> Most of them seemed to be ran by an older man (70+, I’d guess)

Yep. Stopped by two on a trip to Japan earlier this year and one run by an old man and one by a woman apparently 80+ years old (!).

I had a great time but yeah feeling anxious in that for natural causes, many of these places will be closing very soon as their owners surely retire at some point. I do not think many have succession plans in place. Neither place I visited had any staff. The gentleman said he'd run the place by himself for decades.

It makes one want to immediately make more travel plans to Japan as a sort of depressing "last chance to see"[1] type trip to go visit more of them. I'm upset I was only able to visit two.

Much like how the amazing game centre culture of Japan has pretty much completely vanished from its 1990s era peak, I expect soon Jazz Kissas will be almost entirely impossible to find.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Chance_to_See

Definitely agreed!

If it makes you feel better, in one of them (I think it was in Okayama), there were three people at the venue - owner (70s), and two girls who lived in a different city but were younger than me (mid-20s). We chatted for a while, and apparently all three in a trio, where the owner plays ob piano and the girls do tap dancing. It was the coolest thing ever for me! He even played some on piano for us. But, if I recall my conversations correctly, there was some interest from younger Japanese population to open up a similar place after they retire. Maybe there is some hope!