After spending much of the weekend inside, looking at various computer screens, we decided to get out of the apartment and make the most of some lovely weather. Living in Tokyo means that we're able to not only visit major tourist attractions and iconic areas, but also find quiet little corners and local backstreets in abundance.
If you walk around Tokyo long enough, you'll find some very old buildings, and some very new ones. It's not surprising (though it still looks impressive) to see some heavy machinery apparently inside a recently occupied house. In the above-left photo, there's actually still a curtain on the rail! The above-right image is of a much newer building just around the corner. The yellow stairs caught my eye, and I immediately thought of fellow photo-blogger Björn Utpott, who is partial to a dab or two of yellow. Please check out his high-quality photos!
I really do recommend taking a train out of central Tokyo and exploring some of the fascinating places you'd never find in any guide book. There is a certain local feeling in these streets, which is absent from the main shopping streets in the centre. Shop owners laughing, talking, even sleeping. It's also interesting to see how the people of Tokyo really live, in the thin yet tall apartments, with cars in unpredictable places, porcelain statues of dogs and cherubs, and hanging baskets overflowing with some eye-catching flowers.
