The iPod generation would seem to have claimed another victim, with the closure of the 73-year-old Chigusa jazz coffee shop in Yokohama.
For a Japanese youth more interested in dressing up in Sailor Moon outfits and playing interactive dancing games, it's hard to imagine that a dark and smoky jazz club would hold much widespread interest. As Michael Molasky, author of 'The Jazz Culture of Postwar Japan' tells Reuters, "These days, kids don't listen to jazz, and they walk down the street with iPods, which makes the whole idea of 'place' irrelevant.""Young people hardly come here," added 65-year-old retiree Masatomi Kaneshige. "This place must look so strange and dark to them, with old men sitting quietly, sipping coffee and listening to vibrant jazz."
Chigusa had been a haven for jazz aficionados since the 1930s, where they would listen to imported jazz records in complete silence. It was an artists' haven in the 60s and 70s, with jazz coffee shops appearing all over Japan as jazz and popular culture began to merge.
But the times are a changing yet again, with owner Takako Yoshido - younger sister of the caf??'s late founder Mamoru Yoshida - admitting that it is now just too difficult to run.
The demise of Chigusa comes after legendary New York rock venue CBGB closed in October last year.
Chigusa closed for the last time on Saturday, farewelled by teary regulars who were undoubtedly lamenting the end of another 20th century musical institution.
