Japan Venue/Music Recommendations

#1

Hi all! I’ll be visiting Japan (Tokyo/Hokkaido/Hiroshima/Kyoto/Osaka) later in the year and was wondering if people here had any suggestions for clubs and other music places to visit while I’m over. I’ve got fairly wide-ranging tastes so I’m keen to hear any and all suggestions for spots to visit and things to see! Thanks :relaxed:

#2

Went to Contact with Marcel Dettman a few years back. Pretty cool place tucked in a parking garage.

Note that the trains don’t run 24hours, but staying out til they start running again 4-5 isn’t really a hard thing to do!

#3

Awesome!! Thanks for the rec and the train info! Didn’t realize they started so early! It’s actually a biiiiig plus cos where i live they don’t start til past 6am and don’t go back to my place until around 7ish haha

#4

Go to Womb in Shibuya. The first time I ever went to the club was to see Arca there in 2016. An absolutely insane night — not sure if the programming will be nearly as good when you’re there but I’d still recommend checking it out.

If you’re into footwork the scene is pretty strong. I used to go to the Battle Train parties a lot when I was there. Very fun, the most pure atmosphere of people just enjoying themselves and getting down. Stuff usually happens at Kata in Ebisu (above Liquid Room) but they might have changed up since, I’d check their socials.

#5

Ah, perfect! Thanks a bunch! Will definitely add these to the list!

#6

I’ve never been, but there is a club in tokyo called Vent that brings in a pretty eclectic variety of dance music - could be worth checking out! :slight_smile:

#7

Brilliant! Thank you! Added! :speaker:

#8

Resident Advisor did a video series in japan few months back. They showed off some very interesting low key places:

If you do go, do share some pics :slight_smile:

#9

In Tokyo, Vent, Contact, and Unit are worth checking, though Unit recently seems to have a lot of Japanese indie rock - check the lineup rather than just heading there.

There’s also quite a lot of good smaller size places which often have interesting things on - forestlimit and bonobo are both worth a look.

Also recommend nightingale bar in golden gai drinking area in Shinjuku. You can escape most of the people walking around the various bars outside and enjoy soothing drone and noise at high volumes. I think it’s a 1000 yen seating fee there but it’s a worthwhile cost imo.

#10

@spceboi @BigNap Thank you both for all the suggestions! The list is up to about 30 clubs/bars/music-related spaces now, across the whole country, so I’m feeling pretty excited! Will definitely post pics when I go!