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Backyard Coffee and Jazz in Kyoto

593 points by wyclif

by nomilk

9 subcomments

> on the vibrant business and street culture in Japanese cities and the seemingly very, very low barriers to entry for regular people to participate.
An astute observation that allowing markets to operate without onerous licensing schemes and regulations often has wonderful upsides, allowing quirky and niche interests to survive and even flourish.
A similar situation was true of Melbourne's small bar scene vs Sydney's. Sydney's more expensive/onerous licensing requirements were prohibitive for tiny bars. Whereas Melbourne's licensing was more permissive and less expensive, resulting in an abundance of quirky and interesting venues. Possibly my favourite example was a tiny indy video game bar (it shut down during covid, I think). https://barsk.com.au/skgames/?p=done

by dataviz1000

5 subcomments

I entered a jazz izakaya in Kanazawa with only two stools and no room for anyone else. There was an old man on one stool and a bartender in his 70s or 80s. It is rude to tip and they will not except it but offering to buy a drink for the bartender is encouraged. I ordered a Japanese whiskey and offered the old man and bartender one. There were piles of knickknacks and maybe $15,000 worth of stereo equipment including a record player, planar magnetic speakers and a vacuum tube amplifier in this little room. I heard the distinctive sound of Sonny Rollins saxophone and used the translation app to say I saw Sonny Rollins play live at the Monterey Jazz Festival and he played an encore of La Cucaracha for close to two hours where his band eventually left the stage and he kept playing and playing. The bartender pulled out a Sonny Rollins record from his stack of vinyl and put it on the record player. The three of us sat there for 40 minutes not saying a word listening.
If you are in Kyoto, I recommend a similar style bar called Brown Sugar. They tend to have these types of names, for example, in Sapporo there is one called Jim Crow. [0] However, if in Sapporo, I recommend the half note. [1] Most bars and restaurants for that matter will not serve me because I do not speak Japanese, so they say. If I wanted a drink I would stick to Karaoke and jazz bars. I made some friends in Kyoto who were finishing their 4th year studying engineering at University of Kyoto who were from Africa -- these kids are African royalty. They spoke perfect fluent Japanese and they couldn't get access into bars that would let me in. So the names are fitting and likely they know exactly what they mean.
[0] https://www.google.com/search?q=sapporo+japan+bar+jim+crow
[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=sapporo+japan+piano+ba+half+...

by mtalantikite

2 subcomments

> I suppose, religion aside, that that feeling is wonder. That is not a feeling I often feel running errands and going out in America. But it’s a feeling that the Japanese business landscape and built environment is able to spark frequently.
On our Friday stand-ups we generally chat for a few minutes about what we're up to for the weekend, and my update is usually something along the lines of "I'm going to go outside and let New York happen to me". I'm feeling that wonder less and less here in the city as all the quirky, niche things have been driven out due to rent increases and are being replaced by their private equity owned, multi-national versions. But the ability of the city to spark wonder certainly exists in our environment here more than in most in the US since we navigate by foot and not typically by car.
I'd prefer optimizing for wonder than most other things.
Edit: Actually there used to be a Japanese cafe in my neighborhood called "House of Small Wonder", which was attached to an omakase spot. They had a big tree growing out of the middle of it, going up out the roof, with space for maybe 15 or less. It's now a Glossier makeup store.

by Dracophoenix

3 subcomments

These small cafés/bars are called kissa (kee-sah). Unlike a regular café, the kissa is designed to create an atmosphere allowing for a quiet appreciation of the music while drinks are served as an accompaniment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_kissa
For the interested, Chris Broad (Abroad in Japan) interviewed the owner of such an establishment (Basie) located in Ichinoseki: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1-9RMSbl_Uo
> (There’s one that’s chock-full of Star Wars memorabilia, for example.)
I'd definitely like to know where this one is.

by lubujackson

3 subcomments

It doesn't feel run down because it isn't run down. No dust in the corners, no dents in the wall - this is the difference between patina and "old crap": a lifetime of care.

