Most of us know peak hour: breathing in other people’s smells and breaths, being confronted with armpits, and that slight terror in the back of your mind that you can’t breathe. You come out of it feeling like you need another shower by 8.45am.

Well it’s even worse in Japan – a country where they have oshiya or pushers, literally – who are hired to cram people into a train and close the doors before takeoff at peak times.

For 30 days German photographer Michael Wolf captured this from a Tokyo train station at peak hour each morning, standing a couple of inches from train windows and snapping some of the eight million commuters packed inside the carriages each day.

The result was Tokyo Compression, a series that captures what is a really ugly and creepy side to mega cities like Tokyo, and something that could become more familiar as populations push higher.

Figures form strange contortions and faces are pressed against the windows, in portraits that are horrifying and haunting, but in a way almost strangely beautiful. The effect is so strong you can nearly feel the steam just by looking at them.

Tokyo Compression saw Wolf win the 2009 World Press Photo competition for Daily Life, and has been published in a book of the same name. The full series is available for view on Wolf’s website.

Check out some of the images above.

Hannah Scholte