26 Comments
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Em Lopez's avatar

Awesome read.

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Joel Condemi's avatar

Thanks for reading! Appreciate it.

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JoeyRobitaille's avatar

Had the pleasure of going to Posy and Masako… both gems!

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Eda Eris's avatar

Bill Evans opens every door.✨

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Joel Condemi's avatar

He certainly does!

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Bill Poole's avatar

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I have researched and the only thing I can find out about POSY something about flowers. What does it mean? as related to the name of the kissa?

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Joel Condemi's avatar

Not a stupid question at all! I actually have no idea. Tried doing a bit of research also but couldn’t find anything. You could be onto something with the flowers though as there’s a photo of POSY Mama on the website in front of a wall adorned with flowers. Maybe I’m looking into it too much haha. I’ll be back there later this year and I’ll try to remember to ask!

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Bill Poole's avatar

Found more info: Posy evidently means a “bunch of flowers”. Not sure why the earlier search didn’t show as much.

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Martin Black's avatar

I'm off to Japan in April and am a big jazz fan.

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Joel Condemi's avatar

Amazing! It’s an incredible place for a jazz fan to visit. Enjoy your trip.

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Patrick Macapugas's avatar

Love your posts and adding Tokyo jazz kissas to my travel plans for sure. I guess you probably listen to jazz exclusively on vinyl, but do you have a playlist or several albums I can listen to from your recommendation? Trying to add more great jazz songs and albums in my rotation

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Joel Condemi's avatar

Thanks, Patrick! I’m really glad to hear that. I love listening to jazz on vinyl, but I probably listen to it more through streaming as I listen to it often at work and in the car. Some playlists are certainly on my list to do, but you've inspires me to fast track it. I’ll hopefully have something to share later this week!

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Patrick Macapugas's avatar

Thanks! Looking forward to it

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Tom Storer's avatar

Thanks for filling in the history and context of this delightful phenomenon. I visited a couple of kissas during my sole visit to Japan (from Europe) so far and now I'll have a list of others for the next time!

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Joel Condemi's avatar

Thanks for reading, Tom! Glad to hear there’s a few more kissas to add to your next trip. It is most certainly a delightful phenomenon and one that is so specific and unique to Japan.

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Philip Osmulski's avatar

Many thanks for sharing these wonderful recommendations! I'll make sure to visit on my next trip to Tokyo.

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Joel Condemi's avatar

I'm glad to hear that! I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

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Rick Liebling's avatar

I just finished reading Ametora, now Tokyo Jazz Joints is on my To Buy list. Looking forward to reading the rest of this series.

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Joel Condemi's avatar

Great picks. Ametora is a fantastic read and Tokyo Jazz Joints spotlights so many incredible places, some of which have sadly since closed. Thanks so much!

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J.SL's avatar

Loved this.

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Joel Condemi's avatar

Thanks so much!

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Daniel McGowan's avatar

Adding jazz kissas to my travel bucket list. Heavy Murakami vibes, really dig this whole series

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Joel Condemi's avatar

I'm so glad to hear that! They're incredibly unique places that make perfect pit stops whilst travelling. Murakami inspired me to get into jazz many years ago, and remains one of my favourite authors to this day, so I'm thrilled to hear that, thank you.

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matt's avatar

I believe Murakami used to run a Kissa himself, no?

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Joel Condemi's avatar

That's right, he did! It was called Peter Cat and it was just a few minutes walk from Sendagaya Station. I'm a huge Murakami fan and have been to the site a few times (it’s a restaurant now, I believe) and to The Haruki Murakami Library which has records that he used to play there as well as recreations of his study and more. If you're a fan and are ever in Tokyo I’d recommend it! I'm planning a blog post on it soon.

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matt's avatar

Cool! I’ll have to add that to my list! Will look forward to your post on it.

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