Me in Japan
東京 · 音

The Listening City

Tokyo is the world capital of physical music — records, tapes, and the rooms built to hear them. A short book for the crate-digger and the quiet listener alike.

Vinyl Cassette & CD Jazz Kissa
目 次

Contents

一Why Tokyo Listens→ 二Where to Dig — Records→ 三Tapes & Discs→ 四The Listening Rooms→ 五Live & Loud→ 六The Guitar City→
一 · Chapter One

Why Tokyo Listens

Nowhere on earth takes recorded sound as seriously. While most of the world dissolved into streams, Tokyo kept the physical thing — and built an entire culture around hearing it well.

The Analog Capital

Why the record never died here

盤

Japan never fully let go of the physical format — CDs stayed mainstream long after they vanished elsewhere, and vinyl came roaring back on top of that. The result is a city with, quite possibly, more record shops than anywhere on the planet: multi-floor megastores, basement specialists, and tiny rooms with a few hundred perfect records. Sellers here are obsessive about condition, sleeves are graded and cleaned, and the shelves hold Japanese pressings — city pop, jazz, rare soundtracks — you simply can't find elsewhere.

Worth Knowing

"Much of the world's rarest vinyl now lives in Tokyo — collectors travel here specifically to dig, because the density, the condition, and the curation are unmatched anywhere else."

A Culture of Listening

The room as an instrument

喫茶

After the war, Japanese listeners inherited crates of jazz records left by American soldiers, but had few live musicians to play them. So the jazz kissa was born — a small café built to recreate the concert, with a hi-fi system most homes could never hold. By the 1970s these rooms had become laboratories: hand-built speakers, glowing valves, precision turntables, and a near-religious quiet. Listening itself became the art.

The Etiquette

"In a true kissa, silence is the rule while the music plays. Many ask for no photos and take no requests — you're there to listen, not to be seen. Bring cash, and let the room set the pace."

・・・
二 · Chapter Two

Where to Dig

Tokyo's record shops cluster by neighbourhood — pick an area and lose an afternoon. Shibuya and Shimokitazawa are the richest hunting grounds, but the treasures are spread right across the city.

Disk Union — The Institution

Start here, whatever you collect

レコード

The serious chain, and the backbone of Tokyo digging. Rather than one big shop, Disk Union splits into genre-specific stores and floors, each with its own buyers and personality, all backed by a meticulous grading system and fair, market-aware pricing. Learn its branches and you've learned the city.

📀The Branches Worth Knowing
  • Disk Union Shinjuku map
    The flagship — separate floors and buildings for each genre, jazz especially strong.
  • Disk Union Shibuya map
    Central and deep, spread across genre-specific shops around the station.
  • Disk Union Shimokitazawa map
    The bohemian branch — hip-hop, R&B, house and techno.
  • Disk Union Ochanomizu map
    The rare-record and jazz specialists — for the serious hunt.
Shibuya 渋谷

The epicentre — more shops per block than anywhere.

  • Tower Records Shibuya mapnine floors; the 6th is all vinyl, new and vintage — the iconic first stop
  • Face Records mapjazz, soul, hip-hop, funk — meticulous curation, fair prices
  • Manhattan Records maphip-hop, soul and funk, new and used — an institution since the '80s
  • Technique maphouse and techno DJ shop — latest cuts, local labels, deep used section
  • Next Records maphip-hop, R&B, disco and dance — the 12-inch specialist
  • HMV record shop Shibuya mapthe big, browsable one — a broad, well-priced sweep across genres over several floors, and the easy first stop in Shibuya before the specialists
  • Disk Union Shibuya (Club Music) mapthe dance-music arm of the Disk Union empire — house, techno, disco and edits on CD and vinyl, curated by staff who clearly DJ
  • Ella Records (Nishihara) mapa small, well-loved shop out towards Yoyogi-Uehara with a serious jazz section — rarer European and US pressings, a relaxed room, prices close to Discogs
Shimokitazawa 下北沢

Bohemian, second-hand, and made for browsing.

  • JET SET Tokyo mapone of the largest — hip-hop, house, jazz and soul, domestic and imported
  • Flash Disc Ranch mapsoul, funk and rock on a vintage system — cheap, three discs for ¥2,000
  • City Country City (Shimokitazawa) mappart record shop, part café, owned by Keiichi Sokabe of Sunny Day Service — a wall of vinyl to browse, a turntable always running, and coffee and pasta while you dig. As close as it gets to the sound of Shimokitazawa in one room
  • RANA-MUSICA (Daizawa) mapa Shimokita gem leaning electronic, dub and reggae — carefully kept records, a listening station, and fair prices, especially on used
  • Record Station maphip-hop, soul, funk and rare groove by the crate — dig the floor boxes and the 45 stacks; DJ Koco has been known to play in-store
  • pianola records (Bonus Track) maptiny and singular, in the Bonus Track arcade — avant-garde and experimental sounds the owner will happily walk you through. One of a kind
  • Disk Union Shimokitazawa (Dance) mapthe Shimokita dance-and-club-music branch — another reliable stop on a Disk Union crawl
Harajuku & Jingumae 原宿

Indie and imports, tucked off the main crush.

