Ginzaline

March 28, 2016

Lord of the Fry

Will you eat it here? asks Yasuaki Kondo. He hovers his bottle of Bulldog sauce over your aji-fry, crumbed yellowtail cutlet. A whole small butterflied fish – 200 yen at the stall outside his restaurant. He drizzles the thick sauce in a spiral and hands you a pair of chopsticks. He knows this is good.…

March 22, 2016

Floral Equinox

If you were opening an Asakusa flower shop you could do worse than a spot on Kokusai Dori at Tawaramachi station. It’s right on the temple route and teems with families on grave visits. During festivals such as the long weekend’s O-higan spring equinox, you could do a nice line in colourful bouquets. Ancestors appreciate…

March 22, 2016

Time is the Essence

People around Kyojima, Sumida-ku, might feel they are part of a news event. Not necessarily the News at 7. But something big is happening. Even the buildings seem to know it. Earthquake regulations and developers’ cash are winding up the wrecker’s ball. Doomed are the warrens of streets and low-rise homes, the small stores and…

March 21, 2016

Upriver Life

Higashi Shirahige park, upriver from Asakusa near the fork of the Sumida and Arakawa. A sprawling Showa-era housing estate that doubles as an evacuation zone and tidal barrier. On the asphalt playground a gaggle of schoolgirls is rehearsing some kind of cheerleading routine with flags. A picnic table and Honda Cub with a trailer stand…

March 20, 2016

I Heart Pasta

The woman stands at the crossing of Kokusai and Kototoi, scanning a shop flyer. She looks confused. Do you want a hand? Oh, I have come to eat delicious pasta, she says. Her tone is determined. Here, she shakes the flyer. I saw it on TV. You say, There is a spaghetti restaurant a couple…

March 14, 2016

Sol’s

Do you like this grey shop frame, my dad made it, he is a metalworker. We removed the entire facade and fitted it. We moved into this shop last September. Sol’s Coffee stands for Serendipity of Life. I don’t think about having days off. This is my life. I like a bit of tension. If…

March 8, 2016

Fly Like a Canary

The store name is Kanariya Blouse Shop, Asakusa, but Mrs Kanariya is not her name and she won’t say what her name is, That’s privacy! she says. She declines to be photographed at first. She’s bashful. But on your second visit she is persuaded her clothes are neat and her hair looks fine, and she…

March 1, 2016

Dress Ups

Wear a kimono for 1000 yen. Yukiko Shimizu has qualifications to dress you and will fit you in her tiny shop in east Ginza. She has more than a hundred elegant garments. You ask why she does it so cheaply when rental stores around Asakusa will charge many times this. She says, Mine are antique…

February 25, 2016

Medicine Men

The tandoor has smoked the place out so it’s a good thing there are no customers right now. One of the staff, maybe Laxman, the tall guy in the waiter gear, has taken a rock and propped open the front door. Cold air rushes through. He greets you as usual. Sit here, he says, out…

February 22, 2016

Curator’s Eye

Chie Nakagawa’s grandma lived in a granny flat the family called the inkyo beya, the retirement room. Nakagawa says visiting her was like going into a special place full of precious things. That was in rural Chiba. After Chie grew up she worked in publishing in Tokyo. She followed her interest in crafts, visited exhibitions,…