Tokyo Alleyways

One of the things I love about this city, but which are increasingly difficult to track down intact, are the aged alleys in older parts of town.

These are the vanishing places in which Taisho-era (1912-26) or early Showa period (1926-89) wooden buildings lean in disarray, and you actually feel like you've been transported back to one of Yasujiro Ozu’s or Akira Kurosawa's domestic dramas from the 1950s.

About a year and a half ago in this wayward blog I got cantankerous about the disappearing old buildings in the area of Tokyo (Okusawa) that surrounds our apartment - more about that here.


I also waxed a wee bit pessimistic over at Forces of Geek on a similar theme.

Don't get me wrong; I completely understand progress and change and I embrace it in many ways.

I'm also often knocked out by a lot of the contemporary architecture going up in Ginza, Harajuku and Odaiba.

I just hate to see this historical aspect disappear - some of these alleyways and the abodes within are absolutely mesmerizing.

Today I visited one of these rare gems in Ōokayama (大岡山駅), about 15 minutes' walk from our place.

In much of the surrounding area there're new apartment buildings, but some of the shops and houses sandwiched in between are classic vintage numbers - including this alley.


Tuckedjust around the corner is also a gorgeous little inari shrine.

It's cheap thrills like this that make my world go round.

Smoking Out Old Tokyo

One of the things I can't help doing over here is seeking out the trace-elements of old Tokyo, hardly an elementary pastime since much of this has been removed by the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake, the carpet bombings of the mid '40s, assorted fires, and the rapid pace of reconstruction and renewal that Tokyo willingly submits itself to every day.

Today I discovered these gems in Shintomi, not more than 100 metres from Ginza - one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world and the most expensive real estate in Japan.

Old shanty houses round Okusawa

As a city, Tokyo isn't really known for its affection for old buildings.

Aside from the fact the historical structures in this metropolis were either (a) destroyed in the big 'quake of 1923 or (b) carpet bombed by the U.S. Army Air Forces in WW2, and the fact that there's an ongoing risk from further earthquakes, the residents themselves (generally) seem to see buildings 25 years or older as eyesores - in the way of modernization or funky new apartment blocks.


So, aside from areas where you can find lots of history, like in Yanesen, near Nippori, it sometimes feels that Melbourne, a 162-year-old city, has more preserved "real" history than Tokyo, a city that's in its 406th year as a capital - but was a village before that.

In Okusawa (in Setagaya-Ku), a fairly expensive residential area, there are some absolute gems of weatherboard houses tucked away around corners and down moldy alleys. For me, this reminds me that I'm in Japan, and not just another western city with McDonald's and 7-Eleven stores.

One of my faves was demolished a couple of years ago, however, and made into... a car park. The fate of the rest also doesn't look too promising; my theory is that once the elderly residents die out, their abodes will be razed and made into apartments.


Yesterday and today I set out to take some happy snaps for posterity, and here are just a few of these wunderbar places that give the local area... character.

Truth to tell, tho', I wouldn't choose to live in any of them in this 'quake-prone country and given the absolutely oppressive humidity in summer. Looking is another matter.