  • Big Love Records mapindie rock and small-label imports, up an alley — with a tiny bar inside
  • Hi-Fi Record Store mapAmerican vinyl across every genre, a Meiji-dori gem — closed Thursdays
Nakano 中野

West-side digging, deep and unhurried.

  • ECHO Records mapvinyl, a deep and serious collection
  • Smokin' Fish Records mapcentral-Tokyo crate-digging
  • Nakano Broadway mapa vertical maze of Mandarake shops — vintage records among the manga and figures
Sangenjaya 三軒茶屋

A short ride west, for one singular shop.

  • Kankyō Records / H.Architecture mapan ambient and experimental specialist near Sangenjaya — vinyl, CDs and cassettes chosen with a curator’s ear and filed under the shop’s own system, which suggests the mood and the hour each record suits. Wabi-sabi ceramics and room scents share the racks. Small, singular, and its own record label besides — the kind of place that quietly undoes an afternoon if the music is yours
Ochanomizu & Kanda 御茶ノ水

Two streets over from Guitar Street, for the dance-floor end of the crate.

  • Lighthouse Records mapa tiny basement house-and-techno specialist with no street sign — down a driveway, three listening stations, and an owner who curates new-release and second-hand electronic records with a DJ’s ear. One of the best digs in the city for four-to-the-floor
Nakameguro & Ebisu 中目黒

Quieter, design-minded, worth the detour.

  • Waltz (Nakameguro) mapcassette-and-vinyl sanctuary — museum-like, try before you buy; closed Mondays
  • Coconuts Disk (Ebisu) mapindie, alternative and Japanese rarities — a city-pop pilgrimage
Further Afield 遠出

Two that reward the longer train ride.

  • VDS (Kameari) mapa vast new used-vinyl-and-art-book space out east in Kameari — a third records, two-thirds large-format art books, from ¥100 bins to ¥25,000 rarities, with a deep jazz wall and listening decks. Worth the ride for the scale alone
  • Coconuts Disk (Ikebukuro) mapsmall footprint, deep stock, strong on Japanese city pop and new pressings — the kind of place you cannot leave empty-handed. Ekoda and Ikebukuro branches
・・・
三 · Chapter Three

Tapes & Discs

Vinyl gets the glory, but Tokyo stayed loyal to the cassette and never abandoned the CD. Both are having a moment — and both are easy to find here.

The Cassette Sanctuary

A palm-sized time machine

テープ

Waltz, in Nakameguro, is the most beautiful music shop in the city and reason enough for the trip. Its owner — formerly of the digital world at Amazon — has gathered some three thousand cassettes one by one, alongside vinyl, VHS, vintage magazines and a wall of boomboxes, all arranged with museum-like care. Each tape carries a hand-written note, and they'll let you listen before you buy. It is analog as devotion.

Good to Know

"Waltz keeps short hours and closes on Mondays — check before you go, and don't rush it. This is a place for encountering music, not ticking it off a list."

Still the Land of the CD 盤

Japan never stopped buying discs — and most vinyl shops carry them too.

  • Tower Records Shibuya mapnine floors of music — the CD collection is as serious as the vinyl
  • Recofan (Shibuya) mapa vast, cheap used floor — CDs and vinyl by the thousand
  • HMV record shop Shibuya mapbig second-hand selection across genres, CDs and vinyl side by side
・・・
四 · Chapter Four

The Listening Rooms

Where it all comes together: rooms built around a sound system and a wall of records, where the music is the point and the quiet is the price of entry. Some are near-silent temples; others pour a drink and let you talk. Both are essential Tokyo.

The Classics 喫茶

Purist jazz and classical kissa — listen first, whisper later.

  • Meikyoku Kissa Lion (Shibuya) mapa two-storey classical listening theatre since 1929 — 3-metre speakers, strict no-talking, coffee only, roughly 1–8pm
  • JBS — Jazz, Blues, Soul (Shibuya) mapone flight above the crowds; the owner runs it alone, pulling from 10,000 records. Open daily, tea by day, drinks by night
  • Bar Martha (Ebisu) mapthe city’s most uncompromising listening room — near-silence, no photos, no loud talk or laughter; you drink quietly and let the records rule. Don’t be scared off by the middling star rating: the one-star reviews are almost all from people who came for a normal bar and hit the rules — a cover charge, a shush, indoor smoke. Come knowing exactly what it is, best solo or as a pair, and it’s unforgettable
  • Masako (Shimokitazawa) mapthe area's oldest jazz kissa, opened 1953 and reborn in 2020 — it once hosted Charles Mingus
  • Eagle (Yotsuya) mapa pure jazz kissa since 1967, shaped by a famed critic — some 4,000 records on a serious JBL system, no talking until 6pm, then a gentle jazz bar. A rite of passage
Records & Drinks 音楽バー

The softer record bars — great sound, no vow of silence.

