Sound, space and sociality in modern Japan

This book argues that sound - as it is created, transmitted, and perceived - plays a key role in the constitution of space and community in contemporary Japan. The book examines how sonic practices reflect politics, aesthetics, and ethics, with transformative effects on human relations. From right-wing sound trucks to left-wing protests, from early 20th century jazz cafes to contemporary avant-garde art forms, from the sounds of U.S. military presence to exuberant performances organized in opposition, the book, rich in ethnographic detail, contributes to sensory anthropology and the anthropology of contemporary Japan.

1. Introduction 2. Sound and the Tactics of Publicity in the Buraku Liberation Movement3. Facing the Nation: Sound, Fury, and Public Oratory among Japanese Right-Wing Groups 4. Military Aircraft Noise and the Politics of Spatial Affect in Okinawa 5. Distraction, Noise, and Ambient Sounds in Tokyo6. Sounding Imaginative Empathy: Chindon-ya's Affective Economies on the Streets of Osaka7. The Swinging Phonograph in a Hot Teahouse: Sound Technology and the Emergence of the Jazz Community in Prewar Japan