It doesn’t take much imagination to realize jazz kissa – jazz cafes – could have only been conceived from a culture, like Japan’s. Started in the ‘30s as islands of serenity, and sometimes reverential respite from the endless din of Tokyo streets, jazz kissa offered customers hours of Zen ascension through travel to another realm of consciousness through the solemn appreciation of jazz albums played on large scale horn-loaded loudspeakers powered by valve amplification.