Jazz of Japan

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Strings

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Brian McCrory
Feb 27, 2025
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Strings
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Strings jazz club, located near Kichijoji station in Tokyo, Japan (website, map).

Maiko (violin), Yuki Ito (bass), and Shikou Ito (piano) at Strings in February 2025

Strings is a friendly jazz bar in Kichijoji, a popular neighborhood just east of Tokyo’s main center known for its beautiful park, shopping, dining, and rich cultural lifestyle. Kichijoji, besides being an attractive neighborhood in its own right, also hosts the popular and well-known jazz club Sometime, a frequent destination for new and old jazz fans alike. Yet Strings, located a bit off the beaten path, offers its own style and charm for jazz lovers.

Yuichi Narita on solo piano at Strings in April 2023

Strings, a Live Bar & Italian Restaurant, as noted on their homepage, serves up quality jazz and Italian food with simple, easygoing grace. This bar is modestly tiny with several seats directly up against the grand piano and a few tables and bar seats around the rest of the room.

Although the room seems small, the talented artists who play here are top-notch. Sometimes, this bar can be completely full with preset reservations (or even nearly empty at other unfortunate times). But, when the jazz is cooking, the pizza comes out piping hot, and the decanter of wine arrives, it is a perfect way to spend an evening listening to real handcrafted jazz music in Tokyo.

In addition to jazz, Brazilian music, and stringed instruments including violin are also often featured.

Tenerezza Trio with Maiko (violin), Makiyo Sakai (flute), and Sayaka Kishi (piano) at Strings in March 2023
Yoshihiko Naya (piano) Quartet with Nami Kano (alto sax), Masayuki Tawarayama (bass), and Takehiro Shimizu (drums) at Strings in May 2013
Botan Duo with Akiko Suda (vocals) and Yuichi Narita (piano) at Strings in February 2017
Emiko Voice and Yuji Yajima (bass) at Strings in January 2017
Miyuki Moriya (sax) with Rin Heitetsu (piano) and Yutaka Yoshida (bass) at Strings in February 2013
Josei (piano) Trio with Noriaki Akita (bass) and Sohnosuke Imaizumi (drums) at Strings in December 2012
Takako Yamada (piano) Trio with Koji Yasuda (bass) and Gaku Hasegawa (drums) at Strings in May 2014
Rie Taguchi (vocals) and Shin Kamimura (bass) at Strings in September 2013

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