  • record bar 33 1/3 rpm (Ebisu) mapdrinks, deep cuts, requests welcome — the friendly end of the spectrum
  • Ancient Shisha & Record (Gakugei Daigaku) mapshisha, vinyl and a slow-burning evening, off the tourist map
  • Bonobo (Harajuku) mapan old wooden house with extraordinary sound — where listening tips into dancing
  • Grandfather’s (Shibuya) mapa 1971 basement institution — the owner spins ’70s soul, funk and AOR one record at a time on a JBL rig; cheap drinks, requests welcome. Fair warning: it’s smoky, and photos aren’t the done thing
  • Spincoaster Music Bar (Ebisu) mapa refined 4th-floor room where you pick the next record by QR code (a small charge covers one pick); vinyl meets hi-res, grown-up and quiet. From 7pm
  • Little Soul Cafe (Shimokitazawa) mapa cosy soul-and-funk vinyl bar — one of the friendliest rooms to start with, quiet conversation welcome. Bring cash; seats are few
  • DJ Bar Bridge (Shibuya) mapgreat sound and city views with live DJ sets — the record bar that slots naturally into a night out
  • SHeLTeR mapa serious audiophile room outside the centre, built around an event schedule — check what’s on before making the trip
  • BLOW UP (Dōgenzaka) mapa hidden little DJ bar up a Dogenzaka stair — funk, soul and hip-hop off the wall behind the decks, records for sale, and one of the warmest rooms in Shibuya for a late beer. Barely marked; ring and climb
  • MUSIC & BAR BLOWIN’ (Hatagaya) mapa bar built by B’z fans for B’z fans — cocktails and dishes named after the band’s songs, rare merch on every wall, and, because the owner trained as a chef, food good enough to come for on its own. Joyous and very Japanese
  • epulor (Aobadai) mapa low-lit vinyl wine bar on the Nakameguro side of Aobadai — lounge and jazz on the turntable, a short, well-chosen drinks list, and a discreet, grown-up hush. A seating charge kicks in after 6pm
  • The Ebony (Dōgenzaka) mapa soul, funk and blues record bar up on Dogenzaka — a man-cave of vinyl and 80s tunes with an owner devoted to his playlist (and generous with restaurant tips). Snacks only, an ~¥800 cover, and one of Shibuya’s warmest late hangs
Before You Go

"The purist rooms mean it: no talking while the music plays, often no photos, and requests are usually declined — assume no until told otherwise. Seats are few, so go early, bring cash, and settle in. The record bars are gentler; the kissa are a discipline."

・・・
五 · Chapter Five

Live & Loud

From the recorded rooms to the real thing — jazz jams that run until dawn, and the tiny live houses where nearly every Japanese band you love first took the stage.

Jazz, Live 生演奏

From all-night jam sessions to supper-club headliners.

  • Shinjuku Pit Inn mapthe jazz heads’ temple since 1965 — avant-garde to straight-ahead, Japanese greats and touring names. Afternoon sets are the city’s best value; no reservations, just turn up
  • Jazz Spot Intro (Takadanobaba) mapa tiny basement running open jam sessions most nights — amateurs beside pros, packed like sardines. Saturdays play until morning
  • Body & Soul (Aoyama) mapintimate, warm, nightly live jazz since 1974 — close enough to talk to the players between sets
  • Blue Note Tokyo (Aoyama) mapthe prestige room — international headliners in a supper-club setting. Book ahead, and save it for a name you love
  • Cotton Club (Marunouchi) mapBlue Note’s polished sibling — jazz, soul and R&B with dinner and great sightlines
Live Houses ライブハウス

The small rooms that are the backbone of Tokyo's music scene.

