Despite Tokyo being a rather modernized city, just get off any station and there will be some kind of tall building complex being constructed, there are still small pockets of really really old houses hidden in the back streets of even the most modern business districts. This block of houses is near the office and I sometimes walk by them during lunchtime. They look like they were built before the war, but it’s hard to tell. I have a fondness for decay and admire these buildings for holding out.
In cities that were not bombed to hell during the war these kinds of houses are more common, but in Tokyo they are harder to find. You have to go down some deep dark streets to find them. While cycling around one night a few year’s ago, I discovered a small apartment complex beside the Kanda river just off of Yasukuni-dori. The place was completely covered in weeds and there were burned out cars and junk all over the place, it was very dark and it looked like a graveyard. The creepy thing was that there were lights on in the buildings and people moving around inside!! I’ll have to go back and see if it’s still there.
Here’s a wonderful blog with loads of photos of run-down buildings in Tokyo.
“The creepy thing was that there were lights on in the buildings and people moving around inside!! I’ll have to go back and see if it’s still there”
Don’t do it! Haven’t you seen Ju-on?!
Really nice pictures, and a very good link. I heard that there aren’t as many listed buildings in Japan as in Europe, am I right? Because even if these houses are as old as I presume they are – they are in a really bad condition.
I lived for three years in a no-bath, no-hot-water, six-mat room on the second floor of a building like these. I loved it, except for the inconvenience of having to make a stop at the public bath before returning home every night. It was much like having a curfew. “Ah! gotta go. The sento closes before long.” There were people who referred to me as “sento man” because I always carried my bath gear in my backpack.
There are a few of these types of places in our neighborhood and I wonder why these people “hold out”. Is it because they love their homes just as they are? Is it because they can’t afford to replace them with no buildings but don’t want to sell their land off and go somewhere cheaper? Or, is it because neighborhood regulations keep them from building what they want so they figure there’s no point in changing their homes?
I guess it’s a question that can’t be answered unless you ask the owners and the question would be far too rude and strange to ever ask.
Thank for the link, I like Japan for this contrast. Old and modern, traditional and futurist…
Amazing place hey? So new, so old. So clean, so dirty. So polite, so rude. So warm, so cold (people). So fast, so slow. So quiet, so noisy. So bright, so dark. So strict, so loose. So hot, so cold (weather). So cute, so serious. And nothing in between.
Have you seen this?
http://home.f01.itscom.net/spiral/research.html
I’ve wasted hours pouring over the photos.
It’s kinda cute. The ojisans and obasans would sit with the screen doors open to let in air during Spring and Summer and swing their legs. I had a “travelled back in time” feeling.
Joe, cool link! Thanks.
Can anyone find me any English text links for the deserted theme park. Perhaps a few words here, if Roy doesn’t mind, giving a short history of where and why. A very sad set of pictures.