MO Museum (Pylimo st. 17, Vilnius)
On 19 October at 16.00, Philip Arneill will give a multimedia performance and talk – Tokyo Jazz Joints – about the rapidly disappearing, and unique phenomenon of Japanese jazz culture, listening cafes known as jazz kissa. He is the creator and photographer of Tokyo Jazz Joints – a project dedicated to documenting this Japanese subculture. The project began in 2015, and has captured on camera over 230 of these spaces right across Japan. Jazz kissa culture emerged in Japan after WWII, when listening to new jazz records released in the US and Europe was a luxury, so people instead went to listen to the latest jazz music in cafés over a cup of coffee, or something stronger. Now these cafes are vanishing, due to the pressures of aging owners, changing tastes and the relentless gentrification of Japanese towns and cities. Philip published his bestselling book, ‘Tokyo Jazz Joints’, in 2023 with German publisher Kehrer Verlag, which preserves forever the legacy of many of these unique musical landscapes.

Philip Arneill is a globally-published and exhibited documentary photographer. Born in Belfast, he holds an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary photography from the University of the Arts London, and is researching a PhD through Creative Practice (Photography) from Ulster University. His work has been widely published online and in print media and he has had both group and solo shows worldwide. Philip’s photographic practice investigates the illusory ideas of home and culture by exploring insider-outsider dynamics and autoethnographic issues of place and identity.