More prerecorded warnings, sound of subway horn, whoosh of air as the subway enters the station, sound of brakes.  Doors buzz to close and children chat on their way home.

Tokyo Subway 3

Music is used to draw in customers off the street.  

Guitar shop

This safety message is interesting because there are competing aural warnings at a corner connecting a walkway and an elevator (see photo) - watch out for strong winds AND watch your step on the escalator

Escalator warning

A Kyoto subway. Like the tokyo subway there's a different acoustic to underground trains.  Male announcement, sound of brakes. passenger conversation.  Arrival horn.  Doors open.

Kyoto Subway

The sound of a river flowing by the side of a road near a famous shrine.  Some traffic noises and wind.

Kamigamo River

The local neighbourhood association provides this service to remind residents to be careful with fire in the home.  It is softer than the Nezu (Tokyo) recording,  which was taken out of doors. This recording was made indoors, demonstrating the sound as you would hear it from inside the home.  The click of the sticks needs to be loud enough to break through the walls of the home and bring your attention to the message.

Kyoto Fire Warning

The sound of footsteps in traditional architecture; the architects specifically put in squeaks into the hallways to prevent theft of artwork!

Chionin hallway

The sound of Buddhist monks beating drums along the sidewalk between the subway exit and the corner at of the entrance to the Prime Minister's Residence. As the researcher walks through the sound, the volume and intensity of the drums changes.

Buddhist monks in Protest

Full speech by an anti nuclear protester in front of the Prime Minister's residence.

Anti Nuke protest speech 1

Chant by protestors at anti nuclear protest in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Tokyo

Anti Nuke protest chant

Edited speech by a Fukushima evacuee at an anti nuclear protest in front of the Prime Minister's residence. Here we hear her remember the sound of sirens the day of the earthquake 

Anti Nuke protest speech edit

Local neighbourhood associations provide this service to remind residents to be careful with fire in the home. This recording is louder than the Kyoto recording as we were walking directly behind the chanters as we took the recording. 

Tokyo Fire Warning

The extended play of live and recorded voices, music and pedestrian sound at the Shibuya station for Yamanote Linve

Shibuya train announcements

The sound of measuring radiation in Fukushima has become part of daily life.

Dosimeter 3

The almost total silence of a high-end guitar shop in Shibuya- all you can hear is soft recorded music and the footsteps of customers

Shibuya Guitar Shop

Ambient noises of Shinsekai in Osaka, there is recorded music, buskers and bustling shoppers visiting kushiyaki restaurants

Shinsekai: Ambient sound 1

A yakiimo salesman wandering the backstreets of Asakusabashi using a megaphone to advertise his wares through song

Yakiimo in Asakusabashi

Sounds outside the Iwama dojo in the quiet evening - cricket songs

Cricket sounds in rural Ibaraki prefecture

This recording was taken in Shijo, the commercial and financial centre of Kyoto. In April 2015, there was a local election underway, and as noted in other posts individual candidates used sound trucks to advertise their campaigns. This was a stationary truck parked at a busy street corner which represented a political party rather than an individual candidate. The Japanese Communist Party is a small but still active organisation. Their stance, especially since 3/11, focuses on a nuclear free Japan and anti war policies. Their point of view conflicts directly with the then Prime Minister's policy of increasing Japan's military presence abroad. You can see their banners with slogans here such as 'Stop the restart of the nuclear power plants; Japan as a Zero Nuclear Nation' and 'Let us not send our young people to war!'

Japanese Communist Party Sound Truck at Shijo

The basement of department stores usually serve as open food markets, selling mostly prepared food and some fresh ingredients. Mirroring the traditional markets out of doors, the sales people call out to customers to try their wares before buying. Contrast this recording with one made about two years later ''The Basement of Isetan, 2013". Can you hear the difference between spring shoppers and summer shoppers?

