Boroichi bargains provide cheer amid economic gloom in Japan — in pictures

A woman browses through kimonos for sale at the Boroichi flea market in Tokyo. Vintage kimonos in vermillion red and prints of cranes go for as little as ¥1,000. Thomas Peter / Reuters

Traditional Kokeshi dolls from Japan’s northern Tohoku area are piled up in a box at Boroichi flea market in Tokyo. Thomas Peter / Reuters

Trader Kazumoto Miyaoka poses in the pile of secondhand clothes and rags that he sells at Boroichi flea market in Tokyo. In the 16th century, Boroichi was a place for farmers to buy and sell rags, known as boro, for mending clothes and weaving sandals. Thomas Peter / Reuters

Yoshiyuki Matsuura, a regular customer, visits a friend’s indoor secondhand clothes store at Boroichi flea market in Tokyo. Thomas Peter / Reuters

About 200,000 people flock to the Boroichi flea market in Tokyo, which is only open for four mid-winter days a year - two in December and two in January. Thomas Peter / Reuters

A trader sells secondhand goods at Boroichi flea market in Tokyo. Thomas Peter / Reuters

Julie Nicholson

About 200,000 people flock to the Boroichi flea market in Tokyo, which is only open for four mid-winter days a year, to buy, browse, or just soak up the atmosphere and get a temporary respite from the economic gloom engulfing Japan.

Updated: December 22, 2014, 12:00 AM