First, a note about language:
- 名曲 meikyoku = a “masterpiece” or a classic piece of music, e.g. Beethoven’s 9th
- 喫茶店 kissaten = coffee shop; generally refers to older coffee shops in Japan, as opposed to chains like Starbucks, Dotour, Excelsior, etc. In conversation, the abbreviated ‘kissa’ can be used.
- 名曲喫茶 = meikyoku kissa = classical music cafe, the topic of this blog post
The map:
The list:
(1) Lion in Shibuya
Name: Meikyoku kissa Lion 名曲喫茶ライオン (website)
Review: Meikyoku kissa 名曲喫茶 II
Location: Google maps (Note: Lion Cafe is in the middle of Dogenzaka 道玄坂, Shibuya’s famous “Love Hotel Hill”. For more about Love Hotels, see: Sleeping with Hello Kitty: travel sites bring foreigners to Japan’s love hotels)
(2) Violin in Asagaya
Name: Café et Musique Violin / Cafe le Violin / 音楽とコーヒー: ヴ ィ オ ロ ン, or Meikyoku kissa Violin 名曲喫茶 ヴィオロン (website)
Location: near Asagaya Station; see Google Maps
Reviews: (1) Meikyoku kissa 名曲喫茶; (2) A Classical Cafe of Lynchian Appeal
(3) Coffee L’ambre らんぶる (Shinjuku)
Location: Google Maps
(4) Renaissance 名曲喫茶ルネッサンス (Koenji)
Location: Google Maps
Review: 電波の届かない名曲喫茶、高円寺「ルネッサンス」 Classic music cafe where radio waves can not reach, Koenji “Renaissance”
(5) Baroque クラシック喫茶バロック (Kichijoji)
Location: Google Maps
(6) Nelken 名曲喫茶ネルケン
Location: Google Maps (this cafe is located very close to House NA, Sou Fujimoto’s glass house)
From what I can tell, “Nelken” is a German word that means “carnations” / カーネーション
(7) Mignon 名曲喫茶ミニヨン (Ogikubo)
Location: Google Maps (Mignon is just south of Ogikubo station; on the north side of the station is a classic old fruit store)
(8) Denen 名曲喫茶でんえん (Kokobunji)
Location: Google Maps
(9) Chopin 名曲喫茶 ショパン
Location: Google Maps (this is in a fairly residential area)
(10) Cafe Cadenza 名曲喫茶カデンツァ (Todai / Bunkyo)
Location: Google Maps
Note: this place appears to also have live music from time to time
Links:
[…] Cafe Mignon 名曲喫茶ミニヨン, as mentioned in Meikyoku kissa: classical music cafes of Tokyo 東京の名曲喫茶 […]
[…] Classical music cafes Nelken 名曲喫茶ネルケン and Rennaissance ルネッサンス, as noted in Meikyoku kissa: classical music cafes of Tokyo 東京の名曲喫茶 […]
[…] Classical music cafes Nelken 名曲喫茶ネルケン and Rennaissance ルネッサンス, as noted in Meikyoku kissa: classical music cafes of Tokyo 東京の名曲喫茶 […]