Oi Racecourse Flea Market is a mismatch of stalls and sellers that is a surprisingly exciting insight into a different side of Tokyo. Rows of traders sit under the metal grates of the racecourse car park and each has something weirdly specific on sale, like antlers, or a wild patchwork of junk and treasures.
I first went to the flea market in search of a secondhand radio. I thought it would help with my Japanese and I wasn't keen on forking out a lot of money for a brand new one. As I walked from Tachiaigawa Station in Shinagawa Ward, the sight of people walking toward me with cardboard boxes and old Ikea bags stuffed full of their flea market finds confirmed it: I had got off at the right stop.
The market is steadily busy. Customers browse and wander; stallholders beckon them with calls of "irasshai" to search their wares. The world of secondhand items is a wonderfully welcoming place, drawing in an eccentric mix of sellers and buyers. Computer games, dusty vinyl records and stacks of old Coca-Cola adverts intermingle with Japanese woodblock prints and vintage kimono. I'm sure you could find anything among the heaped stalls if you looked long enough.