Still weighing my options...

I cycled to Ueno today in a bid to find a location to observe. Now I know Ueno is not exactly a typical spot in Tokyo. In fact, it is probably one of the few locations in the city where you can observe life in the 60s, the other spot being Asakusa of course, which is precisely my point on why it should be given some attention in this online project. 


Both my potential locations are in the Ameyokocho Arcade. The first is a stall selling fresh seafood produce right smack in the middle of the arcade.

As you may have already noticed from the pictures, the inside of the stall is actually a wet market. What I find interesting about this location is how they can sell their products at so low a price and still be able to keep the stall going. Also, where do they get their supplies from? Do they fish directly (this seems almost impossible)? Do they get the supplies fresh from the fishermen and cut down the middleman? Will selling this fresh produce at such a low price (usually half of what one gets to buy at the local supermarket) hurt the industry? Since it is fresh, what do they do with the supplies that don't get sold within a certain period? These are just some of the questions that came up in my mind.


The second location is somewhere at the corner of ameyokocho. Actually I'm not even sure it's part of ameyokocho except that it is on the same street, albeit far away from all the action of the food stalls. This is a four-storey recycle shop that buys and sells clothes, bags, shoes and accessories. It is a big place, but I'm thinking of just observing the first floor.

The shop is very narrow and stuffed with as many clothes and other things they can display. One round check around the place shows that the products for sale (or rather resale) are used items, some of them even branded products which have been preserved well. The first two storeys are mostly for women, the third floor is for men, and the fourth is the discount floor on the already discounted items. The last time I checked, the fourth floor was well stocked with winter wear.


The shop got my attention because of its unique concept of recycling things that some people don't want and others might be interested in. Some questions which came to mind were: who sells these items to the shop? Who buys these items? How does the shop determine what can be resold to others and what cannot? What happens to items that nobody wants? Do they stay in the store forever until someone comes to pick them up or do they dispose of them or donate them to charity? How much does the shop profit from the entire process?


Okay, this will be all from me for now, until I decide which location I want to observe.