So, it's Saturday afternoon and we're looking for a place to chill so we jump on a train to Shinjuku sanchōme and by my very rough guide we manage to find the Shinjuku Pit Inn. As is always the case with food and music, it's a basement venue.
I had no idea who we might get to see, but we were very lucky to catch a 5 piece outfit who played a 3 hour set through the afternoon (sunglasses definitely required when we emerged back onto the street in the early evening).
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AZh6c1pzK1A/TGVa4Ymv1DI/AAAAAAAAB2Q/10FvQpc8nSc/s400/Tokyo+Jul-2010+Shinjuku+Pit+Inn.jpg)
This was trad jazz at it's most enthusiastic and dedicated best. Who else would be playing in a dingy, smoke-filled basement on a Saturday afternoon instead of out shopping or lazing the weekend away?
And being in the audience is a serious business - the rows of desks are at once a reminder of a stricter scholastic past and yet a wonderful setting to prop up you G&T, smoke if you please, and just get lost in the music.
The ¥2500 cover charge (including drink) is not bad. I only wish I had discovered this place when I was working in Japan. I can't think of a better way of relaxing on a Saturday afternoon.
Blogarhythm: Relax, take it easy - Mika: Live In Cartoon Motion
NB: I am retro-blogging Tokyo which is why this post is a little delayed