Tokyo Audio Notebook

Another short footage, this time of the Tamagawa Festival (Tamagawa Matsuri) held in Futako Tamagawa on October 18th and 19th. This audio track is a sample of the sound and noise you hear in the street when a mikoshi (portable shinto shrine) procession passes by.
To be honest this is not the biggest procession you may encounter in Tokyo, so you will have to imagine something ten times louder when you assist to a major matsuri. But at least my digital recorder was not saturated by this procession, so you will enjoy a few nuances in the ambient sound of the street.

Raw version


Commented version, in French

Just a short sample of the endless Summer song of the cicada in Japan. This track has been recorded in Tokyo, in an alley full of trees.
Hope you will enjoy this typical background music of Summer time in Japan.

Introduction in French.

After a long break of several months, we invite you today to discover some disturbing, over-saturated sound environments in pachinko parlors and arcade game centers.
As you may know, pachinko is a Japanese gaming device used for amusement and prizes. Although pachinko machines were originally strictly mechanical, modern pachinko machines are a cross between a pinball machine and a video slot machine. In a parlor, dozens of pachinko machines spit in the same time a rain of iron balls, creating a noise almost unbearable for visitors.
We left for you one minute of this pachinko heavy rain on the commented version of the podcast.

Raw version


Commented version, in French

This is a short footage from the wonderful Kinuta Koen, near Yoga station (Setagaya-ku). The park was full of families and group of friends enjoying the cherry blossoms in many different ways.
Kids were playing, elders were singing, youngsters were mixing, and everybody was drinking !
Enjoy your walk in the park.

Raw version


Commented version, in French.

This is the first podcast "Tokyo Audio Notebook", taking you for a 20min. short trip from Futako Tamagawa station (Setagaya-ku, Den En Toshi line) to Sangenjaya.
Enjoy all the noises, sounds, signals, announces, alarms and overall over-informed environment so typical of Japanese railways.

Raw version


Commented version, in French.