Top Ten Countdown #3: A Long Way to Go Out To (Curry) Lunch
Two joints very far away from each other on the map, but very close in passion, dedication and sheer wonder. The countdown continues with our Number 3 picks!
Apr 19, 2026•38 min
TOKYO JAZZ JOINTS
An Irishman and American walk into a bar...Two obsessed foreigners share the stories behind their pseudo-religious pilgrimage around the unique beauty of Japan's hidden world of jazz bars and coffee houses, documented on www.tokyojazzjoints.com and in the Tokyo Jazz Joints photobook published in 2023.
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Episodes
Top Ten Countdown #4: Daytime Drinking
Try turning it off and turn it on again... Two old skool Kyushu and Shikoku joints that just will. not. lie down. secure the Number 4 spot as our countdown continues!
Apr 12, 2026•35 min
Top Ten Countdown #5: Count Yourself Lucky Ray
Legends duking it out as we keep it in the jazz family with two unparalleled northern joints.
Apr 05, 2026•38 min
Top Ten Countdown #6: It's Always Sonny in Kyushu
Two saxophone colossi dominate this episode as we hit a couple of epic Kyushu joints.
Mar 29, 2026•34 min
Top Ten Countdown #7: Walls Come Tumbling Down
More craic than intellectualism as our Top 10 countdown continues north of the wall.
Mar 22, 2026•27 min
Top Ten Countdown #8: Enter (and Exit) Number 8
Our Top 10 countdown continues in two very different apartment buildings.
Mar 15, 2026•34 min
Top Ten Countdown #9: The Weird and The Welcoming
We continue our 'Ten Year Tokyo Jazz Joints Top of the Pops Top 10' countdown in style at opposite ends of the country and with the mandatory mention of the magically replenishing horse oil.
Mar 08, 2026•24 min
Top Ten Countdown #10: Charles in Charge
We begin our 'Ten Year Tokyo Jazz Joints Top of the Pops Top 10' countdown in style with two joints linked by an underdog.
Mar 01, 2026•28 min
Tokyo Jazz Joints on the Stephen McCauley Show [Radio Ulster]
Philip chats all things jazz kissa with Stephen McAuley in his 'JUJU' pop-up as part of the 2025 'Sound of Belfast' festival. Originally broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster on November 21st 2025.
Feb 27, 2026•59 min
STILL Standing Men! [Live from Pithecanthropus]
*TW: Intense ASMR-style chewing at the beginning of the episode* A milestone that no one expected to see! Least of all us… We finally reach the 100th episode of the podcast, and where else to mark the occasion than the project’s spiritual home, Kamata’s inimitable Chokuritsu Enjin (Pithecanthropus Erectus).
Dec 31, 2025•28 min
Back in Black
A double tap on the new and improved Incus and the usual chasm of James’s pop culture knowledge, followed by a few old and familiar friends, as our May 2025 adventures come to an end.
Dec 24, 2025•46 min
Ryukyu Rhythms
Philip's map-reading skills desert him before an awkward intro at Eagle. We also discuss two incredible Okinawa joints as the project finally expands to the fifth of Japan's major islands.
Dec 20, 2025•48 min
NOT a tourist attraction
Mostly talk about bananas, with a jazz kissa soundtrack.
Dec 07, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Another Bricks in The Wall b/w The Bird Has Flown
In Episode 96, after a subterranean trip to Japan's bubble-economy yeatrs, we survive our very own Squid Game on the way to see an old friend – and all the mixed emotions that stirs up.
Nov 23, 2025•45 min
One mug, and adult hot chocolate in a cup (not mug)
Good stories told badly as we take bickering to the level of an Olympic sport, and get deep into the true nature of crockery with the truly ying and yang of Kyoto jazz joints.
Nov 08, 2025•46 min
Third Egg of the Day Drives Coltrane Away
We are California dreamin’ on this episode until Philip’s ideal world is shattered by some devastating breaking news. Was it merely a mirage?
Oct 25, 2025•56 min
Double-Edged Coin
James continues to offend people with mixed metaphors and cultural pitfalls before we end up whiling the evening away in an absolute gem of a spot to cap a long first day back in Osaka.
Oct 12, 2025•49 min
Blueberry Submuffins
Reunited in Kansai we hit the trail with a shaky start for nearly not quite three joints, well sort of three...
Sep 28, 2025•49 min
Northern Exposure Pt.2
A marathon episode for a marathon day hunting kissa up north, where it's far from grim. Epic joints!
Sep 14, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Northern Exposure Pt.1
Topless TJJ with some of Sapporo's finest.
Aug 31, 2025•1 hr 2 min
And Then I Saw Her Face
An evening of two halves that starts on a slow boat to...a hectic finish with one new joint and two very old friends. And accidental meetings with actual friends!
Aug 17, 2025•51 min
Jazz Is My Battery
If you ever wondered what Sandra Bullock, Colonel Sanders, Mr T.Pott and Taylor Swift have in common, Chiba has the answer.
Aug 03, 2025•46 min
Marilyn Jazz Quotient
And just like that…deepest Chiba reveals some well-hidden treasures and Philip battles with mixed messages, having solved his camdram.
Jul 20, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Camateur Dramatics
Philip defies the bookmaker's odds by avoiding the mother of all meltdowns in Yokohama, while James watches on, and invents a name for a kissa that no one will ever steal. Ever.
Jul 06, 2025•50 min
Fertile Crescent
In addition to some bonus DIY content, three absolutely banging Tokyo joints to get us back on the trail for May 2025!
Jun 22, 2025•59 min
Girlz N Boyz N The Hood
No passion fruit or lychee for you, but we close out 2024's shenanigans with three gorgeous joints – old and new – in Philip's old neighbourhood. Long live Shimokita!
Jun 08, 2025•43 min
Ten Long Years (IG Live!)
Some cheap Prosecco and a little bad language to mark the TENTH anniversary of the project with an Instagram Live.
Jun 08, 2025•31 min
Fun for the Ears
Despite zero documentation, we reminisce on two lovely Tokyo joints to almost round off 2024's adventures. Thank as ever to Brian for sound assistance.
Apr 13, 2025•35 min
Groovy Exchanges
A final couple of belters in Okayama and one of the weirder interactions we've ever had in a joint. And James defeats a fence.
Mar 13, 2025•50 min
Richard Davis, Serial Signer
As the end of our latest regional adventure beckons, we take a walk down the Avenue in Kurashiki and visit the charming Gojitoma, a jewel of a joint in the middle of nowhere. Thanks as ever to Brian for his patience and assistance with sound.
Mar 01, 2025•34 min
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