A quarter of a century ago, as conspiracy theorists and financial corporations were nervously preparing for the turn of the millennium, I was casually preparing a bottle of Bushmills to see in the new year with my friends down the seafront of my hometown in Northern Ireland. Little did I know that 25 years later I would be sitting in a coffee shop in Tokyo reminiscing about that very night. I’m not really one for New Year’s Resolutions, but I do like to look back on my life around this time of year to reflect and be grateful for how things have unfolded for me – good and bad – over the years. Putting this post together reminded me of how colourful (literally) the final few months of 2024 were, and I look forward to sharing more quiet moments from Tokyo with you in 2025. Happy New Year to you all.
Friends of ours recently moved out to Tachikawa in West Tokyo and so after visiting them one afternoon we stopped off at a random station called Yaho for some lunch. We had been to this station before for a specific festival, and it really hadn’t changed at all in the intervening five years. Arcades (and entire streets) like this often have old music playing from the speakers and so it can sometimes feel a bit surreal, especially when nobody is around. 
Like I said, nothing had changed. In fact those crates to hold the eggs were still sitting in the same place. 
Soba/udon shops often have no seats, you simply stand at the counter. I like the composition of this shot. 
I don’t actually recall there being a strong rainy season in 2024 per se, just delayed heavy downpours now and then. Thankfully many fruit/veg sellers set up inside covered arcades. 
Pretty? Ugly? Nostalgic? Old? Charming? Depressing? I guess everybody views this kind of scene in different ways. 
Stepping out of the train station to go to work one morning it was absolutely bucketing it down. I liked how the top of the building was hidden in the clouds, with the yellow umbrella contrasting the signage and street markings. Actually, you may not know but those yellow ridged blocks on the street are for the visually impaired. They often stretch throughout whole neighbourhoods so blind people know where to go. 
The streets getting a good clean… 
And my stomach getting a good fill. Rotisserie chicken is slightly hard to find in Japan, but there is a great place near my work. 
A candid pic of Mrs IKIMASHO at Sakura Tei, an okonomiyaki restaurant in Harajuku, just before our friends arrived for dinner. I used to come to this place a lot about 10 years back so it was fun to revisit after all this time. I’m sure you know, but okonomiyaki is a savory Japanese pancake cooked on a griddle just like on the table above. 
Harajuku has changed over the years. Japanese kids don’t hang out there anymore, and the place is swarming with tourists. There are lots of new shopping malls. I obviously pass through now and again, but it’s not somewhere I spend a lot of time in anymore. Did you spot the plane flying overhead? 
A suburban sunset from below… 
And above. 
The colours matched by this insane Keiichi Tanaami exhibition at the National Art Center. 
The artist’s first large-scale retrospective opened just two days before he died at the age of 88. 
An excellent new ramen shop opened up in Nakameguro so I went to check it out. The noodles were extra thick, hand-cut in front of me which was cool. 
More colours, this time at the Museum of Contemporary Art where Takahashi Ryutaro’s collection was on display. Comprising over 3,500 items, it’s reputed as one of the most important collections of Japanese contemporary art. I can’t fathom how much it must have cost to collect all of this work. 
Art on a plate (for me, anyway). A lunch of lamb, hummus, couscous and pita in Ebisu. 
It wouldn’t be the end of the year without the colours that go along with it. We were able to enjoy some beautiful scenes this year, complemented week after week by pure blue skies. 
A new coffee shop discovery and a nice place to eat cake and read a book. 
Speaking of books, the bookcases in our apartment were treated to a few little winter houses that can be lit up at night. 
As the nights started to grow dark and cold… 
We jumped ship and spent a few weeks in California over Christmas. I’ll put together some pics of that trip at some point. 
In the meantime, thanks for always following and I hope the pics I share on here and on Facebook brighten your day, even a little. Healthy and happiness to you all as a new year begins.
IKIMASHO! 