Next time you get a chance to visit Shimokitazawa make sure to drop by Jazz Masako. It’s one of the oldest landmarks in Shimokita and one of my all time favorite places. As expected, they have lots of Jazz music on vinyl and you can make requests for specific tracks by looking it up in huge hand written catalogs detailing who played what instrument on which album on which track. Try to go on a day when it’s not soo crowded so you can enjoy the music. On weekends, there are too many kids and posers in there who have no appreciation for jazz and sit around smoking and talking loudly. The coffee is bad though, be careful. If you come out the south exit, walk down the main shopping street and turn right at Mister Donut.
I think you once took us there. The inside is like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, right? And they serve cream in little toothpaste caps or some such. I have video of the trip. What a great place and one of my fond memories of exploring Tokyo.
I might have to go there when I return, which BTW might be this summer.
robbie, you’re thinking of the classic cafe in Nakano which unfortunately is long gone from what I’ve heard.
Oh yeah, I didn’t think that place was in Shimo but my memory was fuzzy. I spent a good amount of time in Shimokitazawa. I love jazz and can’t wait to see this place.
I haven’t been there, but I think I heard about it before and I’ve been wanting to go.
The concept seems same to the defunct Classic Cafe in Nakano, where they only played classical music on vinyl and you could make requests by writing on the black board. The coffee was bad too, though the ice coffee was tolerable. You could also bring your own food.
I wish it would still be around.
Patrick, the last time I was at Jazz Masako they had a considerable amount of CDs as well. But the music was still good. Cafes like this are a dying breed.
I remember in the Classic Cafe there was a sign that said the coffee was the same as it was for 60 years. When I tasted it I thought it was “the Same” coffee from 60 years ago. After you drank the coffee there was a bunch of crud at the bottom of the cup. As Robbie said, they used to serve the coffee cream in shampoo bottle caps but the last time I was there it seems that they stopped and were using normal cream cups.