After ordering your coffee at a Shibuya district cafe in the middle of Tokyo, you can browse a collection of cassette tapes to pick the one you like best and cozy up with a Sony Walkman in a chair. No, it’s not the nineties—this is a retro concept cafe that is gaining popularity in Japan and turning heads around the world. There’s a similar cafe devoted to vinyl lovers with actual record players available for use too. Aside from bringing back musical formats of the past, the interesting insight here is around the friction that is built into the experience.
You need to go and browse a bunch of music, pick something and insert it to play and then (most crucially) live with your choice. You can’t just skip to the next song or pick a new artist easily. As a result, you have to commit to your choice, live in the moment and make yourself happy with the situation you’ve put yourself in. For a world where it seems like there’s an ever-present cancel button where people literally decline Uber rides for “taking too long” because the driver is more than 1 minute away … this forced acceptance of a moment can feel almost joyful. I suspect that’s why the concept is so popular. What do you think? Would you enjoy a visit to the cassette cafe?