Recording Japan Sound Effects in Tokyo!

This recording is one of my favorites from Japan. We went with the train to Asakusa and visited the oldest temple in Tokyo. The famous Sensoji temple.

Before we entered the temple I recorded the sound at the Nakamise shopping street. This street is around 250 meters long and you will find more than 50 shops selling food and of course a lot of tourist article. Nothing I would buy but the Soundscape is incredible and of course, there is always this one little kid or baby that starts crying.

People are just everywhere and its literary shoulder on shoulder. We walked along the street and I had the DPAs visible in my left and right hand and people looked at me and wondering what I am doing here. Yeah, if people have iPhones on sticks or regular cameras taking photos or filming and nobody cares anymore but at the moment you have these little fuzzy “things”, people start wondering and lucking. I really enjoyed that. If you are a field recorder you know what I mean. I should have used my Blimp but maybe people would call the Police. So better not risking anything if there are a lot of people around. These little microphones are just perfect.

If you walk around and you just go with the flow of people and you intentionally listen to the sound it is just amazing and recording this people walla is just great to archive. But besides the sound of the people, I have a super special sound recorded that includes laughing, happiness, and a little metal box. I am talking about omikuji what are Japanese fortune-telling paper strips.

It starts at minute 3:00!

Before we arrived the temple you can try your luck. And people had so much fun and laughed and shake the box for a good fortune.

How it works is very simple. You pay a small offering of 100 Yen or whatever you like and pick up the metal box. You shake 3 times or as long as you think it’s enough.

If you turn the box around you pick up the stick with the number that is written in Kanji. If you can’t read it you just match the number or the character that is in one of the drawers in front of you. Then you select your fortune paper.

If you come to Sensoji and you want to try your luck English is now available. Just turn around the paper.

After you read your fortune bad or great you can tie your fortune to the metal pole and leave it by the temple. Good Luck 🙂

For the recordings, I used the Zoom H6 together with the DPA 4060! The Windjammers are from Rycote.

The soundtrack is 5:00 minutes long and the format is 96/24!

Location where I recorded the Japan Sound Effects!

Japan is my favorite country in the world and I can’t wait to be back next year! If you have already access to my “Secret Sound Library” go to the Japan category and you will find over 100 pre-edited sound effects from Japan.

Listen & Download these Japan Sound Effects from Asakusa Japan!



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