The Spatiality of Sound

One of the noticeable differences in teaching methods between Japan and England is the latter’s immersive approach to the study of the city. At UCL, in Urban Geography, we were encouraged to take photographs and produce sound recordings that would in turn co-create the lecture. We visited urban sites related to our field of study and interviewed key actors in London’s development processes. An ancillary module I took about Modernist Architecture was taught solely outside of the classroom visiting different sites across London, which encouraged learning through experience. At Waseda, these approaches are less utilised, with greater attention to images and ideas, rather than experiences and observations. This may be partially due to the turn in human geography to greater analysis at the individual scale that focuses on experience, reflexivity and affect (Bondi, et al., 2007).

As this blog encounters space, it seems only fitting to use the more immersive, embodied approach taught at UCL to explore the ‘spaciness’ of Tokyo. I wanted to consider what elements make up our experience of the city, and to focus on something that at times is deemed lesser to its visual counterpart.

Human Geographers have increasingly taken an interest in matter that encompass the senses; calling for greater attention on soundscapes and 'listening geographies' (Gallagher et al., 2016). Voices, sounds of industry, nature, music and silence are all important elements that create the public realm (Kanngieser, 2012). Sound can highlight issues of access and mobility whereby bodies are often unknowingly guided or manipulated through space (Atkinson, 2011). 

Soundscapes are revealing of power relations. If we take the experience of being on a train, is it often a female voice that is used for announcements, whilst the majority of train operators are male, highlighting the gendered division of labour. In such a way, sound becomes political. ‘Irasshiamase’ is a phrase used when welcoming customers to a shop. It is said which such frequency, whilst stacking shelves or at the till, it at times sounds automated. If we dig further, often these individuals whom are in a position of servitude are women and migrant workers (Broadbent, 2001).

Absence of sound on the train

Sound demarcates space. In Tokyo, the trains act as a refuge of sound: a moment to sleep and a quiet space between work and home. The Tokyo landscape is as much punctuated by silence as sound. Trains and streets are particularly quiet places with unspoken codes of how to behave. If one reads an etiquette guide to Japan, they will be confronted with the rule to be quiet on trains, to not speak on the phone. A common saying in Japan is that “Japanese speak with their stomachs”. This concept of 'Haragei' is transferred into the aural landscape. Words are often unspoken and are instead implied as part of Japanese communication.  This is because silence conveys emotions, shows respect and avoids conflict (Jones, 2011).

In commercial districts, space is differentiated by the use of loudspeakers, jingles, the noises of pachinko parlours and arcades that in turn become a taken-for-granted part of the urban experience. In such a way, ‘our aural autonomy, the ability to switch off or avoid certain forms of urban sound, is increasingly compromised by the techniques of marketing and branding by firms’ (Atkinson, 2011: 15).

Sounds of arcades that spill over onto the street

Soundscapes reveal contemporary issues through the absence of noise. From my childhood, I would often recall the hum of screaming school kids in the distance at lunch time. In Tokyo, with an ageing population, more women in employment and fewer people having children, the voices of children are less visible. The aural landscape matches the political climate. 43,000 children (12,000 in Tokyo alone) are waiting for vacancies in nursery schools yet local residents often oppose newly built nurseries on account of noise pollution which only perpetuates the issue 'because an ageing and declining population becomes less tolerant of children as it is exposed to fewer of them' (Kodera, 2015). In many instances, sound is controlled and minimalized through environmental regulations on noise pollution that range from industrial sounds to noise in communal living environments (Ministry of the Environment). In Tokyo's Mosques and churches, the absence of the 'Adhan' (call for prayer) and church bells reflects a distance from religion but are also part of a growing intolerance towards Islam in Japan. Yet, a history of public broadcasting is prominent across Japan. An infamous chime, often an instrumental version of a children's folk song occurs every day at 5pm. The music announces that it is home time for children, and acts as a safety check for more serious broadcasting uses. In this instance, the use of loudspeakers for conveying information is acceptable by residents (Namba et al., 1986). In such a way, sounds demarcate time. This is matched in institutions, including Waseda where classical music is played before closing time to remind us it is time to leave.

The 5pm chime

References

Atkinson, R (2007) Ecology of sound: The sonic order of urban space. Urban Studies 44: 1905–1917. Atkinson, R (2011) Ears have walls: Thoughts on the listening body in urban space. Aether: The Journal of Media Geography, 7: 12-126. Bondi, L., Davidson, J, and Smith, M (2007) Emotional Geographies, Abingdon: Routledge. Broadbent, K. (2001) Shortchanged? Part-time Workers in Japan, Japanese Studies, 21, 3: 293-304. Gallagher, M., Kanngieser, M., Prior, J. (2017) Listening Geographies: Landscape, affect and geotechnologies, Progress in Human Geography, 41, 5, 618-637. Jones, S. (2011) Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden: The Cultural Importance of Silence in Japan, The ANU Undergraduate Research Journal Kanngieser, A (2012) A sonic geography of the voice: Towards an affective politics. Progress in Human Geography, 36, 3: 336–353. Kodera, A. (2015) Tokyo Amends Noise-Pollution Rule in Bid to Draw More Nurseries, The Japan Times  https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/04/01/national/tokyo-amends-noise-pollution-rules-bid-draw-nurseries/ Ministry of the Environment, Noise Regulation Law http://www.env.go.jp/en/laws/air/noise/ch.html#ch1 Accessed: 01.04.2018 Namba, S., Kuwano, S., Scnick, A (1986) A cross-cultural study on noise problems, Journal of the Acoustic Society of Japan, 7, 5: 279 - 289.