Jazz in Japan

For Tim's birthday, I wanted to take him to listen to some jazz. Well, Blue Note in Tokyo didn't have any acts I thought worthy of a long train ride, and sitter time. So, with the help of my student, Ryota, I got on-line in Japanese and looked for something more local. At Kanazawa Bunko (3 stops away if you go on the fast train), is a little jazz club called 'Blue Moon.'

The night we went, we got off the train, took the East exit, made a right, and another right into the most quaint, picturesque Japanese shopping street. The club was closed, so we went back to have dinner at a Yakitori restaurant. BTW, the chicken platter had gizzard, liver, the stuff that holds the gizzard (seriously, it is a delicacy), regular chicken, and chicken tails. At least there wasn't chicken cartilage on it (it was on the menu). Our favorite was a garlic chicken tempura type skewer. The garlic was whole, baked, and nummy.

Uh-oh! DOWNPOUR!!! And we had left umbrellas at home. I told Tim not to worry, and told the people as we were leaving, and they went and got us an umbrella! So many people forget umbrellas, that many establishments have some on-hand in case you need them. I have noticed that bars have more of a selection than most...

So, Tim and I shared an umbrella as we ran through the rain to the jazz club.

Beings it was a nasty night out, we were one of the few patrons there. Everyone spoke excellent English. Yoshiiki, the singer, was great. (Click his name for his website)The piano player this night is a piano teacher by day, and the bar owner is a jazz saxophonist. All the patrons that night spoke English, and were very welcoming. We really had a great time, and will go again! Look for it on the right, a small doorway going up to the intimate jazz room upstairs. They have instruments to jam on, if you're into that sort of thing. The acts change almost every night. There was a list of who and what on the internet. In Japanese. But P means Piano, and calendars are easy to interpret, so it's fairly simple to figure out.

Here's a sample, and Yoshiiki will be back there on October 3rd. Cover is usually ¥2,000 and up.