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Japan = Good
Japanese Food = Very Good
Japanese People = Mostly Good
Japanese niece crying for her okasan (mother) = Not So Very Good

Download Audio: Ryoko Crying

I have a few more recordings I made while in Japan this last summer I haven’t posted yet. This one is from a noodle soup restaurant right next to Omiya station (in Saitama prefecture), which had wonderful cuisine. The calls you hear are from the employees welcoming new guests into the restaurant, or saying bye, or who knows what. I can’t really remember. And for the keen observer, at the end of this snipit, the cash register beeps and it sounds very similar to Walmart’s checkout beep. Or is it just me?

Download Audio: Noodle Soup Restaurant

My wife’s parents haven’t slept in the same room in years and years. One listen to this recording and you know why.

Download Audio: Snoring

While taking a walk one afternoon, I heard somebody practicing a shakuhachi, the Japanese traditional bamboo flute. My wife said that she has never heard somebody just practicing this instrument, so it must a have been a stroke of good luck to be passing just as someone was practicing. Unfortunately, as you might guess, it was a bit hard to hear since it was coming from inside of a house, and in order to raise the levels enough to hear it, there is a bit of background hissing. You can also hear some traffic pass, and a few leafs blowing by in the wind.

Download Audio: Shakuhachi Practice

This was recorded downstairs at Omiya Station. You hear the train station chime, followed by a bit of silence, then the arrival of a train. Suprisingly enough, there are a good number of people present in the train station in this recording, but most of them are very quiet. This was close to peak traveling hours and the station was quite full, yet the ambient noise from people talking is suprisingly low. Most people either read a book, play on their cell phones, or just stand there staring off into space thinking of japanese things.

Download Audio: Train Arrival at Omiya