by wagwang

2 subcomments

I went to a cafe in kyoto near the bamboo forest where it was literally an old ladies house and in the moment, being there conjured deep resentment within me towards urban planners and zoning.

by SSJPython

1 subcomments

There's just something about Japan that makes its simplicity so beautiful. Yes, we all know Japan has dealt with economic problems, lost decades, declining fertility, etc.
But they still manage to keep the beautiful simplicity of life that makes their culture one of the world's richest.

by low_tech_love

3 subcomments

I live in Sweden (as an expat), and I often struggle to explain to outsiders why I think it’s one of the least interesting places I’ve ever been to. There is something missing that I can’t usually grasp with words. This article has made it crystal clear; this kind of thing is non-existent here. Everything is impersonal, distant, matter-of-fact. Next time someone asks me I’ll link this article.
(The next obvious question is always “why are you still there?” and the answer is because it’s a great place to work.)

by anon-3988

13 subcomments

Man, I know it is a meme but Japan simply have mastered "aesthetics". It is especially incredible given that they achieved this in an urban area.
For example, consider the vines that are growing on that shed. Is that dirty? Should we clean them to get a pristine shed? Yes, you have to sweep the floor everyday to clean the dust, but should you cut down that small plant growing between the cracks of your building? Or the vines overtaking the roof? I think if you answers no to this, then you understand that sense of aesthetics.
For some people tho, they think its a bad thing (1), which I simply don't understand? I don't understand how people can willingly spend every couple of hours every week to trim their lawn to a pristine, perfect cube of grass. Is this beautiful? I think not. In my apartment, I have trees growing from the cracks of the building, and I think that's beautiful.
I don't know how they do it, it is not simply just being clean. I think parts of it is "allowing nature to take its course" which gives a typical structure depth and age.
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/landscaping/comments/vs1n0n/help_wh...

by MarkusWandel

0 subcomment

What's also magical is that businesses like that can exist without being run aground by bureaucracy. In my city it is nearly impossible to even get a permit for a mobile food stand.

by frereubu

2 subcomments

This reminds me very much of one of my favourite series on Netflix, Midnight Diner (not Midnight Diner - Tokyo Stories, which is a Netflix remake with many of the same cast, but not as enjoyable as the original in my opinion). Most of the action centres around a group of regulars talking while at a small izakaya in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which is run by someone known only as "Master" and only opens from midnight to 7am. You see a bit of their lives outside, but it always reverts back to the izakaya where they debate on various topics. Given the setting, each episode feels a bit like a theatre play.

by tkgally

0 subcomment

As the author and various commenters here note, there are many tiny businesses in Japan. In the big cities, they are often located on the upper floors of multistory buildings. Lately, for no particular reason, I've been taking pictures of the signs for bars in such places:
https://www.gally.net/barsigns/index.html

by myflash13

1 subcomments

This is a function of affordability and low regulation. Another place I’ve been to which has so many lovely tiny little coffee shops and boutiques which may also happen to be someone’s home is Lviv, Ukraine.

by shermantanktop

0 subcomment

Jazz—classic jazz, not Kenny G- is common in urban Japan. Very common to hear Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck in a restaurant, coffee shop, etc.

