Woman

A close call today. After finishing work in the morning I headed back to the train station to find that my camera strap had broken and was only just holding on. Any longer and my camera would have been in for a long fall! I can't believe how much camera stuff I manage to break.

After stopping off at Yodobashi Camara for a new strap, I headed to Minami-senju for a wander around the notorious area of Sanya. (It's also famous as the hometown of Ashita no Joe, but that is probably not up there on the list of things people associate with the area.) Sanya is a bit of an odd place in Tokyo because it's historically associated with the lower class of citizens that would do all the city's dirty jobs. Now, though it's an area of small, old factories, homeless shelters, and bizarrely, youth hostels.

I got rather lost on the way there and ended up walking all the way around the outskirts without realizing, but once I found the main shopping street I knew I was there: the groups of old guys sitting around getting drunk is what you're looking for. There's a liquor store that seems to be the main focus of the town with it's rubbish bins overflowing onto the street. Smashed glass from the one-cup sake bottles surround the bins. I don't think I saw a single sober person in my time there, apart from the few clerks in the shops that were actually open. I stayed for a few hours and then headed off back to my own bleak part of town.

I really don't know what else to write about the area, but I didn't take many photos. I just didn't feel it was appropriate.