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00:00Next, we missed it at the airport, yo!
00:06Excuse me, we are Japanese TV.
00:08Can we do a little interview?
00:10Yeah, yeah.
00:11Can we?
00:12Where are you from?
00:14I live in Japan.
00:17Oh, you live there?
00:18Yeah, yeah.
00:19How long have you lived there?
00:21About 20 years.
00:23About 20 years.
00:26Why did you come to Japan?
00:28Why did I come?
00:29What was your first reason?
00:31I photograph Showa places.
00:33What's that?
00:35I feel Showa.
00:37Like Shitamachi.
00:38I see.
00:39No, not Shibuya, not Harajuku.
00:42Old Tokyo, like Shitamachi.
00:45Like Sumida-ku and Taito-ku.
00:49Can we see the photos you took in the past?
00:52Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:53Of course you can.
00:55Oh, this was Minowa.
00:59Like this.
01:02Oh, it's a picture of a fish.
01:06This is Kyojima.
01:10Sumida-ku.
01:16He takes pictures of retro Japanese scenery.
01:25He's a photographer.
01:28He takes pictures of nostalgic Shitamachi.
01:33Oh, I see.
01:35He's a photographer.
01:37Today is my day off.
01:39So I was just going to have a walk around and take pictures.
01:44I'm curious!
01:47Can we tag along?
01:50Together?
01:51Together.
01:52Sure.
01:55Take a picture with Showa!
02:00Let's go!
02:06This is the last old style Akihabara shop in this little alleyway.
02:11Oh, I see.
02:20So this is the place.
02:23What is this place?
02:31This is it, yeah.
02:33It's open.
02:36Hello.
02:37Excuse me.
02:40Excuse me.
02:45Oh, yeah, yeah.
02:47Excuse me.
02:48I'm from TV Tokyo.
02:49I'm on a show called,
02:50What is Yu doing in Japan?
02:53Oh, I'm sorry.
02:56I'm sorry.
03:01I took a picture last month.
03:04I'll give it to you.
03:09How was it?
03:11I'm not young, so I'm disappointed.
03:14I'll take a picture.
03:18No problem.
03:19You came to give me a picture?
03:21A lot of people take pictures of me.
03:26I like this one.
03:28I'll take a picture with this one.
03:34Oh, my.
03:36It's the same.
03:38Wow.
03:54Yeah.
03:56A long time ago.
03:59I've been doing this for 53 years.
04:04So she's been here as long as I've been alive.
04:11A small bookstore in Akihabara Radio Center.
04:16Wow.
04:20Yeah.
04:22Akihabara was in a mess after the war.
04:30But no way.
04:32You can't sell it on the street.
04:40At that time, the king of entertainment,
04:42A radio-related store that was in Akihabara.
04:44It's under guard.
04:46It's starting to open.
04:48That's why there are so many stores like that.
04:52That's right.
04:55There used to be a lot of stores like this.
04:59Everyone quit.
05:02There were a lot of parts stores.
05:06In detail.
05:09Wow.
05:11With the passage of time, the stores closed one after another.
05:15So Yu took a picture and gave it to himself.
05:23It's true.
05:25The color is interesting.
05:27It's sad, but that's the cycle of life.
05:30And try and do it with photography, like telling a story.
05:34And she's been here a long time, so she deserves her retirement.
05:40Yu's motto is...
05:44To leave a life in photography.
05:51When I first came here, I was a teacher.
05:5720 years ago.
05:59Welcome to Japan.
06:02My plan was just to stay for a few years.
06:06And then when I got here, I found that I liked it.
06:10And then my passion for photography grew.
06:14Because Tokyo is changing so quickly, so many places are disappearing.
06:20So I initially took the pictures because they're interesting.
06:24They have a kind of beauty.
06:27The teacher took Yu to a photographer in downtown Tokyo.
06:37I can show you a picture.
06:39I have. This was taken, I think it was five or six years ago.
06:46The old lady is embarrassed to show her camera.
06:50I never saw her again.
06:53And then I asked one of the neighbours what happened,
06:56and they said that she died.
06:59For me, if I can get a picture of an old building, it's interesting.
07:03But if I can get a picture of the owner, it has so much more meaning.
07:10Ah, I see.
07:11To capture Japanese people who leave their mark on Showa.
07:21That's when I started to give people praise.
07:24So you've been doing this for a long time.
07:26He came to see me after the shoot and gave me a picture.
07:31You're good at taking pictures.
07:35If I wait another month or two months, I might not get the chance.
07:41People were surprised and they were happy.
07:44It feels, and it is, the right thing to do.
07:47And it's nice to see people be surprised with a picture.
