Left to right: Tomomi Chujo, Kosuke Chujo and Monika Julien in the Sigma Sound Studios Collection in the Drexel University Audio Archives. Kosuke is holding a vinyl record, “Clean Up Your Mind” by Choice 4 Inc., that students in Julien’s class restored, researched and ultimately released from an unearthed 1972 Sigma Sound Studios recording. Photo courtesy Monika Julien.

In the 1970s, Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studio gained fame for producing hits in the “Philadelphia Soul” genre from artists like Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, the O’Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Patti LaBelle and more.

In Japan, that music inspired one man to fall in love with all things Philadelphia and later open a Philly-themed cheesesteak shop and sports bar in Tokyo called Nihonbashi Philly. If you love cheesesteaks, and Philadelphia itself, then you might have heard of it.

Kosuke Chujo now runs the restaurant with his wife Tomomi (he makes the cheesesteaks; she bakes the rolls and soft pretzels), and they have become a viral sensation in recent years. They’re beloved for their love of all things Philadelphia, with an Instagram account with almost 65,000 followers; extensive media coverage whenever they visit the city; sold-out pop-ups during a visit; special recognition from the Philadelphia City Council; and a well-deserved reputation as a “home away from home” destination for travelers in Tokyo (especially during Eagles games).

During their most recent trip to Philly this past July, Kosuke and Tomomi attended America’s Semiquincentennial anniversary events, won the MLB-hosted “Cheesesteak Challenge” — and made sure to visit Drexel University to listen to some of the music that inspired their relationship with Philadelphia.

The Sigma Sound Studios Collection in the Drexel University Audio Archives is the repository of approximately 7,000 master recordings that helped put Philadelphia on the map in music history. The studio’s 35-year tape recording library was given to Drexel for stewardship in 2005, and the Drexel University Audio Archives, as part of Drexel’s Libraries, Collections & Archives in the Office of the Provost, has since overseen the storage, preservation, research, digitization, restoration and archiving of its materials.

It was Monika Julien, an assistant teaching professor in Drexel’s Music Industry Program, who invited the Chujos to visit her in Philadelphia. But the connection all started when she visited Nihonbashi Philly twice while on vacation in Japan in December 2025.

While meeting the Chujos, she shared that she teaches in Drexel’s Music Industry Program and also leads the MAD Dragon Music Group practicum that gives hands-on experience to members of the University’s student-run record label MAD Dragon Records — including the project students were working on to put out unreleased recordings from Sigma Sound Studios.

Knowing about Kosuke’s love of music, she told the couple she’d give them a tour of the Drexel University Audio Archives whenever they were in Philly. Seven months later, they came.

The Chujos and their staff — Daito Kashiwabara, Ayaka Ikeda and Renpei Washizu — shot behind-the-scenes content during their tour of the Music Industry Program’s flagship recording studio, Studio One, as Julien and Brendan Monahan, studio manager, looked on. Photo courtesy Monika Julien.

Nihonbashi Philly at Drexel

After their initial meeting, Julien and the Chujos followed each other on Instagram and Julien started messaging Tomomi on WhatsApp. Soon, she was introduced to the Chujos’ niece, who is planning to study abroad at Drexel this coming fall and had questions about life on campus.

Closer to the summer, Tomomi reached out with a time and date to tour Drexel’s facilities with their staff at the end of their trip. And on July 17 at 10 a.m., it finally happened. For Kosuke, it was his first time ever entering an American university — though he had walked around Drexel’s campus before — and he thought it was a “wonderful environment.” The facilities and teaching methods were different than those in Japanese universities, he said, and he thought that the environment prompted students to explore rather than just sit and study.

The Chujos did their own exploring too. Julien led them on a tour of the Music Industry Program’s main studio facilities in One Drexel Plaza, including a state-of-the-art recording studio, music labs, recording studio classrooms and, of course, the archives. Julien introduced them to the spaces as well as colleagues like Brendan Monahan, studio facilities manager, and Ivan Barias, an instructor of music industry (both were already familiar with Nihonbashi Philly, too).

