Japansnapping

Pounding the streets of Osaka, Kyoto and beyond (with a fairly small camera)

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An Osaka kind of day.

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[Japan]

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Old bicycles that apparently no longer have an owner.

[Japan]

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Anyone who’s ever explored Osaka’s Shinsekai district will probably have noticed this popular shogi club, its large windows allowing passers-by to peer in and enjoy a very Showa-like scene.

Sadly, after nearly 80 years of business and three generations of family ownership, the Sankei Club closed its doors for good at the end of June 2024. The last of the long-established shogi halls in the area, visitors to the Sankei Club included everyone from day labourers to company presidents, each paying 300 yen an hour to sharpen their skills, or 1,000 yen if they stayed for a whole day.

Here are a few pictures I took of the place between 2009 and 2018. The final image shows how it stood until recently, when the site reopened as a restaurant.

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Some playgrounds in Japan have been designed with sparkle, flair and imagination. And some haven’t.

[Japan]

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Everyone knows about the ubiquity of vending machines in Japan. And most of them are in excellent working order. But not this one. The batteries definitely need changing.

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[Japan]

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Kyoto blue skies.

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Green houses of Hakodate.

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[Japan]

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An 83-year-old lady takes a call on an old-style rotary phone in a tiny coffee shop that she's run for the last 51 years.

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[Osaka]

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Outside of Japan's big cities it can feel very local very quickly, as in the case of this recent 'Milk & Wine Fair' in Morioka.

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One of the wonderful things about the South Hokkaido Railway line is that you can be on it within just a minute of stepping off a bullet train. And as you might imagine, this very rural journey passes by at a much more leisurely pace – in every possible way.

[Japan]

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Every year, on the third Monday of September, is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan.

[Japan]

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Out and about in Osaka at night.

[Japan]

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Kyoto at night, away from the main streets.

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An Osaka shopping street on its last (wooden) legs.

As the images show, this shotengai has seen better days. Wooden scaffolding supports one end of it, most of the businesses have gone, a number of residential properties are starting to appear, and a train line cuts it clean in two.

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It's hot.

[Osaka, Kyoto]

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A recent video posted by Instagram's koyamas_travel10 of this tiny takoyaki shop prompted me to track down a photo that I took of the same place in 2019. Tucked away in the back streets of Temma, Osaka, the shop has been serving the city’s famous snack since 1953. 

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It’s not very often you see a phone number written in katakana, but here’s a rather striking example on the front of an old tatami shop.

[Kyoto]