Tokyo Jazz Joints creator Philip Arneill brings the quiet, vinyl-centred world of Japan’s jazz kissa to Bloomsbury. His lecture follows the listening spaces where records are played through high-end audio systems and preservation of jazz culture is treated with near-religious attention.
A culture of close listening
Since 2015, Arneill’s Tokyo Jazz Joints project has documented jazz kissa across Japan. Using photographs and stories from that work, he will trace their origins, their renewed international attention and what may come next for the culture.
Arneill is a Belfast-born photographer, researcher and writer who lived and worked in Japan for 20 years. His Tokyo Jazz Joints monograph was published by Kehrer Verlag in July 2023 and is now in its fourth worldwide edition; a Japanese edition followed from Seigensha in August 2025. He received a Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 2024.
Booking and venue
The lecture takes place Monday 21 September at 18:45 at The Swedenborg Society, 20–21 Bloomsbury Way, with the hall entrance on Barter Street. Admission is free and booking is essential. The Japan Society invites non-members to consider a £5 donation, rather than listing a fixed admission charge.
Alcohol will be served. Guests under 18 must attend with a parent or legal guardian. The booking form requires each attendee’s full name and email address, and a confirmation email should follow booking.
See the official Japan Society event page and Tokyo Jazz Joints for current information. Event-specific accessibility, companion, parking, travel, food, bag and last-entry arrangements have not been published; contact events@japansociety.org.uk or 020 3075 1996 before attending if needed.