May twenty-first, the year of our lord two thousand and nine. On this dreadful Thursday I woke to receive word that the infection has finally reached Hachioji, a mere seven stops west on my line. It drags at my soul and thoughts to step onto the train knowing that it has just come from that very place carrying with it the risk of spreading. Most certainly the grippe has found a way of expanding via the train lines due to the simplicity of human contact within Tokyo. I have begun to suspect it will be only a matter of days before the whole metropolis is shut down and we are confined to our living quarters left wondering just what is going on outside these walls and shuddering at the slightest cough from our next door neighbor…
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Have I made an accurate portrayal of the overreaction to the recent issue in the world? Sorry for being vague with words for this, I just don’t want my post turning up hundreds of thousands of hits from searches because it has the most searched words at the current time. I’m also gonna leave it out of the tags too. Hope you all enjoyed! Haha!
Moving on to the other part of the title here, I was in Kichijouji a few days ago and came upon some back alleyways that I had never seen before but had practically been walking circles around. I friggin’ love alleys here and I snapped some pics and thought I’d share ‘em!
Looked up and thought this overhead view was nice. There are a lot of interesting winding wires and such above when going through the older, tight alleys here.
To the right was a cool little whole-in-the-wall bar on the corner with a wine and laundry detergent shop across from it. (Weird combination, yes.)
Perfect alley atmosphere accompanied by fortunetelling, a jewelry shop, curry and the necessary atmosphere-setting lighting.
A back alley which is not quite as happenin’ but still has that run-down, not-so-upkept feel.
I saved the best for last. This is my favorite alley shot! Lanterns that will create an amazing atmosphere later on at night, racks stacked and full of beer for the oncoming heavy drinking night crowd, the cafe, the yakitori joint and the gyouza joint in the back, all capped with the rafters above. Throw in the part-timer girls and guys running around getting the rustic eateries ready for the evening and you’ve got the perfect alleyway feel.
Hope you all enjoyed this collection of pics and thoughts. I’ve always wanted to do a little something to pay tribute to the wonderful Tokyo alleys. And don’t believe that these are the only ones! There are plenty more scattered about the city – you just have to be in the know! For now I close with this sunset picture from Yotsuya, just outside the school, taken a few days ago.
Take care guys!
Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 21, 2009
