Street · Fukuoka
A Cleaner at Kaizuka Plaza Lifts His Mop for One Skater at 6:42
Before the shutters go up in Fukuoka, a street skater crosses a shopping centre floor in strips of window light, and the man with the mop lets her through.
By Pablo Iriarte-Svensson · Friday, 6 November 2026 · 1 min read
6:42 a.m. The shutters are down on the shoe shop, the phone repair, the shop that sells only umbrellas. Light comes through the roof panels and lies on the floor in long pale strips.
Misaki Oyama crosses them one at a time. Her wheels sound like tape being pulled off a box.
A cleaner stops at the escalator. He lifts his wide mop and waits for her to pass. Then he puts it down again on the same line, as if he had drawn it.
The doors open at ten. Until then, by her rule, it is still night.