TRACK STAR

A spacious vinyl outlet in an east Tokyo cultural centre is spinning a new narrative for the traditional record store model

- GABRIELLE DOMAN

Kameari, in Tokyo’s east, is not one of the city’s most well-known districts, but the Skwat Kameari Art Centre (SKAC), led by architect Keisuke Nakamura, is hoping to rewrite this narrative. At its heart is Vinyl Delivery Service (VDS), a record store founded by Rintaro Sekizuka, whose interest in music, sustainability and community is reshaping vinyl culture as a vehicle for local renewal and ecological consciousness.

When Sekizuka opened VDS in its former central location at Shinjuku Gyoen in 2018, he envisioned a space that went beyond the traditional record store model. ‘I wanted to make something different. I wanted a store that was more free, with more crossing of cultures,’ he says. This ethos was further fuelled by a trip to London in 2019, where he found inspiration in the city’s rich, genre-fluid musical landscape, leading him to open a VDS outpost at Idle Moments. This Bethnal Green listening bar and record shop took inspiration from Japanese jazz kissa (cafés dedicated to jazz music played on high-end audio systems), quickly becoming a vital hub for audiophiles and DJs alike. ‘I got very good feedback from everyone,’ says Sekizuka, ‘They had never seen the records I'd brought and hadn’t connected with Japanese music much because they couldn't easily get hold of it.’