As redevelopment, rising rents and fundamental changes in the city’s social fabric put an ever tightening squeeze on traditional shops and eateries across Tokyo, many old-school businesses like neighbourhood greengrocers and fishmongers, worker’s caffs and candy stores are becoming endangered species in the urban jungle.
But all’s far from lost for the capital’s mom-and-pop shops, especially with a new generation of techno and house heads now spotlighting their community value. Yup, you read that right: Online music broadcaster Login.jp’s new YouTube session series The Shoten has sparked buzz on social media by inviting up-and-coming local DJs to play sets in surroundings such as an antique furniture store in Shimokitazawa and an Akabane fish shop run by the same family for four generations.
The Login.jp crew came up with the idea of channelling the power of tight tunes to champion at-risk sites of urban culture after growing disillusioned with the lack of communication between the Japanese club scene and the wider community. They wanted to bring music and music fans closer to their neighbourhoods and vice versa, encouraging interaction and mutual understanding.
These efforts appear to have struck a chord: the first ‘Shoten’ video, in which Kanta Ando’s chill techno and house tunes soundtrack a morning’s comings and goings at the Uoyou fish shop on Akabane’s Suzuran-dori shopping street, has racked up over 12,000 views since February.
Even more popular is the clip from April featuring Kiyoko spinning deep techno at Yotsuya kissaten Coffee Lawn, a local staple that’s been serving up a largely unchanged menu of coffee and snacks for seven decades. In the video, the DJ’s beats add an intoxicating touch to the venue’s timeless atmosphere.
Login.jp has been releasing new The Shoten videos at a steady pace over the past few months, with six episodes available at the time of writing. In the two newest clips they’ve taken their show on the road, setting up the decks in a traditional rice storehouse in the city of Takayama, Gifu.
With the Login.jp team hoping to release interviews and documentaries as well as organise live events in the future, we’ll be sure to keep a close eye on The Shoten from here on – and very much look forward to stumbling into the middle of a DJ set at our local lunch spot or neighbourhood bathhouse one day.
Check out The Shoten on YouTube.
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