A Pleasant Encounter in Kyobashi

One of many things that I can't seem to stop taking pictures of here in Japan is old signs. Preferably rusty, and preferably still in use. On a recent walk through the seedier parts of Kyobashi, a neighbourhood not very far from Osaka Castle in Osaka (see map [pdf]), I came upon a nice one and started taking pictures.



I soon noticed a man who seemed to be interested in what I was doing - slowing down, passing by, looking back, eventually turning around at the next crossing to head back my way. When I was done taking pictures, he came up and asked "Are you German?", in an accented but understandable version of the language of Goethe. My German isn't very good, so I explained in Japanese that I'm not but that I come from a neighbouring country, and we started talking.

It turns out that Okada-san has been to Germany five times and even spent an extended period there as a foreign student a long time ago. His major was Philosophy of Law (or jurisprudence) and according to him, if that's your specialization, then Germany is the place to be. I take it that going there must have been a dream come true for him as a young student, visiting places like Heidelberg or Thübingen, famous old university towns that he mentioned with a smile.

When he came back to Japan, Okada-san got a job at a big insurance company teaching law to doctors, and from what I gather, he remained there until he retired. He indicated that he is well over seventy years old by now, but he was very 元気 ("genki", vigorous) for his age. It seems that these days he too likes to walk around with his camera, and he first noticed me because I was taking pictures of weird stuff, like dirty pipes and worn-down signs. So I told him about my passion for unintentional patterns and rusty old things and he laughed and called me 変な男 ("hen na otoko", strange man). We had a great time.

Okada-san's passion is photographing people, so he asked if he could take a picture of me. He lined me up so that the deep shadows under the raised railway tracks and the sunlit side of a building formed a black-and-white background, two separate halves joining neatly behind my head. The picture turned out pretty nice. I should have asked for a copy.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to get the portrait assignment done, and asked Okada-san to move over to a wall nearby with some interesting pipes. Well, interesting to me anyway. I figured that the uniform colour of the background would lessen the chaotic effect of the pattern.





I quickly took three pictures and would have liked to take more, but I didn't want to impose. Still, I think they turned out okay. I feel like Okada-san's personality shines through in his gestures, his face, the tinted glasses, the pointy beard and the brightly-coloured headphones.

All in all, this little meeting was probably the highlight of the day, even though that part of Kyobashi has many interesting features to point your camera at, not least if you're into signs and debauchery. The usual cheap restaurants and pachinko halls are interspersed with suggestive-looking places with names like Crazy Horse and Honey Dipp's, places that advertise themselves with light signs telling you that 30 minutes of some unspecified activity will set you back 3 000 to 7 000 yen. Walk under the tracks, turn right onto an angled smaller street and there are several rather flashy but seemingly cheap love hotels too.

The place is well worth its own post when I get the time. For now, for more on Kyobashi, here's a nice photostream by jam343 at flickr.

Oh, and for an example of a rusty sign that I would definitely have gone gaga over, see kotoi's post on tips for foreigners, and this well-worn 銭湯 sign ("sento", public bath). Still in use too, it seems.