In 2014, for the first time, I thought prices were cheap in Japan. Especially in these modest restaurants frequented by Salaryman. Twenty years of economic stagnation and a strong dollar saw to that.

A pork cutlet, a bowl of rice and miso soup can cost just 500 yen, a little over $4. Contrast that with the booming Austin economy where lunch is usually north of $8 and a Japanese lunch would probably run closer to $12.

These restaurants are a model of efficiency. I’ve seen the entire place run by just two or three people, which includes the cook and the wait staff. No one handles the money directly. I purchased lunch at a ticket machine, doing my best to decipher options via pictures, since my ability to read Japanese is lacking.

Shot with the Pentax Q7 with the standard zoom lens at a 27mm equivalent using the in-camera black and white mode. Part of my Deep Blacks Collection