Last of the Dojunkai

A visual exploration of the Uenoshita Apartments – the last of the iconic Tokyo social housing buildings known as Dojunkai. A total of fifteen apartment complexes were built across Tokyo and Yokohama in the 1920s to re-home displaced families from the Great Kanto Quake, but since the early nineties they have been torn down one by one due to mass redevelopment efforts across the metropolis.

These images document the last few weeks of the building before demolition and show the final few residents who stayed until the bitter end, hoping they could somehow stop the demise of their community and home. Photographed for the Japan Times.