I have been living in Japan since 1990. I know what the 1990s and 2000’s were like in Japan much more than America.
Japan was quite different in 1990! I wrote a post last October about some of the differences...click here to read it.
I found a website by a man who took a lot of photos of Tokyo in the 1990s.
It’s very nostalgic for me!
Here are some photos of Tokyo in 1990 (This was Tokyo when I first came here):
This is the large, busy Ikebukuro train station in Tokyo in 1990. There were no automatic ticket gates back then…station workers punched and collected tickets manually!
This is the largest, busiest train station in the world…Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station in 1990. There were many payphones on platforms and station entrances back then!
Inside a train in Tokyo in 1990. There were no cellphones back then. Everyone read, slept or sat quietly on the trains here.
Tokyo Five 
I had only been in Tokyo a week, and bam, the emperor passed; most seats for the sumo tournament that was taking place were freed, business people had to attend the funeral, my friends and i were given seats close to the ring, it was the time of Akebono, Wakanohana, etc. Epic sumo!
I stayed about 10 years, we were translators or teachers well payed, working only the necessary hours to pay the rent and spending much time walking about Tokyo, Kamakura, Enoshima, hiking in the mountains. In Tokyo alone i think we walked a couple of thousand kilometers during those years; the diversity, the beauty, the contrasts and mostly the people; extraordinary 90’s!
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>I had only been in Tokyo a week, and bam, the emperor passed
So, you must’ve come to Japan in December ’88 or January ’89, then.
>I stayed about 10 years…extraordinary 90’s!
Have you visited Japan since then?
Japan has changed a lot since the ’90s!
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Love these pics! As a huge fan of anything old and gone, it’s a treat to see these. My sis was in Japan in the mid 90s and I’m curious what she would think of these.
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Yeah, I wish I had taken more photos of things in 1990 that were commonplace in Japan back then but not seen anymore!
Tell your sister to leave a comment here too!
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Really fascinating stuff. I always love pre-2000 photos of Japan, as my memory of Japan is post 2000
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These photos were taken the year I came to Japan, so I remember Japan being like this … but I know what you mean – I’m interested in Japan taken before I came here, too.
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There must have been tremendous lines at rush hour if people had to wait for a person instead of a machine to take their tickets!
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Believe it or not, it wasn’t much different. I believe the most experienced staff worked the busy stations because they were fast and efficient … and could tell when a commuter had to adjust his fare!
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Such pictures are always very interesting. A couple of years ago I saw a video on YouTube about my hometown back in the 1990s. It looked so nostalgic and many things I remembered. Though the city didn’t change too much there are certain things which vanished, payphones, certain buildings, the cars were different, clothing and so on 🙂
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Yeah…it doesn’t seem that long ago but 1990 was twenty-five years ago already! A lot changes in a quarter-decade!
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