Imagine yourself in the world’s busiest station, Shinjuku Station, in the heart of Japan’s capital, Tokyo. Pushing aside the hundreds of commuters to catch the last train leaving on platform 4. The sounds around you consist of stressed salarymen rushing down the steps to the station, train conductors blowing their whistles, and bursts of Japanese phrases in the air. Suddenly, in the midst of all the chaos, a beautiful, almost out-of-place, melody starts playing through the speakers: it’s as if you weren’t at a train station anymore. What just happened?
Departure melodies, or “hassha merodi (発車メロディー),” have an important and deep role in Japan’s complicated railway system. In the early 1970s, the Keihan Railway that operated south of Osaka had an idea. To break the intense and stressful ambience that existed in the busy train stations, Keihan Railway introduced 7 to 10 second short jingles that would be played before the trains departed. The conclusion was psychologically positive. These short jingles helped put the stressful minds of commuters at ease, and proved beneficial to the mentality of everyday commuters. However, it wasn’t just psychologically positive: it also played a useful role. Passengers could now clearly identify whether the train would be departing soon before they were even on the platform. This would reduce the risk of injury, such as running into closing doors, or feeling the need to rush down the stairs.
This concept proved to be so successful that in the 1980s, JR East (Japan Railway Company) who, to this day, operates the greater portion of Tokyo up to Sendai in the Tohoku Region, commissioned talented jazz artists to create a unique set of these departure melodies for their many stations. One of the famous artists, Minoru Mukaiya, is known today for creating over 170 departure melodies. Today, you can find him hosting pop-up shows where he performs these short melodies live with his keyboard. Surprisingly, many people liked his jingles so much that crowds of fans gathered around just to listen to him — it was to the point that he was banned from the Ginza district in Tokyo due to the chaos of having too many people at one of his live shows.
But creating these short departure jingles isn’t easy as it might seem. Professional artists such as Mukaiya have to deal with multiple factors in order to compose one of these melodies. Firstly, the melody can’t be too long or too short. Next, they shouldn’t sound stressful, slow-paced, but neither should they be so fast-paced that it creates an intense atmosphere in the station. The melodies should be psychologically pleasing to the human ear and mind.
Today, Japan is still regarded for having one of the best designed railway systems in the world. Moreover, departure melodies play one of the most unique and impactful roles in Japanese culture. Around Japan, different station melodies tend to have a story behind them, usually relating to the station that they were composed for. For example, at the Takadanobaba station, the departure melody is the theme for Astro Boy, a famous Japanese anime, which is conveniently the birthplace of Astro Boy. Another example is Ebisu station, which was named after a famous brand of beer, Yebisu beer, and hence, has the melody for Yebisu’s beer advertisement.
Throughout different seasons, departure melodies constantly change around different stations to keep up with the cultural trends and holidays. During Christmas, Shibuya station can be found having a Jingle Bells departure melody. When the Japanese girl pop group AKB48 became a sensation, Akihabara Station had a Koisuru Fortune Cookie departure melody. And whenever Disney released a new film, Maihama Station, the closest station to Tokyo Disney Resort, would update their departure melodies to the theme songs from the newly released movie.
Without a doubt, Japanese train melodies started off as a useful and psychologically beneficial attribution to the already detailed railway system. However, in today’s generation, they play an impactful role that represents the heart of Japanese society, and the uniqueness of a culture that no other place on Earth possesses. So, perhaps the next time that you visit Japan and get a ride on the train, you’ll be able to identify the iconic jingles and appreciate the joy they bring to those who had the chance to get a taste of these delightful melodies.
Author’s Pick for a signature set of iconic departure melodies around Japan:
1. Sendai Station – City of Trees https://youtu.be/OCpe698VzdQ
2. Shinagawa Station – 海の駅/SF-4 https://youtu.be/UDzlFvz8Kxo?t=4
3. Takadanobaba – Astro Boy Theme https://youtu.be/Drh_cKFOwrU
4. Ikebukuro – Springbox https://youtu.be/roWs7QUK7m4
5. Maihama – Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (See how a departure melody can calm the stressful rush hour atmosphere!) https://youtu.be/cx1DBcnBUic
6. Akihabara – Koisuru Fortune Cookie https://youtu.be/D7nkyXJHzgA
7. BONUS: https://youtu.be/XCBA3OcpPK8 A remix mashup of various departure melodies in Japan!
— Writer Ken Thanapipat Trakulyingyong can be reached at 25kenthanapipat@gmail.com. Follow him on instagram @ken.tkt
— Edited by Juan Yu (Lulu), Managing Editor, ICS.
