Essay

Part Fifteen — the noise factor

By Garry Bassin

Whenever I come back to Japan I always go to Akihabara at least once. There is no place else like it anywhere in the world that I know and I will always find something new or strange or interesting. So this past weekend I went to Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara to have a look around.

After about 15 minutes the noise in the store started driving me crazy. After an hour my entire body started to shake. I tried to get away from the sale announcements that happen every five minutes, which are just people screaming into a microphone. On top of all of this, on some floors there were guys with megaphones screaming above everyone else and at close range. At one point I got a phone call from a friend in Hawaii asking me where I was and why was everybody screaming. When I explained it was the way Japanese electronic stores get people excited to buy things, my friend couldn't stop laughing. He told me it would make him run away from buying anything.

So I started thinking about what this noise was all about. Admittedly I've never understood pachinko parlors completely either, but I do kind of like the rush of the announcements mixed with the sound of the pachinko balls running through the machines. I kept thinking and remembered the sound trucks that drive around town and scream political propaganda. Then there's the old guy who drives by my house early Saturday morning and wants to trade old electronics for toilet paper. And there are the trucks that advertise a new CD release or an upcoming live performance. And don't forget the trucks that not only beep when they back up, but also have a voice that says it's backing up. Did I forget talking elevators, escalators, and many, many other things that continue to add daily to a noise pollution headache.

So now I'm curious. Does everyone else mind all this noise or is it just me? Isn't it tiring and grating on everyone's nerves to get yelled at all the time? Many years ago when I lived in New York City, friends from out of town would always ask why the constant sound of police cars and traffic didn't bother me. I don't think I actually understood what they were saying until I lived somewhere that was quiet.

Even when our senses become dulled by certain things such as extreme noise, it doesn't mean that the sound isn't registering somewhere in our brains and causing yet unknown stress or damage. Our brains might have shut off to some degree, but the sound is still getting into our heads, and this is just a thought, but we might want to be a bit more careful about what we let in.

Shukan ST: June 25, 2010

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