In May 2025 Japan welcomed an estimated 3.693 million visitors, marking a surge in global fascination with the country—up 125% (more than double!) compared to a decade ago. Many come for the exquisite ...

Honda unveiled the refreshed 2027 Honda Jazz, marking its 25th anniversary. The updated model features revised features and a ...

With this year's International Jazz Day concert taking place in Osaka, an East Asian historian (a musician himself) describes how the music came... If you've witnessed a headlining performance from ...

Jazz kissa rose to prominence in the 1960s and 70s in Japan, as music aficionados flocked to listen to the latest Thelonious Monk or John Coltrane in a comfortable setting Now listening bars are ...

It's widely known that Japan is a country with a jazz-loving population. The audience appreciates the music and shows it proper respect. It has been that way for a long time. In fact, the history of ...

One night in a Japanese jazz kissa changed music listening for me forever. My love for the jazz piano trio began in the most unique way possible. Every now and then, a listening session turns into ...

*“Wakana is well known in Japan…Top 10,” said Greg Manning, president of EQuity Records, who signed Japanese Jazz saxophonist Wakana and recently released her new single “After Hours,” which reached ...

The recent natural disasters in Japan, and the scale of the resulting devastation, leave even those of us far outside the country with a sense of sadness and loss. We are bound by humanity, but also ...

When James Catchpole and I meet in Jazz Eagle, a basement cafe in central Tokyo’s Yotsuya neighborhood, our conversation is squashed within seconds. As a New Yorker and a Northern Irishman, perhaps we ...

Musician and journalist Katherine Whatley explores the rich and surprising history of jazz in Japan. Having been banned as ‘enemy music’ during the second world war, jazz music was wholeheartedly ...