Japan : Ueno Park 1

On the Monday of our first week in Japan we visited Ueno, and in particular, Ueno Park. We'd been told that in comparison with many other parks in Tokyo it was a little shabby. We didn't really have anything to compare it to, and we had a fantastic day.



Recorded on 16 March 2009

BBC 'Save Our Sounds' project

Prompted by the recognition that while there exists a vast wealth of visual and written documentary material on life's experiences, there exists relatively little whose audio characteristics have been captured, the BBC's 'Save Our Sounds' project is attempting to assist in the preservation of what it calls 'endangered sounds'.

While 'sound maps' are nothing new (a simple Google search demonstrates this), and the extent to which the sounds featured so far could be described as 'endangered' is questionable, I'm impressed that the BBC are doing something that will expose more people to the concept of field recording and that they are doing so with such aplomb.

The project seems to span a number of sites, however the the following page serves as the primary location for curious listeners. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specialreports/saveoursounds/index.shtml

Unfortunately however I tried to contribute two recordings to the map this evening, and was met by a webpage error message. I hope this is only temporary, and in the meantime I've popped an e-mail to their support hoping that they'll be able to assist.

Japan : Buddhist Chanting at Chion-in temple.

Chion-in temple in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto is the headquarters of the Jodo Shu (Pure Land Sect). It wasn't actually on the list of temples that we wanted to visit, be we were lucky to stumble across it when we did because a chant was in progress. We knelt down and listened for some time. People came and went throughout, taking some time out to listen. After removing their shoes, a lot of people put them in plastic bags. In this recording, in addition to the chanting, you can hear a lot of these plastic bags rustle as they were set down on the ground.





Recorded on 25 March 2009

In My Ears

Thanks to a heads-up from it's author Peter, a new audio blog came to my attention this week. It is named In My Ears, and so far contains recordings from a good variety of sources.

It also seems the author shares my interest in circuit-bending. This one is worth keeping an eye (and ear) on.

Japan : Asakusa Pt. 3

Sensō-ji was a very impressive temple. Some Buddhist monks were just ending their chant as I started recording, and I wished I'd got there a few minutes earlier. People were milling around, briefly bowing their heads in prayer and throwing coins into a receptacle - something we encountered a lot at temples throughout or journey, presumably for good luck/fortune.






Recorded on 19 March 2009

Japan : Asakusa Pt. 2

Some more recordings taken in Asakusa. If only I could adequately capture the sights and smells to go with the sounds! It was quite a touristy/popular sightseeing area, and we certainly encountered more westerners here than a lot of the other areas in Tokyo that we visited.


Recorded on 19th March 2009