With its otherworldly buildings and nighttime neon glow Tokyo has won the reputation of one of the world’s most modern towns. But Mateusz Urbanowicz, a Polish illustrator and digital designer, has seen a different face of the city and has decided to share it through a series of Tokyo storefronts painting watercolors.
“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 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 an illustration series of old Tokyo storefronts.”
Mateusz does not put Tokyo’s mesmerizing contrasts in his drawings, rather he shows the peaceful and everyday parts of the city, showing us this metropolis through the eyes of locals.
More info: Mateusz urbanowicz
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Ruvindi Ranatunga
I am an International Business Management undergraduate from the University of West London (UWL) and completed the Higher National Diploma in Business Management (SQA). Apart from my studies, I am a freelance writer.
