So this is little Daitabashi on the Keio Line in Setagaya-Ku. Like most stations of this size it’s a quaint collection of mom-and-pop restaurants, with the odd pachinko parlour and ramen shop. Old people outnumber the young ones for sure.

I always like these areas because each shop has its own independent facade – one that was no doubt cool in its day but has now become retro over time.

The front of a chiropractor…

And a cute homemade sign outside a pharmacy.

I came to Daitabashi because I wanted to eat gyoza from this place. I like its name.

Lunch set of gyoza, soup, rice and pickles. There was also a semi-cooked cold egg (top right) which you were supposed to eat with a spoon. I didn’t go near it. This was 680yen (£4).

There’s a little temple beside the dumpling shop…

with some fish…

And this cool little house.

After lunch, and walking down towards the freeway, I spotted these two lugging a sign up a hill. They worked in a doctor’s surgery or something and were closing up shop for the day.

This guy was having a smoke in the middle of the road. It doesn’t look busy…

But it was!

On the other side of the expressway I made my way into the Okinawan area. I found this rather terrifying restaurant which was selling meals in the shape of the face of Anpanman, a famous children’s character.

There was also this totally bizarre house which had hundreds of bars of scaffolding all around it like a fort. There were CDs hanging from string and I could see big jars of stuff growing in yellow water. I don’t want to meet the person who lives here.