Hotshots
Our selection of winning images from the Open Competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2025
© Hajime Hirano, Japan, Winner. Open Competition, Lifestyle, Sony World Photography Awards 2025
WINNER: Lifestyle
‘Akihabara’
Hajime Hirano (Japan)
The blueprint for Tokyo’s Akihabara district, located north of the city centre, was set when street vendors used to gather here to sell parts for radios. During the period of rapid economic growth in the late 1950s, Akihabara grew into ‘Japan’s largest electronics town’. Nowadays, it is just as famous worldwide as the home of anime and cosplay culture. With these two different faces, Akihabara is a place that embodies the essence of ‘Japaneseness’.