07:52It's true that there aren't many places where you can work.
07:55That's right.
07:59So next I was thinking of going somewhere different to shoot something a bit different for me.
08:07Let's go!
08:09Yeah, I think so, yes.
08:16Sento.
08:27Thank you for your hard work.
08:36He heads to Kamata to take pictures of Showa Retro.
08:43I've read that this area, there's so many.
08:48But there's one I've chosen, so let's try that one.
08:52Do you know where this is?
08:54Yeah, I think so, yes.
08:58What's this?
09:00Sento.
09:01Sento, that's right.
09:03Nostalgic!
09:07That's the entrance.
09:10Taisho-Yu.
09:13Ah, from 4 o'clock.
09:21And so...
09:27Oh yeah, there's all the wood there.
09:37I guess so, yeah.
09:46Sorry for the sudden visit!
09:48Is it open now?
09:50It's where the hot water is coming in.
09:52Oh, where the hot water is coming in?
09:54Yes.
09:57Can I take a look around?
10:01Yes, of course.
10:05That's interesting.
10:07Excuse me!
10:09They're still rolling it.
10:11That's amazing.
10:15This is where the hot water comes in.
10:18So this is how they used to do it in the old days.
10:22I thought it would be bigger.
10:32This is hard work, every day.
10:34This is amazing.
10:37I've been to Sento many times,
10:40but this is how they warmed it up.
10:50This is how they used to do it in the old days.
10:56It's made of wood.
10:59The wood makes the hot water soft,
11:02so it warms up the hot water.
11:04That's how they made it.
11:07So every day, you have to keep filling this up,
11:11like, constantly?
11:13Yes, every day.
11:15We start at noon,
11:18and it never runs out,
11:20until about 11 at night.
11:26They keep filling it up.
11:28This is really quite old, isn't it?
11:38Is this OK?
11:39Yes, it's OK.
11:46This is the back.
11:47Yes, the back.
11:50Wow!
11:51Wow!
11:52Wow!
11:53Wow!
11:54Wow!
11:55Wow!
11:56Wow!
11:57Wow!
12:14It's got the traditional Mount Fuji as well.
12:20So is this your father's or grandfather's?
12:22Our grandfather.
12:23Our grandfather.
12:25Two.
12:26Three.
12:27Three.
12:31Will there be a fourth generation?
12:35No fourth generation.
12:36No fourth generation?
12:44This is the bathhouse where the sweat of the people working in the township flows.
12:51It's 4 or 5 p.m. now.
12:55I can't sleep at night.
12:57So I came here to work.
13:00There are about 180 bathhouses in Nagotaku.
13:03All of them?
13:04Yes, all of them.
13:05How many are there?
13:06There are 32 bathhouses now.
13:08Wow!
13:12Although there are fewer bathhouses now,
13:14they are still loved by the locals.
13:18And for you to run a sento like this,
13:20is it a lot of work, hard work?
13:24I wonder what's so hard about running a sento.
13:26It's your birthday, so you need to do some work.
13:29And I usually sleep till 3 or 3.30 a.m.
13:32Really?
13:33Yes.
13:34I'm pretty much tied into my house.
13:37Yeah.
13:39You sleep until 3.30 in the morning.
13:41Oh, really?
13:42It's hard.
13:48Yeah, it is.
13:49That's fantastic.
13:50Would it be OK to have a picture of him in front of the sign?
13:54Yeah.
13:56HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
13:59HE LAUGHS
14:02HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:05HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:07HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:09HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:11HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:13HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:15HE LAUGHS
14:17HE LAUGHS
14:20HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:23HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:26HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:29HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
14:31Obviously it's hard work. You don't get many holidays.
14:34But because you are providing this, something that people enjoy,
14:38does that give you job satisfaction?
14:40Does it feel nice to be able to run a place as special as this?
14:45See you later.
14:47Master, please look forward to the photos.
14:52Oh, that's nice.
14:57Happy New Year.
14:58I was surprised.
15:00Was that bad?
15:01No, it wasn't bad.
15:03It's just a regular.
15:04No, it's just a regular.
15:06It's the 8th time.
15:08It's the 8th time?
15:09Yes.
15:10I thought a strange person came in.
15:13It was so strange.
15:15Do you have a special New Year's card?
15:18I'm going to see it.
15:20It's too late.
15:21It's almost over.
15:23You can't announce it.
15:26I don't have one.
15:27Really?
15:28You don't have one?
15:29No.
15:30Then it's okay.
15:31I don't want to do it.
15:32Let's see.
15:35Then...
15:36You should have put it in from the beginning.
15:38Why did you put it in from the middle?