Tokyo - Houses With Personality

Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture - he also works part time for the empire.

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A side of Tokyo that folks outside of Japan may not usually get to see - a collection of architecture around Tokyo with some personality - more photos available in my previous Tokyo Housing article.

[#1 posted by Talia , February 16, 2009 9:28 PM]

Thanks for this. Its intriguing to me how world cultures vary in even these less flashy ways.. these run down areas are fairly different from my suburban U.S. rundown areas, for example.

It's an aspect of culture that's not often highlighted, for the obvious reason that its not exactly something to boast about, but its no less interesting for all that.

I'm so curious about life in all its aspects, everywhere, and this is a slice of that, in a most foreign culture.

[#2 posted by Talia , February 16, 2009 9:29 PM]

and, uh, I hope that didnt sound snobby or something. I just like to see how people live, and the differences from place to place. that's all I meant.

[#3 posted by eustace , February 16, 2009 9:38 PM]

My GOD Talia, how snobbish! Unless, of course, you just like to see how people live, differently from place to place :)

[#4 posted by presto , February 16, 2009 10:29 PM]

I love your pictures, Mr. Choo. I went through what I could find of your flickr collection and your website. They make me wish I could go to Tokyo, even more so than I did before.

I even have a Tokyo desktop wallpaper.
Screenshot of my openSuSE.

[#5 posted by Danny Choo , February 16, 2009 11:18 PM]

@Presto - thank you and nice one!

[#6 posted by burden , February 16, 2009 11:46 PM]

@talia

this is not really run down Tokyo - this is normal Tokyo...you'd see these buildings all over

[#7 posted by Anonymous , February 17, 2009 12:26 AM]

I went to Japan last year (going again soon), and I came across dozens of buildings with personality. The train ride from Narita into Tokyo is full of interesting old buildings in various states of entropy and repair. Here is one building I saw in Noda http://www.flickr.com/photos/25528257@N03/2405525576/in/set-72157612546781897/ So many buildings there are breathtaking in their decay

[#8 posted by God45 , February 17, 2009 4:54 AM]

I like looking at these photos because they give me ideas for my own (future) small house.

[#9 posted by userw014 , February 17, 2009 8:46 AM]

It doesn't look run down so much as slapped together.

You can see stuff like this in any city that has a history of more than a few generations (which cuts out a lot of US suburbia and the West.)