Backyard Coffee and Jazz in Kyoto

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+...

I recently heard Craig Mod[1] in an interview. He has walked thousands of miles in Japan and has produced books that document some of what he has seen. The photographs he has published online are beautiful, but I've never seen any of his books so I can't comment on those.

Anyway, in the interview, he talked about places that sound like what you are describing in the first paragraph but he called them kissas.

[1]:https://craigmod.com/

Oh, my. I'm scratching my head wondering how this is the first time I have ever heard the word kissas. [0]

[0] https://xkcd.com/1053/

I’m fairly certain that it’s a shortened version of 喫茶店 (kissaten).

For reference, I’m fairly certain that kissa a shortened version of 喫茶店 (kissaten).

That said, I’m guessing the “jazz izakaya” that gp mentioned would probably just be called a bar or izakaya, possibly with a thematic adjective added.

On kissaten - 店 ten is the kanji for "store", though you might also learn 屋 (ya, lit. roof). kissa means consume tea (喫茶), more or less. I didn't notice them on my first visit, I wasn't into coffee then, but they're everywhere and a really nice way to get breakfast (egg toast + siphon filter for a few hundred yen). Not necessarily the best coffee in Japan if you don't like dark roast, but it's often made to order and not out of an urn.

Izakaya I would associate more with drinking and small plates of food, but not necessarily a catch-all for bars.

I was aware of Manga Kissas[0], which are a bit more famous in general, I assummed it was a generic extension of the term

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga_cafe

YMMV I guess, but I found the best coffee at kissatens, and I hate dark roasts. Lots of great, sometimes super tiny, third-wave pourover types, too. But I guess Japanese coffee culture is more about evening consumption since there were many that were open at 10PM or later, but very few open before 10AM.

"Kissa" just means café, but when you'd use the word is complex.

Basically in Japan Japanese words feel retro or else appropriate for personal and family life, while English words feel clean and modern/corporate/business-y.

So a Japanese word like kissaten gives the impression of somewhere from the 60s that's full of old people and you can't breathe because of all the cigarette smoke. But it also specifically means a coffee shop and not a bar I think, so there wouldn't be alcohol.

I recommend Glitch in Tokyo Jinbocho.

I think it's the only place I've been in my life where the coffee actually tastes like the tasting notes say it does. Even when they say "mojito", which was surprising.

I'm working on this[0] 2 hr 52 minute interview with Craig about his new book. He makes the point national health care is a big part of what makes this work. There is a safety net, so people are empowered to take more financial risks.

[0] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rich-roll-podcast/...

Cheap housing surely also contributes. Iirc, apartments in most of Japan are incredibly cheap as a result of a diminishing population and National government level zoning reform.

Here in Australia, we have an incredibly robust system of Public Healthcare, just like japan, but taking financial risks is downright suicidal with our house prices.

Exactly this.

I can see espresso cafe culture spreading a bit through Japan, with australian style cafes offering great espresso and mixed cuisine on the menu. I think japan/australian cafe culture colliding has been an incredible thing. It's happening in Australia too, where the Japenese aspects of small inexpensive foods are mixing into Japan influenced cafes here.

I think Australia and Japan have a surprisingly symbiotic cafe culture that's betting blurred together.

    > Most bars and restaurants for that matter will not serve me because I do not speak Japanese, so they say.

Really? That was certainly true 15 years ago, but things have changed a lot after the tourist flood gates opened under PM Abe. Even Golden Gai in Shinjuku Kabukicho which is/was a bit notorious for turning away foreigners is more "friendly" than ever. The irony is that so many bar/alcohol related terms in Japanese are loanwords from English. You could just say the English word with fake Japanese accent and they would probably understand you!

Yeah "jazz kissa" is an established term. A dying trend, of course, as with all kissas.

> these kids are African royalty. They spoke perfect fluent Japanese and they couldn't get access into bars that would let me in

Let's imagine we discuss a tiny bar in New-York or Paris that wouldn't let asian or black people in. I doubt the discussion would be only about how this place is nice and cosy and everyone that could possibly get in should just try it.

It's like Japanese people have a free pass to be a*holes, but only them, because you know, Japan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I agree about Glitch, though it gets super busy. There are cafes which also serve their beans if you don't want the wait. I would also recommend Fuglen's tasting experience in Sangubashi. It's a bit theatrical, but great if you want to try something a bit different.

Ah, I heard about it, but the timing never worked out to try it. Good to have some confirmation!

> Most bars and restaurants for that matter will not serve me because I do not speak Japanese, so they say

I’ve run into this a few times. And half of those times I was able to still get in by showing them a politely written message on the translate app saying that I am not going to require high maintenance and I can just use the translate app to communicate. And each time that happened, they were very generous hosts and both I and, it seems them, had a great time.