There was a time when Osakans travelled to Kyoto for clubbing. Now, it’s the other way around, ...

Once a sake brewhouse, now one of the city’s most popular live venues, Taku Taku has hosted ...

Kyoto’s most attractive live venue opened back in 1973, in what was once a sake brewery. And it ...

When it opened in 1990, Metro was the only choice for serious clubbers in Kyoto or Osaka. These ...

Although the sign suggests that it’s a members-only bar, that’s just to prevent any straight ...

The most welcoming gay bar in Kyoto is a Barbarella-meets-Fisher Price lounge that thrives on ...

For people who take their clubbing seriously, here’s a big, black dancefloor with little to ...

Subterranean stone arches, rattling bass and high-octane lights are hardly an original formula ...

This avant-garde venue puts on entertainment ranging from local noise bands to an abstract mime ...

Tatsufumi ‘Nick’ Yamamoto was a nuclear power plant worker who quit his job when he found ...

This long black room began life as a members-only club and home of DJ legends Kyoto Jazz ...

If you’re going to make a mockery of your favourite song, why not do so with smoke machines, ...

There’s an unusual entrance policy at this black basement box: foreigners get in free so long ...

Jazz joints are intimate in Kyoto, but there’s nowhere quite like this skinny bar. At a push, ...

Party down at Kyoto's hottest spots

One night it’s a rock bar, the next it’s a jazz club, or perhaps a house of blues. Zac Baran ...

The name might suggest a corny revue, but Whoopee’s is actually a bunker for bands and DJs ...

This 40-seater live music venue is incredibly intimate, if a bit sterile. It feels like the ...

Ignoring the Stax connotation, this vast club blasts contemporary R&B, hip hop and techno ...