Quite possibly it’s just me. But on a dingy side street, in an old part of town, a rough and ready shoeshine such as this one seems almost Dickensian in nature.
Tokyo shoeshine
Photographs from a small group of islands
Photographs from a small group of islands
Quite possibly it’s just me. But on a dingy side street, in an old part of town, a rough and ready shoeshine such as this one seems almost Dickensian in nature.
MrSatyre says
Woman in foreground: “Takeshi! How could you! Ever since you spurned my soft shammy cloth buff, I suspected you were seeing another shoe polisher, and I was RIGHT! After all the years I’ve knelt at your feet, polishing your shoes so you would be noticed by your boss and given a promotion! How could you leave me for this…this ‘person’?!”
Man: “*GASP* You…you were FOLLOWING me?!? Oh, the humiliation!”
Lee says
Haha, you’ve got a much better imagination than me!
He was certainly deep in thought about something though, although what is anybody’s guess.
Squidpuppy says
How much does a shine cost? Are there a lot of machines around for this job?
Lee says
No idea to be honest. Don’t recall seeing a price displayed. Presume it’ll be pretty cheap though.
No machines either. Or at least none I’m aware of, although you’d think there must be some in the city’s business district.
Hans ter Horst says
I’ve seen shoe polishers in the smaller streets in Ginza although I would expect to find them in the business areas. I’ve never seen the shoe polishing machines you normally find in US hotels in any of the Japanese hotels I stayed that I remember, I guess the cheap business hotels and ryokans aren’t the place for them.
Lee says
This was in Ueno. There’s a similarly rough and ready place in Shibuya too. Have also seen others, but I can’t recall where.
Willy says
How does such a business person yell ‘Shoeshine! Shoeshine! In Japanese?
Unfortunately I am influenced indelibly by a lot of old movies…
Lee says
In this case it seems you don’t. Instead, you wait ever so quietly until a customer equally quietly sits down and decides he wants his shoes shining.
Hioki says
He has so many shoes brush.