The Basement of Isetan, 2015

At the end of morning meditation and a talk by the Director of Danshukai, residents sing the song “Doki no Sakura” (“Cherry Blossom Classmates”). This was a song popular in WW2 using lyrics from by poet Yaso Saijo that liken the ill-fated Imperial Japanese Navy pilots to sakura petals that will “meet one day again at Yasukuni Shrine.”

“Doki no Sakura” (“Cherry Blossom Classmates”)

This is a longish recording of the morning rituals conducted by Buddhist monks in a temple in Kyoto called Chishakuin.  Often temples in Kyoto are very crowded with tourists, making it a sonically intense environment.  This recording, however, was taken early in the morning. One can hear the sounds of nature, the recorder's footsteps and the chanting of the monks emanating outside the main hall into the temple garden.

Morning chants at a Kyoto Temple

A meta-mix of collectively-gathered soundscape recordings throughout Osaka c. 2007

Osaka Inside Out

Staff try to sell their wares to commuters on the their way home from work.

Matcha Cake Yobikomi

Ueno park at the height of the sakura blooming season - crowded with parties, families and tourists...

Ueno Park nighttime - Sakura season

At night, the restaurants, stores and night spots that lie along the elevated tramline, come alive with people

Ueno Ameyoko

Sounds of construction, traffic and sirens flow across the river in Kuramae

Sumida River, Kuramae

Gen Ramen at Kuramae, specialising in tonkotsu.

Ramen soup at Genraku restaurant. Kuramae

Night time toy shopping in Ueno -  Yamashiroya - a multistory shop

Toy Store - Yamashiroya - in Ueno

One of the other famous features of the Ryoanji Temple is this stone water basin. The sound of water running is thought to be soothing to the mind of soul. How does this sound to you?

Water features and conversation

The sounds of a working bakery in Kyoto. This shop serves 'Showa' style food in a nostalgic setting; the clamour of baking tins behind the counter intermingle with customers' murmuring about the delicious freshly baked bread.

Old Style Bakery

At a crossing just outside Matsumoto station in Nagano-ken, a tune is played indicating that it is safe to cross the street. The tune is based on an old folk tune that describes passing through a checkpoint to Tenjin Shrine, where on a child's seventh birthday parents pray for their child's future health and longevity.

Tōryanse Street Crossing

Each year the self-help group Danshukai holds a special anniversary meeting, to celebrate the number of years members have maintained their sobriety. At the beginning of the meeting all those attending the event recite Danshukai's steps for gaining sobriety.

Danshukai celebration

I was trying to find my shakuhachi teacher's house but I took a wrong turn and found myself lost in the back streets of Chichibu. I stopped and opened my ears. Drifting over the roof tops, I could hear the sound of the shakuhachi. My teacher was having a lesson with a student. I navigated through the streets following the sounds of the lesson.

Shakuhachi in the distance

Silence is maintained during eating at the alcohol treatment centre to give thanks for the meal.

Lunch at Danshu dojo

This temple's hallway utilises pre modern sonic security systems to alert residents to intruders

Ohara Temple Nightinggale Floor

At the west exit of Ebisu station, inside the ticket gate is a soba restaurant. It is a small restaurant and customers eat their soba quickly and move on down to the platform or exit into Ebisu to continue their day.

Soba Restaurant Ebisu Station

Ema (picture horse) are small wooden plaques that can be found at Shinto shrines. Worshippers can buy an Ema and inscribe a message on its back to the deity (kami) of the Shrine and the priests. The message may request good luck for an exam or marriage  (depending on the specific shrine) but is left to hang alongside other Ema and later burn't as part of a ritual to release the wish to the shrine deity. In early Shinto religion, horses were understood to carry messages to deities. The Ema make a rattling sound in the wind as they bump up against each other.

Ema at Yohashira Shrine, Matsumoto

A recording of Geiger Counter blips taken while driving through Iitatemura

Dosimeter reading in Iitatemura, Fukushima

Sonic Japan is a collection of sound recordings made in Japan that enables listeners to traverse an array of themes pertaining to everyday life through a consideration of its soundscapes.

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