Welcome to Tokyo: An Old Fishing Neighborhood Near Haneda Airport

Taking a Closer Look

I began taking photos of Tokyo in mid-2019, and it was not too long before the COVID-19 pandemic began. At this time, the government did not order lockdowns, but urged residents to stay at home, and I photographed people wandering the streets who were wary of how they were perceived. I continued taking street photos after the pandemic had abated, but Tokyo is a vast metropolis and even though I was raised here, my work took me to various corners of the city I did not know so well. The more I explored, the more I appreciated its complexity, and I found that I simply could not stop taking photos of Tokyo.

Before homing in on Tokyo, I had visited North Korea seven times, lived for a year and a half in Okinawa, and photographed the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake in Tōhoku, publishing collections of photos taken in all those locations. I had spent 10 years exploring the Japanese margins, and from all these perspectives, Tokyo appeared as an intensely powerful city, the overwhelming center for Japan’s politics, economy, and media. I realized too that, because of my upbringing here, I had unconsciously adopted a Tokyo-centric perspective.

I still travel to Okinawa every year for the professional teams’ pre-season training. When I get together with local acquaintances for a drink, they always ask, “Aren’t you going to take more photos of Okinawa?” I feel bad that I’m not doing that any more, but I decided that I should dedicate myself to a place where I can keep taking photos for the rest of my life. To me, the only place that fit the bill was Tokyo.

Photos of Tokyo taken by visitors are bound to be different than those of residents. I think that shooting the places where one has set down roots since childhood is a vital undertaking for every photographer. Unlike with shots I might take while traveling, at first I struggled to motivate myself to photograph everyday sights that were so familiar to me, but it has become more rewarding with every passing year.

Tokyo is currently in the middle of a once-in-a-century wave of redevelopment. Structures erected in the immediate postwar period are being demolished one after the other to be replaced by characterless high-rise towers. As I walk through the ever-changing city, I will continue to take photos, learning more about each neighborhood as I go.

In this first installment, my theme is “Welcome to Tokyo,” featuring the area around Haneda Airport, the capital’s gateway in the sky. The adjacent neighborhood includes a fishing port, where historic streets and festivals endure. Most people arriving at Haneda proceed directly to the city center by rail, bus, or taxi, but just one kilometer away from the airport lies a small neighborhood well worth visiting.

A small fishing port with Haneda Airport’s international terminal visible in the background. (© Hatsuzawa Ari)

Haneda Shrine’s yearly summer festival. Planes crisscross the sky above the colorful fishing boat banners. (© Hatsuzawa Ari)

A swing bridge on the Metropolitan Expressway’s Haneda Route. Installed in 1990 to allow the passage of large vessels, it has been out of service since 1998. (© Hatsuzawa Ari)

This huge neon sign advertising orange juice, erected in 1975, is visible on the left from the monorail leaving the airport. (© Hatsuzawa Ari)

A multitude of brightly colored torii gates at Anamori Inari Shrine. (© Hatsuzawa Ari)

The kitsunezuka (fox hill) at the shrine contains dozens of fox statues, believed to be messengers of the shrine’s deity. (© Hatsuzawa Ari)

The small shrine on the left in the photo was erected in memory of victims of drowning in the Tama River and fatalities in the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake and the Tokyo firebombings of 1945 who had drifted near Haneda. (© Hatsuzawa Ari)

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Haneda Airport from Tokyo Bay. © Hatsuzawa Ari.)