The alleys of Japan – Behind the neon jungle
When night falls, the armies of salary men in Tokyo unbutton their shirts, undo their ties and disappear into the dark through one of the many backstreets which encompass the complex network of back alleys or Yokocho as they are known.
The Japanese night scene is unlike anything you’ve probably seen, hundreds of small to medium establishments (some which can only fit 4 or 5 patrons at a time) come to life after dark behind the scenes of the great Tokyo metropolis.
The bright lights and narrow corridors show you the way, like going down a rabbit hole where everything you would come to expect from Japan gets distorted into a neon maze, these corridors offer an insight into the after work life in Japan
During my recent trip to Japan, one of the things I knew I wanted to photograph were the Yokochos in Tokyo.
Growing up watching shows like Ghost in the Shell, Ergo Proxy and Akira, I have a fondness for the cyberpunk genre and particularly the aesthetics of such worlds.
The mixture of dirty old streets lined with colourful lights and kanjis liberally scattered around bring to my mind a different Tokyo, one that lives in the future.
Little bars and izakayas (small food stands) lined through the maze makes me feel as though I’m in a neo-futuristic Tokyo and that is what I attempt to capture on these pictures
