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Nakano Broadway
Feb. 18th, 2026 12:05 pmAround this time last year, I was asked to contribute a 300-word essay to a photography collection focusing on "undead" malls, meaning dead malls that have reinvented themselves as public spaces in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It appears that this project may have become something of a dead mall itself, so I want to share the essay I wrote about Nakano Broadway in Tokyo.
( Read more... )
And also! What I didn't have space to include in this short essay is that Nakano Broadway was designed according to the Metabolist school of architecture, which holds that floorplans should flow organically (as opposed to the rectangle-grid rationality of postwar Brutalism). The combination of the confusing layout + the dinginess of the old building + the clutter of the stores overflowing into the corridors makes the space feel more than a bit labyrinthine. Nakano Broadway is like walking through a hoarder house, except it's an entire mall. It's an extremely unique experience; there's really nothing like it.
I'm not sure what tag to use for this post btw. Probably "Dark Souls" is close enough.
( Read more... )
And also! What I didn't have space to include in this short essay is that Nakano Broadway was designed according to the Metabolist school of architecture, which holds that floorplans should flow organically (as opposed to the rectangle-grid rationality of postwar Brutalism). The combination of the confusing layout + the dinginess of the old building + the clutter of the stores overflowing into the corridors makes the space feel more than a bit labyrinthine. Nakano Broadway is like walking through a hoarder house, except it's an entire mall. It's an extremely unique experience; there's really nothing like it.
I'm not sure what tag to use for this post btw. Probably "Dark Souls" is close enough.
