In this age of musical abundance, it's hard to fathom that an LP once cost the equivalent of a few days' wages in Japan. In the 1950s, audiophiles who couldn't afford to buy their own music did their listening at coffee shops known as meikyoku kissaten ("musical masterpiece cafes"), which boasted high-end audio gear and extensive libraries of classical or jazz records.
Though they outlived their usefulness long before the arrival of YouTube and Spotify, a handful of these kissaten have endured. Their anachronism is part of the charm: They conjure an atmosphere of reverence that's more befitting of a church than a coffee shop. At a few of them, you'll get shushed if you try to have a conversation; it's better to bring a book, sit back, and forget the bustle of the outside world for a few hours.
Though Tokyo's most famous meikyoku kissaten is undoubtedly Lion, in Shibuya, some of the best examples can be found along the JR Chuo Line. For decades, the go-to place was Classic, a dilapidated cafe in Nakano that was known for its wonky floors and eccentric panoply of antiques. Its owner, a painter named Shichiro Misaku, opened Classic in 1945 after his previous kissaten in neighboring Koenji, Renaissance, was destroyed by wartime bombing.