This street used to have these wonderful lamps that you see in the photo, but a year or so ago, they were all replaced with ugly little LED ones. I guess that the old ones ate up a good deal of electricity, but they sure were pretty. The bike light is nice and just by chance it lit up the manhole cover to create an additional ball of light. I didn't even notice it until later.
I have some good memories of the shops on the street. The square light in the lower right is for an izakaiya that I used to be a semi-regular at. You don't need a members card or a secret knock or anything, but there is small sign on the door that says only those with a proper introduction are welcome. I was introduced around the turn of the century by a friend who took me there, and the master said I would be welcome to come on my own. Not sure why, but I always went there to start the evening off and never found out who the late night clientele was. I have some ideas, but will keep them to myself.
There was also a kind of convenience store. This was before convenient stores were like mushrooms, popping up all over Japan. The place was called Lics, short for liquor. I think it started out as a place that sold booze, but then started selling food and other stuff. Lics was the last chance for me to buy something on my way home from a night on the town. I occasionally scarfed down niku-mon, washed down with beer that I scored there and they stumbled back home to Teramachi. There was also a proper sakaya-san (like a package goods shop, just booze) further down the street. I remember for years they had a massive faded billboard of Randy Bass drinking Maltz Beer. The owner used to give me dirty looks, so I only shopped there a few times.
The street also had a simple two story apartment building where a girl I knew lived. I walked her home a few times and had an incredible crush on her, but she shot me down. This was like in 1995 or so, way before I met my wife.
Anyway, that is all the memories I got for today. The bike light is nice and just by chance it lit up the manhole cover to create an additional ball of light. I didn't even notice it until later.