Tokyo has earned the name of one of the most futuristic cities in the world with its otherworldly modern and traditional Japanese architecture and nightly neon glow. But Polish illustrator and digital designer Mateusz Urbanowicz has seen a different face of the city and has decided to share it through a watercolor painting series of the Tokyo city storefronts.

“When I moved to Tokyo, more than 3 years ago I was really surprised that upon my walks I encountered so many shops still in business in really old Japanese buildings. Differently to Kobe, where the earthquake wiped out a lot of these old downtown houses and shops, in Tokyo, they still survive,” says Matto (Mateusz’s nickname in Japan). “I chose the best reference pictures from the ones I took during my explorations and decided to make watercolor drawings of old Tokyo storefronts.”

In his illustrations, Mateusz doesn’t bring the mesmerizing contrasts of Japanese culture in Tokyo, instead, he depicts the quiet and ordinary parts of the city, showing us this metropolis through the eyes of locals.

More info: Mateusz Urbanowicz (h/t: demilked)

Yamane meat shop, Nippori district (left), Tsuruya former tailors, now retro variety shop, Jinbōchō district (right)

Kobayashi hair salon, Sanbanchyo district

Isetatsu traditional color woodblock print store, Yanaka district (left), Ootoya meat shop, Koujimachi district (right)

Chinese food restaurant, Takadanobaba district (left), Miyake bicycle shop based on shops in Kagurazaka and Kichijyouji (right)

Noike sushi restaurant, Yanaka district

Nakashimaya Japanese sake shop, Mejiro district (left), Kitchen Kuku restaurant, Kichijyouji district (right)

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