A vignette of street shops in Japan

When I’m reading novels, I enjoy coming across vivid descriptions of street markets that depict their detail and vibrancy.

Here’s an extract from the book How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino (1937):

“Fishmongers, greengrocers, grilled sweet potato stalls, rice merchants, candy shops– tiny stores with facades no more than three or four meters wide lined both sides of the narrow street, jostling shoulder to shoulder for room. The small, dimly lit shops had narrow eves over their entrances, so low that any adult could reach up to touch them. Each of these shops had a second story for living quarters, and because these two-story row houses continued all the way down the street, the passage between them was somewhat dark and gloomy. Copper got the feeling that he was entering a sort of tunnel.” 

Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/okinawa-soba/

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