Tokyo listening bars—what are they and the place to seek out them

In the Tokyo pleasure district of Shibuya, amid the nightclubs and the love motels, an electrical signal glints a pink slogan: ‘Music from the BYG’. I stroll by way of the door and discover myself inside a basic rock ’n’ roll ingesting gap. Twentysomethings sit clustered round wood tables, leather-based jackets studded with spikes and hair sculpted into rockabilly pompadours. Half-smoked cigarettes billow plumes of smoke from silver ashtrays. Monochrome renderings of Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan snarl down from the partitions, between cabinets filled with well-thumbed file sleeves.

It doesn’t take lengthy, although, to understand there’s one thing totally different — and surprisingly peaceable — about this bar. Beyond a couple of murmured exchanges, no person is talking; most of the punters have their eyes closed and their ears bent in the direction of the again wall, which is totally made up of high-spec audio system enjoying The Rolling Stones’ Street Fighting Man in crystal-clear high quality. The lack of dialog and the eye paid to the music offers the place a serene, respectful environment, regardless of the raucous rock music emanating from the audio system. BYG is a listening bar — a Japanese phenomenon the place recorded music is the principle occasion, relatively than simply the background noise, and is delivered by way of audio system of the very highest high quality. Playlists are often curated by the homeowners, though in some bars, like BYG, punters can take data from the cabinets and request them.

(A music lover’s information to Tokyo, the town that strikes to its personal beat.)

These bars may be discovered throughout Japan however are notably concentrated in Tokyo’s Shibuya, the place they supply sanctuaries of calm amid the chaos. Various companies dubbed ‘listening bars’ have opened in London, New York and different Western cities in recent times, however all they’ve in frequent with their Japanese counterparts are their high-end audio system and dedication to sound high quality. What makes Japanese listening bars distinctive, and unlikely to be precisely reproduced within the West, is the reverence with which the native punters maintain the music, sitting in close to or full silence without having to be informed to take action.

Beside me, tour information Jeff Garrish, smiling with half-closed eyes, delivers his verdict: “It reminds me of a Zen garden.” A eager horticulturalist, Jeff is a Japanese American, born in Nagasaki, who’s lived within the outskirts of Tokyo for a number of years. “Notice how quiet everyone’s being?” Jeff says. “Personal space is hugely important in Japan. It’s the same reason perfume isn’t a big thing here — strong smells impose themselves on other people.” The identical precept is at play in listening bars. “That’s the deal,” Jeff says. “I get to enjoy my experience of the music, and I don’t get to impinge on yours.”

BYG represents the extra relaxed finish of the listening bar spectrum — meals is served and nobody truly tells you off for speaking. But Jeff additionally desires to point out me someplace extra critical, so we step out as soon as extra into the chaos of Shibuya. Famous as a red-light district, Shibuya has a remit that extends into all areas of leisure. Music spills from the open home windows of tower blocks, whose flooring home raucous bars, ramen eating places and gig venues, their names declared on lurid neon indicators.

We stroll for a couple of blocks after which descend into one other darkish basement, house to Pres Jazz Bar. Dimly lit by lamplight, its polished wooden bar lined with leather-based stools, the environment is all-enveloping. On one wall are painted murals of jazz legends Billie Holiday and Lester ‘Pres’ Young, after whom the bar is called, and overlaying the again wall is a sight that unites all Tokyo listening bars: cabinets supporting 1000’s of vinyl data and CDs. The reedy strains of John Coltrane emanate warmly from audio system in a darkened nook. Pres is a jazz kissa — the kind of venue that actually set the listening bar craze alight within the post-war years, when US jazz data flooded into Japan. They rapidly discovered an viewers with Japanese music-lovers and multiplied, aided by Japan’s pre-existing cultural inclination in the direction of critical hobbies, respect for the humanities and appreciation of high-quality know-how.

The barmaid, Kana Sato, fingers us each a sizzling hand towel, takes our order of Japanese whiskies and begins chipping ice cubes into particular shapes whose totally different melting instances complement the flavour profile of our chosen drinks. It’s the type of consideration to element that infuses Japanese life, together with the tradition of the listening bars, with their painstakingly curated file collections. I ask Kana in a low whisper if speaking is allowed in right here. She appears to be like barely confused. “Well, yes — but then people won’t hear the music properly,” she says. In this manner, due to the truth that Japanese tradition prioritises social concord, the listening bars police themselves.

There’s yet another place Jeff desires to point out me: Lion Café. Opened in 1926, it’s the spot the place the listening bar phenomenon started and solely performs classical music. We navigate the insanity of the Shibuya Crossing — the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing, with 3,000 individuals streaming throughout it at any given time — and switch down a quiet alley to seek out ourselves in entrance of a mock-medieval stone constructing resembling a European church. We stroll in, the place the ecclesiastical environment is simply enhanced by a pin-drop silence and rows of seats that face, pew-like, in the direction of a central altar. It’s topped not by a holy cross however by a set of big, wood-panelled audio system.

A gray-haired man approaches and I order a lemonade (no alcohol is served right here). We’re nonetheless in Tokyo’s seediest district, but the environment in right here is so quiet and reverential {that a} whispered order for a mushy drink feels naughty past reproach.

Moody string music performs, in beautiful high quality, by way of the enormous audio system. When the motion ends, a waitress involves the entrance of the room with a microphone and says, “That was today’s final piece, by German neoclassical composer Paul Hindemith.” The remaining punters file out in silence, and I get speaking to Naoya Yamadera, the aged man who’d greeted me on my arrival. He’s the fourth era of Lion’s supervisor, having inherited the function from his father, and he says stewardship of the place is his major motivation for persevering with to run it. “It’s all about preserving places like this — protecting their special atmosphere,” he says, then breaks right into a conspiratorial grin. “I’m not bothered about classical music. I sit in front of the speakers after closing time and listen to Sgt Pepper.”