by socalgal2

0 subcomment

Some of this I believe is possible because of rent price. Especially in places like Kyoto where I believe the population is slowly going down.
That said, there are small places all over. this one might be relatively famous. It's next to a train track so not "quiet" but it's also in busy Tokyo.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FMY9QwWyiibWn9CcA
Another thing there are lots of are small restaurants that hold 5-12 people. There are of course the famous bars in Golden Gai and a few other places but there really are 1000s of these places if you know where to look if you're language skills are up for it. Often there is person running the "bar" but they have a menu of food they'll cook for you. Things like grilled fish, pork salad, omelette rice, etc... Basically Japanese home cooking. Lots of people become regulars at a place and it's like their 2nd home.
If you watched Odd Taxi, they hang out at a place like this.
There's one I was introduced to recently right here (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tgsfou4HMbKiiD3L8). It's not going to be around much longer because it's run by a 96yr old lady who lives there. She doesn't speak any English. She ran it with her husband until he passed away. IIRC she's been there 57yrs
Another, I was introduced to bar recently, not far from the coffee place above. I found it interesting in particular because it was only open weekdays from 5pm to 10:30 on weekdays. Not open on weekends. I haven't asked if that brings in enough or if the person has other sources of income. I'll ask next time I visit. But 5.5 hours a day, 5 days a week + prep sound nice.
Another thing I find appealing about these small bar/restaurants/snacks, they seem like not a bad life. Working a USA style sports bar in the USA or beer restaurant like in Germany or regular restaurant with 10+ tables seems like a not so interesting job. Just running from table to table taking orders, carrying orders, being "busy". These Japanese places are a place to socialize and in particular to socialize with the owner so the owner generally has a nice time as well.

by kmoser

0 subcomment

> I’m not sure why it is that this obviously aging little structure doesn’t feel ugly or rundown. It doesn’t trigger any negative feelings. It somehow feels atmospheric, like a living time capsule. The music, of course, helped.
Several things help prevent it from feeling run down: 1) the music, 2) the fact that it's probably immaculate: no dust or dirt anywhere, 3) the rustic surfaces have a patina, but no physical degradation (rust/rot), and 4) it's well lit.

by ape4

3 subcomments

Turntable on a speaker - I thought that was not advised.

by boogieknite

1 subcomments

during our visit to Kyoto last year we noticed dozens of unmarked restaurants/bars while walking to our hotel at night. we saw packed bars through the blinds of houses indistinguishable from any other around them. we wondered if maybe they are coop bars or something? we never intruded because all were unmarked and at capacity
mostly forgot about it until reading this article because there is a lot to take in while visiting Japan from the US

by mupuff1234

6 subcomments

It all goes back to zoning laws and regulations.

by timr

0 subcomment

Hah, hilarious. I used to live not far from this place. [1]
I don't know the story behind the structure, but it was a re-purposed storage shed [2] that someone was either subletting or owned outright. Probably the former -- the area is not remote, and is surrounded by new housing. Most likely is that some landowner is making a little bit of cash by renting out the space, and the business owner is exploiting the niche of having a cheap property so near to Nijo castle (a tourist black zone in Kyoto).
Setting aside the aesthetics, the most "Japan" thing about this is that it's possible at all to get a license to run a food establishment, electricity service, etc. in such a marginal space. It would never be allowed in the US.
Secondarily, leaseholder rights in Japan are pretty different than in other parts of the world. It's fairly common, even in major cities, to find underdeveloped, tiny little plots of land where there's a lessee who has a ~perpetual right to the space, independent of the "owner". Landowners will buy and sell the underlying rights to the rental cashflow, almost like a long-term bond, with no hope for redevelopment, and the lessee can independently sell the rental rights [3]. Again, I don't know if that's what is going on here, but it wouldn't surprise me. These kind of situations make it feasible for a business owner to invest in creating a business in what is essentially a potting shed -- one of the major risks would be that no one rationally would want to keep that old building in place in an area of Kyoto that could be more fully developed. But as you can see, this building is completely surrounded by new construction, and has been for many years.
[1] It's here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3KtWnTAkmatMqN9b6
[2] I could be wrong about this part. The roof is tiled, which is pretty fancy for a shed. My recollection was that it was far too small to ever have been a house, but it's possible that it was originally a section of a larger machiya, which would make sense for the area and the geometry of the lot.
[3] This is sort of like mineral rights or air rights in the US. It's not a totally foreign concept to us, we just don't do it for houses or...shacks.
This streetview gives a better perspective on exactly what is around it -- you have new development in front and behind, and the area immediately to the front of the shop is a dedicated parking area for a nearby business. I suspect that the shop and the parking area are part of the same parcel, owned by the business.
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0112669,135.7504895,3a,89.9y...

