Photos

Four vanished shops from Itabashi Ward in Tokyo, Japan

東京都・板橋区・消えた店

Tokyo renews itself at a breathtaking pace. Old buildings get demolished to make way for new condos, and long-established neighborhood shops vanish for good.

Here are four examples from the Nakajuku and Honcho areas of Tokyo’s Itabashi ward.

  1. Komaya Old Games Arcade
    The shop was run by a couple in their eighties, and featured an eclectic collection of mostly mechanical arcade games from the 1960s onwards. They also had a lot of boardgames and small toys. (Please see this page for an alternate photo shot on film.)
  2. Japonais
    A cake shop run by an elderly owner. He had a lot of regular customers that loved to buy his fluffy layered cakes filled with fruits and whipped cream. (Please see this page for a horizontal version of this image.)
  3. Kenzo Taiyaki
    This shop sold some of the best (and biggest) Taiyaki I ever had in Tokyo. Sadly, it was demolished (along with some adjacent older buildings) to make place for a modern medical facility.
  4. Yamasa Bookstore
    A typical Showa-times neighborhood bookstore selling literature, magazines, drinks and some other knick-knacks as fancied by the owner.

All images shot with iPhone 6s. Edited in Adobe Lightroom Classic.

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Norbert Woehnl

Norbert Woehnl

Norbert Woehnl is a Photographer in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in Travel, Location, Editorial and Street Photography.
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