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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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. 4.

    Yamasa Bookstore
    A typical Showa-times neighborhood bookstore selling literature, magazines, drinks and some other knick-knacks as fancied by the owner.

Vanished shop in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo: Komaya Games Arcade. © 2018 Norbert Woehnl Photography.
Vanished shop in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo: Japonais. © 2018 Norbert Woehnl Photography.
Vanished shop in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo: Kenzo Taiyaki. © 2019 Norbert Woehnl Photography.
Vanished shop in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo: Yamasa Bookstore. © 2019 Norbert Woehnl Photography.

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

写真の撮影場所：東京都・板橋区