I have been living in Tokyo for over three months, in the Waseda University area, Totsuka-machi. So far I find the famous Japanese cultural shock discrete in the sense that it is not visually violent as in other parts of the world, but more subtle, therefore even more powerful. Almost tactile, which is difficult to represent, I went for the second closest interface: the audio one.

The first soundscape is a mix of various sounds that one can hear in the city in the evening. The second one represents physical training classes at a highschool near my house. I used to hear this mantra-like chanting every afternoon when I worked from home. The third one is the Waseda anthem, an enormously popular song around here, for obvious reasons.

All the sound-capturing and editing was done by Neil Maclean, film producer at the Northern Film School, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK.

Raluca Nagy


Neil Maclean 2