  • Shinjuku Loft mapthe epicentre of Japanese punk and rock since 1976 — a 500-capacity room that launched half the scene
  • Liquidroom (Ebisu) mapmid-size and well-run — quality indie and international acts, a step up from the basements
  • WWW / WWW X (Shibuya) mapinside an old cinema — tiered floors for indie, alternative and hip-hop; the upstairs sister doubles as a dance club
  • FEVER (Shindaita) mapa 300-capacity black box run by Shelter’s former manager — the go-to for Tokyo’s rising indie acts, with a café-gallery attached
  • BLUE NOTE PLACE (Ebisu) mapBlue Note’s other room, and very nearly its opposite — garden seating, all-day food, no ticket and no cover, with live sets most evenings. The place to hear something good without booking a month ahead
  • BAUHAUS (Roppongi) mapa Roppongi institution where a costumed house band plays note-perfect covers of Japanese and Western rock — glam, loud, gloriously unironic. A set music-and-food charge, requests welcome, and unlike anything else on this page
Shimokitazawa — the Live-Music Town 下北沢

More live houses per block than anywhere in Japan, and forty years of launching bands. A cluster within a few minutes' walk:

  • Shelter mapthe neighbourhood’s most storied room since 1987 — the one that inspired the ‘Bocchi the Rock’ anime
  • Club Que mapthe indie-rock heart of the district
  • Three mapfolk, acoustic and singer-songwriters — laid-back
  • ERA mapheavier and more experimental — shoegaze, post-punk, the beautiful and loud
  • 440 (four-forty) mapjazz and songwriters as much as indie — an intimate room
How a Live House Works

"Shows are almost always all-standing, and tickets run ¥2,000–3,500 with one drink included — you pay the drink charge at the door. Smaller rooms sell day-of tickets (当日券); the surest way to catch a show is to follow the band on Instagram or X. And no, there's rarely a mosh pit."

Clubs & Sound Systems 音

Where the sound system is the headliner — phones down, and often a rule you agree to at the door.

  • VENT (Minami-Aoyama) mapthe techno purist’s club — a custom sound system, a strict no-photo policy you sign up to before entry, and a crowd that comes to listen with its feet. Two floors, one for smoking; Friday and Saturday only
  • Enter (Jingūmae) mapsmall, dark and seriously loud — a boiler-room wall of Meyer subs, a centred DJ booth, and hard-techno line-ups that pull names off the Berghain circuit. Not a place to socialise; a place to move
  • Mitsuki (Dōgenzaka) mapa tiny basement club under red light — mixed genres, an international crowd, cheap-ish drinks and a friendly door. Best on a Thursday or Sunday; weekends pack out fast
・・・
六 · Chapter Six

The Guitar City

Tokyo is, improbably, one of the world’s great cities to buy a guitar — new, used or gloriously vintage — and it has a whole street devoted to it.

Ochanomizu — Guitar Street

Fifty shops on a single road

ギター

Step out of Ochanomizu Station and you’re on Meidai Dōri — ‘Guitar Street’ — a single road lined with something like fifty instrument shops, the densest concentration in Japan. New and used sit side by side; many shops specialise (one all vintage, one all bass, one all acoustic), and prices are easy to compare with everything a few minutes’ walk apart. Expect Made-in-Japan models you’ll never see abroad, thirty-year-old bargains, and rows of Fenders, Gibsons and Martins. Don’t be shy about asking for a discount — and the year-end brings the big sales.

🎸Shops to Start With
  • Ishibashi Music map
    the shop overseas visitors know — a huge used selection, with a separate ‘Finest Guitars’ room for high-end Gibson and Fender Custom Shop.
  • Kurosawa Gakki map
    a Guitar Street institution across several floors and specialities.
  • Guitar Planet / Acoustic Planet map
    acoustic and classical specialists — with Bass Planet alongside for the low-enders.
  • Shimokura Music map
    a solid bet for second-hand across guitars, bass and wind instruments.
Beyond the Street 中古

For rare and vintage, leave Ochanomizu behind.

  • TC Gakki (Shimokitazawa) mapone of Tokyo’s premier second-hand shops — smaller and quirkier than Ochanomizu’s big retailers, strong on rare and vintage
  • Nakano Broadway mapa treasure hunt for used gear among the manga and figures
  • Shimokitazawa, generallythe vintage counterpart to Ochanomizu — small specialist shops for something older or rare
  • Bottom’s Up Guitars (Den-en-chōfu) mapa high-end select shop in a quiet southern suburb, running since 2003 — arguably the deepest PRS stock in the country, alongside boutique makers you will not find on Guitar Street. Everything is set up properly before it is sold. Appointment only, and worth the train
  • Book Off Super Bazaar mapthe large-format second-hand branches quietly keep a guitar wall, and it is one of the last places in Tokyo where a good instrument still turns up mispriced. Stock is pure chance and turns over weekly, so it rewards checking two or three branches rather than one
  • Five G Music Technology (Harajuku) mapnot on Guitar Street, but the country’s temple to synthesizers — a fourth-floor room off Takeshita-dōri full of vintage Rolands and Moogs, modular walls you can patch and play, and a repair bench in the open. For anyone who makes electronic music, a pilgrimage
A Buyer’s Note

“The real prize is the Japanese-market instrument — MIJ Fenders, Greco, Bacchus, ESP, Tokai — built superbly and often unavailable abroad. Ask about tax-free purchase with your passport, and about international shipping; many Guitar Street shops handle both.”

・・・