depressing otherworld that settles there each evening.
Wandering around on foot and in taxis I have spotted what seem to be the daytime storage depot for the tents and other belongings of the homeless, neatly packed away in bluetarp cubes under nearby road bridges.
It’s often said in the UK that the homeless are invisible because people chose to blank them out, step over them, ignore them, but in Tokyo, during the day, they just don’t appear to be visible at all, except for the odd rare occasion. Well, to a tourist at least. Which, I suppose, is why the authorities seem to largely leave them alone.
It must be a truely miserable life though.
Lee says
Yeah, it really must. No life at all really…
There are lots of belongings and homes of sorts under the uncaring stare of the huge Tokyo Government Building in Shinjuku. In fact Shinjuku in general seems to have the most noticeable number of homeless. Not sure why that should be, but definitely where I’ve noticed the most.
Denton says
Great shot, the contrast is really striking, but man that’s so sad….. 🙁
Lee says
Thanks. Yeah, I know. A truly desperate situation. Utterly impossible to imagine how horrible it must be…
cdilla says
A sad scene indeed.
It surprises me that despite the artwork’s age there is no graffiti at all.
Was the red letter block associated with a larger art installation? Or is it something more mundane.
Lee says
It is. Incredibly sad.
Yeah, that’s a good point. Hadn’t thought of that, although generally speaking murals such as this are left untouched.
I don’t know to be honest, I was too focused on quickly framing the shot how I wanted.