The Jazz Soundtrack of Tokyo

Text by Michael Pronko
Illustration by Marco Mancini

Japan’s love for jazz has no stronger evidence than the constant sound of jazz being played all over the country. In elevators, convenience stores, restaurants, lobbies and public spaces of all kinds, jazz is the soundtrack for Japan’s daily life. Japan’s large cities, like Tokyo, Yokohama and Kobe, keep up an unending public hum of all kinds of noise, sounds, music and announcements from what must be the world’s largest concentration of public speakers. Yet, when sophistication is needed, the speakers play jazz.

Few other countries in the world use jazz in so many ways. In Japan’s large cities, commuting times are long and working hours late, so people spend their leisure time socializing, eating or relaxing in the millions of shops, restaurants and public spaces of the city. Those places take special care to construct just the right atmosphere to appeal to highly demanding consumers. Jazz’s complex rhythms, pleasant melodies and flowing energy fit comfortably into the long conversations and leisurely pace of eating, drinking and talking for hours with friends and colleagues.

One might expect to hear jazz in large hotel lobbies or western restaurants. However, even unexpected spots pump out straight-ahead 50s and early 60s jazz to help customers relax and enjoy themselves. Sitting down to a bowl of Japanese noodles and realizing, “Hey, that’s Bud Powell,” or sipping a cup of green tea with Miles Davis keeping you company is a common delight. In the most traditional drinking places, the meal of fried fish, tofu and fresh sake is almost never paired with the lonely sharpness of Japanese folk music, intellectual calm of classical music, and certainly not the throbbing cheeriness of Japanese pop; instead, the cool of jazz fits Japanese food perfectly, like the right wine with the right dish in Europe.

Clothing boutiques, small specialty shops and even shoe stores play jazz to fully generate a rounded, complete ambiance. Jazz seems to welcome customers in, without being pushy or demanding. That warmth and comfort is very important to Japanese shoppers, commuters or just passersby. Although jazz has long been part of Japanese culture, it still holds a foreign, and therefore exotic, allure. Jazz calls up sophistication, energy and mature pleasures that have the escape of a foreign vacation.

Jazz has the ability to both relax and excite listeners, and to deliver the right vibe in the right way. The attention to detail is one of the most important parts of Japanese culture, and jazz fits neatly into a broad array of places. Though Japanese pop music is omnipresent and Tokyo is said to have more symphony orchestras than any city in the world, when a sophisticated atmosphere of cool, adult energy is needed, the choice of music is almost always jazz. Jazz may be the most democratic of music, and in Japan, choosing it shows sincere intentions and an awareness of others.

Jazz is often heard in commercials, as well. If that sounds as if mainstream jazz has been relegated to background music without sufficient appreciation, in Japan, songs used in commercials are remembered, appreciated and loved. Commercials are considered as much art form as sales trick, so attention to detail, down to the exact 30 second section of a song, signals the good intentions of a company. What is most intriguing, perhaps, is that no matter what the context, even for non-jazz lovers, the feeling and concept of jazz is so completely positive. Jazz may no longer be the best selling music, but in Japan it is the most highly respected in the vast hierarchy of public sounds.

(December 7, 2009)