by kazinator

0 subcomment

I went to such a small pasta restaurant somewhere in the Gunma Prefecture's countryside. Record player, vacuum tube amplifier, jazz.
I'm down the rabbit hole of trying to find it now. Searching, in Japanese, for restaurants specifically in the Gunma country side that feature jazz, I found instead something else: "Cafe Front Load":
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/azuminojv/e/bbfb2695ee73ee9c27c2e4ba6...
Not the same one. But there is a record player with jazz.
The amp is not tube, but it is exotic for the purpose: a Yamaha PC2002M PA thing that requires 3U racks space.
These jazz vinyl -> record player -> exotic amp -> speakers type restaurants seem to be like mushrooms under the rain in Japan or something?
It may be like trying to find a replacement record needle in a haystack.

by rockostrich

0 subcomment

As someone who loves coffee as well as the culture around locally owned coffee shops, visiting Tokyo (and to a lesser extent Seoul) this past April was like a dream come true.
When my partner and I travel, we don't do a ton of planning for specifics so if we're in a big city we'll usually pick a neighborhood or 2 for the day and bebop around until we're tired. The start to any day is almost always finding a coffee shop and doing the crossword during our first cup. In Europe depending on the city this can be difficult because a lot of coffee shops just pump out overextracted espresso and then give the option to add water for an americano. There's still tons of amazing cafes in the European cities I've visited. Some really memorable ones are Café Tacuba in Lucerne, Faro in Rome, and Monks Coffee Roasters. in Amsterdam.
In Tokyo, we actually started off with a pretty mediocre coffee because nothing opened before 10 besides a cafe chain, but after we got adjusted we couldn't stop finding great spots. The first day we were going to the national museum and found AOYAMA COFFEE ROASTER in Yanaka. At first the owner was a bit standoffish because we were 2 Americans coming in at the very beginning of the day and I assume she has a lot of bad experiences with tourists, but we started talking after she noticed my portafilter/coffee plant tattoo and had a really great time. For the rest of the week, we walked into shop after shop that had at most 4 or 5 seats with one barista making drinks and each one felt special.
The one that connected me most to this post was the one from our day in Sumida City when we were going to a bunch of small museums (highly recommend the Hokusai museum). We stopped into CHILL OUT COFFEE &...RECORDS and it was one of the coziest coffee experiences I've ever had. The shop is a coffee bar with a couch and a couple of chairs. I forget what kind of cup I had but I remember it being just a really balanced cup with a little bit of berry and chocolate notes. I wish we could've stayed longer but after about 15 minutes a family of tourists with 2 toddlers came in and we figured it was time to go after we finished our drinks.
In Seoul, the shops we visited were all a lot bigger but one thing I couldn't help noticing was that all of the baristas were so deliberate in their movements. This is something that was probably true of folks in shops in general in Tokyo and Seoul, but I noticed it with baristas because I tend to think about it a lot when I'm making drinks at home. You could show me a silhouette of baristas making drinks in Tokyo and some western city and it would be night and day. I feel like that goes a long way in illustrating the differences between eastern and western culture even though we're all making and enjoying the same hot bean water.

by bravesoul2

1 subcomments

Love it. I would have loved to stumble across that on my trip. I also googled for coffee but the only place open early enough near me was 7-11. Most seem to open ar 12pm for some reason. I was slightly out of downtown to the north. But had a similar experience with a restaurant. It didn't look like this and was more conventional but it did feel like we were guests at someone's home rather than a restaurant and the food was fantastic. It felt different to the normal! I've had that experience in London too but it is very uncommon there. I think the true quirk exists in every city but you have to hunt it down more in western cities.

by michiman

0 subcomment

This was one of my favorite attributes while visiting Japan. I loved seeing all the small coffee shops and other small businesses, several which were seemingly attached to the owners' homes.

