あいりん - Gritty Japan

I've been through there and yeah,by Japanese standards it's a right shit hole. Saying that there are much worse and far more dangerous places in the UK and I'm sure in the States as well.

Yakumo

 

The entire of the North of England is much worse than that.

 

Oh the joys of the south :033:

 

Come on man, that's just not true. There are many shitty places down south as well. The North was poorer in the 80's but these days a lot has changed in some cities. Just look at Manchester or Liverpool city center. Liverpool city center looks as modern as you could possible get. In fact it looks a lot more modern than many cities in Japan! Just a shame the scum are still around

Yakumo

 

Yeh, it's true. I was kidding. I lived in Manchester for 8 years and the centre is amazing. Move outside it, and it's scary as hell. Furthermore, as you say, the centre might be nicely presented but there are still x-factor scum walking around ready to mug you.

 

Looks too dodgy for my pasty white face to wander around in alone with my camera.

 

LOL is there a Japanese equivalent of the bandito hat and poncho to go with it?

 

:thumbsup: North of England :thumbsup:

18 years in a costal town where you'd easily get into a fist fight for looking at someones pint (recent gunman rampage was a shocker :/ ) - i guess i went back during uni too so...

3 years at uni in liverpool, girlfriend lived in Newcastle so was up there often

1 year placement in Runcorn!

I think it's safe to say that most northerners who lived through the 80s and 90s remember just how rough it was, but i think most Northerners see it as trail they lived through and , hell, maybe with some affection. It certainly toughens the skin for any other locations!

 

Hehehe, I hated going to Runcorn. Most of my reletives moved out there for some reason.

 

Ugh... ugly interlacing, feels like migraine perking up!

 

I'm there!

Will blend right in.

 

This looks interesting. Is it part of a documentary film or anything, or just something that was on TV one day? Unfortunately my Japanese isn't good enough to understand most of this. Couldn't find much info online either.

 

I used to commute from Aigburth in Liverpool, to Runcorn. It's just as you come to the bridge into Runcorn that got me. I think it was the Walkers crisp factory who were creating this god forsaken smell across the whole area. It would get progressively worse from monday to friday. Like the smell of over fried something, turned my stomach for months.

Then had to walk from the station to the ICI plant that was in the middle of frigging nowhere, to a job i frankly hated. Still i got my first grounding in the skills that got me to Tokyo there so i shouldn't complain!

 

So thats what made the awful smell. Oh yes, I remember that very well. To tell the truth though, the area where my mothers family lived was quite nice like a Last of the Summer Wine type place.

 

Was this all filmed in Osaka's Airin district? From what I understand that's the largest slum in all of Japan. I'm guessing most of those people were manufacturing workers. That or ethnic Koreans and burakumin.

I've never been to that area but I would say Okinawa has some equally rough locations.