With the gradual extinction of the old Japanese yose vaudeville theaters in the postwar era, regular venues for enjoying hogaku have become hard to find.

Hogaku teachers and associations hold student recitals once a year or so, usually with free admission, since the students pay a fee to appear. Ambitious performers, singly or in small groups, might hire a hall for a one-shot event. Suitable halls are scarce, though, and tend to be expensive, so organizers of such events are lucky to clear their expenses. In any case, these recitals are poorly publicized, and one usually has to be already on the mailing list to find out about them.

One of the real harbingers of hogaku's improved fortunes, then, has been the opening of several venues intended specifically to provide Japanese traditional music with a regular home.

Here is a partial list.

Waon: 5th floor of Nippori Ekimae Bldg. opposite JR Nippori Station south exit, (03) 5850-8033. Hogaku Journal, which has been fighting the good fight for almost 20 years, opened its own live house in 1999 where drinks are served and hogaku can be heard in a relaxed, informal atmosphere. Performers may be bold young experimenters fresh from Geidai or grand old masters of rare and endangered styles. Combinations with Western or other foreign instruments are often heard. CDs, books and magazines on hogaku are for sale.

Tribute to the Love Generation: 6th floor of Mediage, a 3-minute walk from Daiba Station, Yurikamome Line, (03) 5531-2025. If Sony is backing it, you know it must be big. This luxury nightclub in trendy Odaiba, across the Rainbow Bridge, is devoted to "world music" -- increasingly recognized as including Japanese music, which is usually scheduled Monday and Tuesday nights.

Manabiya: a 3-minute walk from Yokohama Municipal Subway Nakagawa Station, (045) 913-2725. Founded by a retired salaryman in a converted commercial building, Manabiya has classes in hogaku and other traditional arts in the daytime and performances in the evenings. Drinks served.

Oiwake: on Kototoi-dori in Asakusa, one block from the intersection with Kokusai-dori, (03) 3844-6283. The first floor is a regular Japanese fish restaurant (very good, too), while upstairs there is a large zashiki-style dining room with a small stage, where the waiters and waitresses perform professional-level min'yo and folk dance in between pouring your drinks. Large parties welcome. Closed Wednesdays.

Midori: a 5-minute walk toward Asakusa from Iriya on the Hibiya Line, (03) 3875-5681. Small, intimate min'yo bar founded and operated by a great min'yo singer. Good food and drink. Strangers welcome, but everybody has to sing.

Kioi Hall: between Yotsuya and Akasaka Mitsuke stations, across from the main entrance of the New Otani Hotel, (03) 5276-4500. This glamorous new concert hall has quickly established a presence in both the Western classical and hogaku scenes.