by carabiner

0 subcomment

I went to a cafe in Niseko that looked straight out of a ghibli movie. Stacks of older records in the corner, pothos vines draped over window sills. If you know Niseko, you know this is not the vibe at all since the whole town is mostly Australians (who are louder and more boisterous than Americans). I went in there and it was only a few Asian tourists. So peaceful. Then one American came in, and the entire vibe shifted for the worse as he tried talking over me and shouting across the room to the other table. Sigh.

by seatac76

0 subcomment

One of my best experiences in life has been walking the back streets of Kyoto in cold winter nights and just checking into a tiny noodle shop for some warm noodles. The whole experience is just so peaceful. Highly recommend just walking the streets behind Nishiki Market.

by m0llusk

0 subcomment

Tangential, but this is an interesting contrast with the book I am currently reading, The Trouble With Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality by Erin A. Cech, which goes on in detail and at length about the downsides of matching passion with work.

by fizx

0 subcomment

I miss SF in the early 2010s.
- gorgeous 3-seat wine bar inside my laundromat
- hidden sushi restaurant in friends garage
- hole-in-the wall coffee shop with only cushion seats on the floor and $1.50 breakfast sandos, frequented almost exclusively by writing clubs
- corner store with half-stocked shelves, still using a cash register that printed receipts with a mechanical typewriter

by Caelus9

0 subcomment

It reminded me of the last time I walked into a random little cafe in a strange city and heard some live jazz music. The whole atmosphere was quiet and relaxing. When you are not in a hurry, not thinking about taking pictures or posting on social media, you will really start to "see" the place.

by andyclap2

0 subcomment

Surprised no one's mentioned misuyabari yet... For all your tiny kawaii miniature animal topped needle needs, hidden in a rustic shack in a courtyard in a mall.
Ooh they have a website now! https://misuyabari.com/

by fitsumbelay

0 subcomment

This ROCKS
Wabi-sabi spaces are awesome regardless where in the world they are. Portals? Even better. Awesome post.

by FuriouslyAdrift

1 subcomments

Biggest thing I miss from Osaka is the vinyl record izakaya that I frequented (I do not remember the name but there are a bunch in the area). Just a little hole in the wall where the owner/baretender/chef/dj would spin whatever the heck he wanted.

by b0a04gl

0 subcomment

read it twice. woww it linked a casual café moment to local policy and space constraints without making a big bluff out of it. op tells you both what to think and also leaves enough there to connect your own dots, writing is awesome

by chem83

0 subcomment

Nice, I was there last month! Found it completely by accident.

by eleveriven

0 subcomment

The way small-scale businesses feel personal and meaningful, like an extension of someone's passion rather than just commerce

by prokopton

0 subcomment

Kyoto’s probably as bad as Barcelona for overtourism. It’s hard to enjoy Kyoto anymore. Japanese people are just too reserved to protest.

by colordrops

1 subcomments

I happen to be visiting Kyoto right now. Anyone know the name of this place
Edit: someone else posted the address in this thread.

by chizhik-pyzhik

0 subcomment

This is a story about zoning.

by Mistletoe

3 subcomments

As a vintage audio lover, I’m legally obligated to ask what the speakers and amplifier are.

by jdkee

0 subcomment

The turntable should not be set atop the speakers.

by agcat

1 subcomments

I am bookmarking this for my visit! :D

by criddell

1 subcomments

How was the WiFi?

by ryantando

0 subcomment

Blog post like this made me back to 2010 lol

by mickey475778

0 subcomment

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by sahil_sharma0

0 subcomment

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by Duskgmxx

0 subcomment

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by pinoy420

0 subcomment

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by renewiltord

4 subcomments

Beautiful. I think a lot of what makes Japan wonderful in this respect is:
* Poor economic mobility
* Individual compliance with the social contract
* Liberty to run small businesses
* Good land use laws
Perfect mobility is awful because all the capable people get to maximize earnings. The better The Sort (as patio11 calls it) the more capable people move out of doing things with high positive externalities.