Kabukicho at night is a “red light” district in Shinjuku, crawling with tourists, working girls, scam artists and host bars. But, it is worth going at least once to see the lights at night. There is a view just outside the entrance to Kabukicho that is like a beautiful scene from a movie. All the movement is mesmerizing. Bright buildings in the background frame a busy road and pedestrian walkway passing under a multi-track train corridor. Everything is moving colour in different directions all at once but it seems to work. Kind of like Tokyo in general.

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Today we rode the Hibiya Line on the way to Shibuya to look for records. This train has some of the best sounds I have heard so far. Songs of the Hibiya Line are different at each station. Here is an official list of all the stations from end to end. If I ever travel to Tokyo again, I would like to do a more organized sound map of at least a few lines. It would be fun to go station to station and get good recordings of all the songs on the way, taking pictures of the trains and station interiors. Then again, I wonder who else besides me would be interested in such a document…wouldn’t stop me from making it though. The collection process is the most fun!

Our house was at Minowa Station of the Hibiya Line so this was the line I heard most often.

I enjoy using the Tokyo Metro system. The trains and stations are clean and cheerful. The sounds and maps and ticket machines all combine to add an air of fun to traveling within the city. I know that a tourist’s impression of local transit is not necessary the same as a daily commuters experience. But, I also got to ride a few times in the famous Tokyo rush hour and although you are crushed together like canned sardines, people are polite and cooperative.

If you enjoy subway sounds, check out this post from Seoul and this one from Busan.

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Senso-ji Temple

Senso-ji Temple is a short walk from our house. Masses of worshipers among clouds of aloes wood gather at the huge site. Lots of tourists in cute kimonos and cool little shops are all around. I bought some knit gloves here. It is cold and windy in Tokyo! Especially at night.

Here is a link to the official website where you can find more information including history and special events.

Sumida River Bank

Along the Sumida River: Tokyo Sky Tree and Asahi Breweries headquarters. This famous Tokyo building designed by Philippe Starck, is topped by the “Asahi Flame” (aka the Golden Poop). The main building is meant to resemble a tall glass of beer complete with foam head on top.

Everyday here is bright sun and blue skies so far…but chilly!

The Skytree is tall and imposing. From a distance, because of all the outer skeleton, it almost looks like it is made out of wood. Every city seems to have it pointy tower somewhere in the skyline and this is Tokyo’s most famous. It kind of resembles our CN Tower in Toronto but with more prominent bones! Here is a link to information in English for Skytree visits.

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Today was our first day out in Tokyo and I was excited to ride the subway and make a test recording of some of the station sounds along the way. I wired up my backpack and we went out to explore.

It seems like every station has it’s own music..listen with headphones or earbuds if you can.

I was inspired to try “field recording” city sounds when I saw Hou Hsiao Hsien’s film Cafe Lumiere. The famous Taiwanese director made this film in Japan. The main character is Yoko. Her close friend Hajime runs a bookstore and is also working on a sound based art project. He travels all over Tokyo collecting train station sounds with a field recorder. Hajime uses the sounds to make an interactive computer map of the Tokyo subway system and links the sound of each station to its location. It is a quiet and relaxed film with beautiful photography of Tokyo.

This one:

For anyone traveling to Tokyo, here is a good website about the metro system . Google/Apple maps also seem to be a pretty reliable source of information for getting around Tokyo. In contrast, Google is much less useful in Korea..as you will see later.