Japan’s economy boomed during the 1980s, and buyers paid the highest prices for goods and commodities. The unemployment rate in Japan was 4.9% as of March 1980, which was extremely low compared with the unemployment rate in the 90s. Japan’s economy would decline substantially in the following decade, giving rise to the term “Lost Decade”.
Tokyo began to resemble other large cities worldwide in the 1980s, but with a Japanese twist. In the 1960s and ’70s, it was fresh, naive, mujaki, sweet, and nothing like other big cities in the world.
These fabulous photos by Lawrence Impey show the street life of Tokyo in the 1980s.
