5 Places To Practice Music In Tokyo (Without Getting In Trouble)

With its crowded apartments and quiet-loving residents, finding a place to practice musical instruments can be a headache for creative expats. But there are more options out there than you might think.

If you play a musical instrument, chances are you’ve had a neighbor complain about your jamming sessions. Whether you’re trying to practice your music in the comfort of your apartment or out and about, there has to be somewhere you can rehearse in Tokyo without getting in trouble, right?

Back in the UK, I had only one noise complaint in four years of renting in a university town. Compared to the drunken yelling and dubstep at 3 a.m., my neighbors seemed at peace with my harp music at 3 p.m. When I moved out, one even came to tell me how much they’d miss hearing me play.

In Tokyo, however, silence is golden. Thin walls, strict apartment rules and watchful eyes from grumpy ojisan neighbors make practicing at home impossible. Many expats I meet are musically creative, too, but I’ve sadly heard of too many quitting their instruments for fear of upsetting neighbors.

But help is at hand! Here are five places in Tokyo where you can practice music without worry.

1. Rental Studios

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When you say ‘studio hire,’ I think ‘extortionate.’ In the UK, the only times I’ve ever paid for studio hire was when I was part of an ensemble rehearsing for a big performance, or only if we were making a recording or shooting a video. Even in London, cheap studio hire just for everyday practice is uncommon. Not so in Tokyo. It seems like there is a studio on every street corner, and I am constantly impressed with the quality of equipment available for a low price.

Studio Penta

Find their chain studios in Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Shibuya and more. Studio Penta’s rental prices will vary by room size but an individual practice studio is usually available for ¥880 per hour for one person or ¥1,100 if you want to fit two people. Larger studios for bigger group rehearsals range from ¥2,000 to ¥3,500 for an hour but packaged day and night deals are also available.

Studio Noah

Various Studio Noah stores are located throughout the city in places like Shibuya, Shimokitazawa, Akihabara and more. Hiring a studio for individual practice starts at ¥770 an hour or ¥1,540 for two people. They also offer various practice studios with pianos for pianists without an instrument of their own for ¥990 per person or ¥1,760 for two people an hour.

Independent Studios

Independent studios can usually be rented for even cheaper, so it’s worth checking in your local area. Just search for 音楽スタジオ レンタル (ongakusutajio rentaru; “music studio rental”) in Google Maps to see what’s available closest to you. The cheaper end will start at around ¥500 an hour, but of course, it varies by studio.

2. Karaoke Booths

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Karaoke booths in Japan are not just for singing; they’re often used as quiet spaces for group study sessions and even business meetings. This makes them a great place for musicians to practice as well. A friend of mine is an “idol,” and karaoke booths are perfect for her as the songs and lyrics she wants are all on the system; she can change the key to suit her voice and even practice her dance moves in the bigger booths.

Be careful when taking instruments in as some chains may not like you being too obvious about it. On the other hand, some brands, like Karaoke Rainbow, actively encourage it. Joysound-managed karaoke buildings even have booths where you can plug in your guitar and keyboard, too! You can add effects to your guitar and even get the tabs for the song on the screen.

Here’s a general guide to which karaoke chains allow and don’t allow practicing a musical instrument in their booths:

• Karaoke chains that encourage it: Cote d’Azur, Karaoke Rainbow, Karaoke Joysound (directly operated stores)
• Karaoke chains that allow it: Manekineko, Jankara
• Karaoke chains that don’t encourage it: Karaoke BanBan, Big Echo, Karaoke no Tetsujin, Uta Hiroba
• Karaoke chains that prohibit it: Karaoke Kan

Prices are the same as what you would pay for hiring a regular karaoke room and vary depending on the time of day, day of the week and how long you wish to stay. So, off-peak, it’s around ¥200 an hour, and peak hours, it’s usually three times or more.

3. Parks

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You can’t get cheaper than free! On sunny days I often see people practicing in large parks. In my local green space alone, I have seen a saxophonist, a shakuhachi player, a Japanese-style folk singer and an idol group all doing their thing.

Yoyogi Park

Yoyogi Park is especially well known for artists who do as they please—on any given day, you can see dancers, musicians and other creative minds practicing their gigs.

Hikarigaoka Park

Located next to Hikarigaoka Station on the Toei Oedo Line, Hikarigaoka Park also offers ample space for practice. Being further out from central Tokyo, it tends to have fewer visitors, allowing you to use its grounds more freely.

Toyama Park

Accessible from Nishi-Waseda Station or Takadanobaba Station, Toyama Park is smaller but its design uniquely minimizes sound reverberation to surrounding buildings, making it a popular choice among musicians.

Just keep in mind that there are downsides to practicing outdoors. The main one is the weather! During summer or winter, you’d want to avoid getting heatstroke or catching a cold, and on windy days, peg your sheet music down well, or it will blow away!

4. School Classroom (For ALTs)

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For all the ALTs in the house, an obvious solution is at hand. If your school allows it, you may actually be able to use one of the classrooms once the students have gone home. And if your school has dedicated practice rooms, even better! I know ALTs who have found that playing with their school orchestra is a great way to get involved in community life. Plus, it gives them a free pass to practice at school whenever they want!

5. Music-Friendly Apartments

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They do exist! As good as the previous options are, the harp is not very portable, and I practice enough that I don’t want to lug it to a studio every time I want to do scales. When my boyfriend and I were searching for our current apartment, we decided that instruments were a deal breaker.

防音 (bouon; “soundproof”) buildings are an option (also great if you have parties or babies), but they were out of our price range. We found our current place by looking in areas near universities or music colleges where landlords have to be lenient or lose their customers. The result is that the majority of occupants in our building are music students or teachers—we have a pianist next door, a cellist below us and an opera singer above.

Playing is permitted from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Some friends have said they would find the constant presence of classical music annoying, but I enjoy the laid-back, creative vibe in our area, and it’s nice to hear some opera as I sink into the bath.

Ask Your Agent

When searching for a music-friendly apartment, tell your real estate agent that you’d like to practice instruments, or insert keywords when searching online: bouonshitsu 防音室; “sound-proof room”) and gakkika (楽器可; “instruments allowed”). When we did that with our agent, the list of suitable apartments went from about 3,000 to 30, but we still had a few to see!

The other day I tensed up when my landlord said he had heard me practicing, but actually he was only saying that it was nice to hear me playing Japanese pieces. I have found my friendly audiophile neighbors in Tokyo and maybe things aren’t so much harder than back home after all!

Where do you practice your music in Tokyo? Let us know in the comments!