The Less Sleek, More Timeworn ‘Bits of Tokyo’ · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Gorilla Building in Sangenjaya, Tokyo. From Bits of Tokyo YouTube channel.
Bits of Tokyo is an anonymous photo blog that captures the quiet, older corners of Tokyo, the world's largest city.
Rather than focusing on the neon-lit, futuristic landscapes many people associate with Japan, Bits of Tokyo instead documents the more care-worn and often decaying homes and businesses that are common not only to many parts of Tokyo, but other cities around a rapidly aging Japan.
A cosmetics shop in Toranomon in #Tokyo. #Japan #虎ノ門 pic.twitter.com/VHpdT35Hu7
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) June 12, 2016
Many of the shops and homes documented in the photo blog date back 40 or 50 years, and were built for the boom times of the “economic miracle” that followed Japan's defeat in the Second World War.
Little electronics store between Shibuya and #Yoyogi in #Tokyo. #Japan pic.twitter.com/b78854JZdt
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) June 10, 2016
Bits of Tokyo captures neighborhood life in many cities around Japan.
A row of old houses between Daikanyama and #Ebisu in #Tokyo. #Japan pic.twitter.com/Y0toR6FLAK
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) June 2, 2016
Not everything is run down, either. Kappabashi, located in Tokyo's “old town” of Shitamachi east of Ueno, is home to a cluster of businesses that supply the restaurant industry.
A shop selling kitchen stuff in #Kappabashi in #Tokyo. #Japan pic.twitter.com/EvrIvn9Cag
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) June 1, 2016
Bits of Tokyo also captures details of a vanishing way of life, such public baths, or sento, which were once vital parts of any neighborhood in urban postwar Japan.
And the entrance to the public baths in Sangenjaya. pic.twitter.com/8Cu6siTmYj
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) May 30, 2016
Old coffee vending machine outside a similarly old public bath in Sangenjaya, #Tokyo. #Japan #自販機 pic.twitter.com/erpcHfjswM
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) May 30, 2016
The photo blog also captures small details of life in postwar Showa-era Japan, including signs and advertisements.
Rice, cigarettes and salt signs outside a shop on Meiji Dori in #Tokyo. #Japan #たばこ pic.twitter.com/5FwSje82Y5
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) April 16, 2016
The owners of many of these shops are likely in their 70s and 80s. It's unclear what will happen to their neighborhoods once they are gone.
Pharmacy, hair salon and shop near Gakugeidaigaku station in #Tokyo. #Japan pic.twitter.com/JfFB1zNulV
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) March 4, 2016
Other images show just how entrepreneurial some small business-owners have to be in order to scrape by.
A palm reading hairdresser on the Keio Line in #Tokyo, #Japan. #占い pic.twitter.com/Fdx5Pm4LNa
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) February 24, 2016
There are of course, examples of very lovely traditional architecture.
Old house near #Sangenjaya in #Tokyo. #Japan pic.twitter.com/oAvaw9jI0c
— Bits of Tokyo (@BitsofTokyo) January 24, 2016
Bits of Tokyo also has its own YouTube channel, too: