Dug Jazz Cafe & Bar

The owner, Nakadaira-san, a very good photographer, was in the middle of the whole jazz scene in Shinjuku in the ’60s and ’70s and has shot many jazz legends. Dug is one of the few remaining jazz kissaten cafes in Tokyo. He has an excellent photo book that the staff will show you if you ask for it. You might even catch him there occasionally. From the street on Yasukuni Dori, you absolutely can’t tell what a jazz temple awaits downstairs—just a door that leads downstairs and one little sign that says “dug.” Just being in the place feels like going back in time—it was actually mentioned in Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood.