Kayokyoku Bar Spotlight Shimbashi; Bring the Spotlight Back to When We Were Young

By Yurika Akazawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

17:13 JST, July 28, 2025

As the voice of popular J-pop singer Momoe Yamaguchi plays in the bar, customers with glasses in their hands hum along and sway their shoulders to the music. At Kayokyoku Bar Spotlight Shimbashi in Tokyo’s Shimbashi district, visitors can listen to Showa-era songs from the ’70s and ’80s on vinyl, and fans are enjoying a reunion with their favorite songs.

The shelves are lined with 2,100 extended play and long-playing records, and if a customer hands in a record he or she wants to listen to or writes a request on a card, the DJ will drop the needle on each one in turn.

A man in his early 60s who works at a nearby company requested “Soleil,” an album by Takako Okamura. “This is the song that soothed me after coming home exhausted as a rookie,” he said.

The monthly request rankings are posted on the wall up to No. 10, in the style of “The Best Ten,” a famous Japanese music TV program of yesteryear. In May, C-C-B’s “Romantic ga Tomaranai” (Romantic never stops) was No. 1 and Kyoko Koizumi’s “Kogarashi ni Dakarete” (Embraced by wintry wind) was No. 2. The name of the bar is taken from the name of a segment on the TV program, and also means “to bring the spotlight back to when we were young.”

The interior is decorated like a set from a 1980s disco or singing show, complete with red chairs and a mirror ball. The entrance door has a round window and resembles the entrance to a TV station studio. Nostalgic cassette tapes are also on display.

“We have a lot of fun talking about which company’s cassette tapes we used to use, Maxell, TDK or Sony,” said Nobuaki Ando, a 57-year-old representative of the bar.

After Ando’s best friend died suddenly about 25 years ago, his friend’s wife told Ando that “listening to the tapes Ando-kun dubbed for him when he was in junior high and high school and talking about the old days was a source of emotional healing for him.”

Ando opened the bar in 2011 with the hope of creating a place where he could play nostalgic songs to ease people’s minds during difficult times, and where people could talk about their problems on a daily basis. “I want to provide a space where people can talk about the old days without worrying about others,” said Ando.

Kayokyoku Bar Spotlight Shimbashi

Address: Karasumori Building 6F, 3-16-3, Shimbashi, Minato Ward, Tokyo

Access: 1 minute walk from JR Shimbashi Station

Hours: Open 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on weekdays. Open until 2 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, national holidays and days before holidays. Closed on Sundays.