Autumn (Tokyo Studio)

Today we explored Shimo Kitazawa, a suburb 10 – 15 minutes from Shinjuku on the Odakyu line. The neighbourhood has many narrow streets and alleyways – visitors and residents alike consider this organic urban layout to be its major charm. The area also has a large number of ‘used’ shops and ‘antique’ stores.

The concepts of ‘used’ and ‘antiques’ vary. Some clothing is genuinely used as evidenced by their near thread-bare-ness; whilst others may be imported ‘second-hand’ clothing of a particular theme (for example, military, or american); still others are most likely new replicas. Popular antique items include watches (kind of working, broken, junk ), and cameras (the same). You can also buy a display cabinet for your newly aquired collection. Regardless of the items’ condition, they are all, simply put, surprisingly expensive. Being old or seeming to be has, at least for inanimate objects, aquired a remarkable value here.