1970s
Street fashion in the 1970s. Large tinted glasses, shorter skirts, short pants and denim jeans. This coincided with the period where the first pair of denim jeans made by domestically was introduced (by Kurabo).
Another engineering feat planned for the Tokyo Olympics was the Tokyo Monorail between Hamamatsucho and Haneda Airport. A piece of trivia: the terminal was originally supposed to be Shinbashi but the excessive cost of the Tokaido shinkansen resulted in a shortfall which was covered by shortening the monorail’s route. This is a video of the monorail from the 1970s.
Iidabashi is popular among Tokyoites for dining and hanging out. Historically, the area is famous for the Ushigome bridge which leads over the moat into the Edo castle, featuring geisha houses (some of which are still around). The street called Kagurazaka (seen in the middle of the video clip) features cobbled alleys leading to traditional Japanese restaurants which can still be found today. Fujimicho Church (which still exists today) can also be seen at the start of the video.
Shinjuku – tall buildings and crazy underground network. This hasn’t changed. Neither has the signage for Kabukicho.
1980s
Things are starting to get more familiar here. Traffic jams for one and the Shibuya scramble walk crossing.
In the history of any country, there is always a period of time during when the youth go a little wild… This was Japan’s period. To be fair, you may still find some of these performances in Yoyogi Park on the weekends.
Ueno and Ameyokocho. Things haven’t really changed here. Check out the fluent English of the shopkeepers.