In the archives, they pored over tapes from David Bowie’s 1974 studio sessions for his 1975 “Young Americans” album, as well as those from Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, Teddy Pendergrass and Patti LaBelle (they had just seen her perform the national anthem at the MLB All-Star Game two days prior). They also listened to music originally recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in the 1970s that had been unreleased until just a few years ago, thanks to MAD Dragon Records and Drexel students and faculty: the Nat Turner Rebellion’s “Laugh to Keep From Crying,” originally recorded from 1969 to 1972 and released in 2019, and Choice 4 Inc.’s “Clean Up Your Mind,"originally recorded in 1972 and released in May after students brought the album to life during Julien’s MAD Dragon Music Group practicum course. 

“Everything I saw in the archives was touching, and I felt happy just looking at the artists on each label and seeing that this was the original recording tape,” said Kosuke.

The visitors also stopped by a session held during Drexel’s Music Industry Summer Program, an intensive one-week program for high school students to learn the ins and outs of the music industry through classroom lectures and hands-on experience. Another highlight of the visit was listening to Pink Floyd through spatial surround sound in the new Dolby Atmos/Immersive Audio Mixing Studio, which enabled Kosuke to “hear the hidden sound” of songs he’s heard so many times before, he said.

Like their other Philadelphia experiences, the Drexel visit was shared on their Instagram account. Several stories were posted to show them looking over tapes, sitting in on a class, listening to music and walking throughout the facilities.

“They are such appreciators of Philadelphia culture and music. It’s really cool that they made it a point on this trip to come to Drexel and see these original pieces of Philly music history,” said Julien.

Researchers and academics have visited the Drexel Audio Archives from across the country and around the world, though this was the first case where the music in the collection had such a culinary impact on a visitor.

During her visit to Nihonbashi Philly in December, Monika Julien, who is also a Drexel alumna, wore a T-shirt for WKDU, Drexel’s independent studio radio station (she had been a member, DJ and program director as a student). The Chujos have the “Drexel swag” she brought from campus: Kosuke is wearing the Drexel hat and shirt, and Tomomi is holding the Drexel pennant. Photo courtesy Monika Julien.

Drexel at Nihonbashi Philly 

Though this was their first visit to Drexel, the Chujos were very familiar with the University — something Julien learned during her first visit to their shop back in December.

“There were Drexel DragonCards [official University IDs] stapled to the wall,” she revealed. “I couldn’t believe I was looking at DragonCards halfway around the world.”

She’d seen Instagram posts of people bringing Philly-themed items to the shop, so she brought the Chujos gifts from the Rally House Drexel University Campus Store, including a shirt with a retro caricature of Drexel’s longtime Mario the Magnificent mascot. 

“When I gave it to them, they were like, ‘MARIOOO!’” remembered Julien. 

Stopping by the restaurant was “a big priority” on her trip, she said, but she hadn’t planned on going twice. On her first visit, she tried the cheesesteak, tomato pie and soft pretzel. And after hearing about a special Christmas menu, she came back a few days later to eat turkey, mashed potatoes and a chocolate babka dessert on Christmas Day.

“It’s not just a Philly-themed restaurant. It’s a fever dream like you were walking into Philadelphia,” said Julien. “It’s just crazy that you’re in Japan having the most Philadelphia experience.”

What Comes Next 

This fall, the Chujos’ niece will start her yearlong stay at Drexel as an exchange student studying communication — a prime opportunity for them to visit the University again, perhaps?

Julien is already planning a return visit to Japan this December. It’ll be her third after the 2018 and 2025 trips (a 2020 trip to the Tokyo Olympics was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic). She’s been taking Japanese lessons for years and hopes to continue speaking more of the language on each subsequent trip.

Nihonbashi Philly will be on the itinerary, of course. She’s already thinking it’ll be one of the first stops once she lands.