Chigusa
https://www.instagram.com/nogechigusa/
神奈川県横浜市中区野毛町2-94
Nogecho 2-94 Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa
070-8348-8409
About a three-minute walk from Sakuragicho Station. An eight-minute walk from Hinodecho Station. Open 12:00 to 22:00. Music charge at night.
The oldest jazz kissaten coffee shop in Japan, Chigusa was started in 1933. It’s been in operation spinning records ever since. Despite the loss of records, the deaths of owners, and the usual economic pressures, Chigusa has survived. To put it into perspective, the Village Vanguard, New York’s jazz club, started in 1935, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Who’s oldest doesn’t matter as much as who’s most influential. Vinyl records are an essential part of how jazz spread around the world. The jazz kissaten was founded when the soundtrack of cosmopolitan life around the world was jazz. Chigusa is a pilgrimage spot for anyone who loves jazz. It’s just a room, but what a room!
For Japan, Chigusa was where musicians like Toshiko Akiyoshi, Sadao Watanabe, and other famous players went to hear the latest record in their early years. They would spend hours memorizing new riffs and chords from the vinyl imported by owner Mamoru Yoshida.
Check out my interview with Toshiko Akiyoshi where she talks about putting the needle back on a record at Chigusa to hear one riff over and over.
https://www.jazzinjapan.com/interviews-posts/toshikoakiyoshi
Check out my interview with Don De Armond, who was stationed in the service in Japan in the mid-1950s. He helped Chigusa owner, Mamoru Yoshida, get records after World War II. You can hear his love of jazz in Japan in this interview. The photos below are his, taken years ago. I thank him again for sending those.
https://www.jazzinjapan.com/interviews-posts/dondearmond
Chigusa is a great place to visit, to hang out, to soak up the long history of jazz in Japan, a country which has become one the most important homes for jazz. In large part, that’s due to Chigusa. It’s a place that truly deserves the overused term “global.”
Long before globalizing was even a concept, the beauty and power of jazz played on vinyl records at Chigusa was enlivening listeners, opening up musical minds, and helping educate a generation of musicians. It’s great to stop by and see where all that happened, and to feel it still happening.
Toshiko Akiyoshi and Mamoru Yoshida 1950s
