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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Justin McCurry in Tokyo

‘Cult of convenience’: how Tokyo’s retro shotengai arcades are falling victim to gentrification

Tsutomu Nishiwaki at his noodle shop in Tateishi Nakamise, an ageing shopping arcade in eastern Tokyo, Japan
Tsutomu Nishiwaki at his noodle shop in Tateishi Nakamise, an ageing shopping arcade in eastern Tokyo, Japan. Photograph: Justin McCurry/The Guardian

Tsutomu Nishiwaki raises the shutters of his store, the rattle marking the start of a new day at a shopping arcade in Tokyo. He wheels a display case into the foreground and stands behind the counter, framed by a sign proclaiming that this is a family-run noodle store.

It is a ritual Nishiwaki has been performing almost daily for 60 years. But like the fresh noodles its owner makes every morning, the store has a limited shelf life: in a few years from now, the 80-year-old will pull down the shutters for the last time.

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