This is what summer sounds like in Japan - turn up your volume to the maximum setting and you will come close to getting a good idea of what it is really like...

See the previous VAoJ post for an explanation of the play with yellow tint.

See also: https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2014/08/semi-sounds-japanese-summer.html

"It's July Already! Oh No! Oh No!"

Source: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2019/07/01

I know how Calvin feels. Contrary to popular opinion, university professors DO work during the summer despite not having classes. I've accomplished a lot in June (including cleaning up from last summer's earthquake) but still so much to do...

Climate change - or is it just the weather - influencing neighborhood summer activities; Radio Taiso cancelled due to the heat; a subdued Jizo-bon due to the typhoon

It's been mighty warm this summer in my neighborhood and other parts of Japan and the world. Usually at the end of August neighbors gather in the morning at the local Shinto shrine to do a program of simple exercises and of course socialize. This is usually done over a two week period. Participants get a stamp card and receive a stamp on the days they participate. Young children get treats as well. But this year we received no information about the program and it was by chance that I bumped into the head of the neighborhood association and inquired. "It's just too hot and everyone is worn out..." he explained with a slight expression of shame and embarrassment. Too bad. Let's hope we can do it next year. For more about Radio Taiso, see the following VAOJ post:

"Summer Vacation Rajio Taisō (Radio Calisthenics) in My Neighborhood" (9/1/15): https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2015/09/summer-vacation-rajio-taiso-radio.html

But the good news was that I was able to witness and photograph the Jizo-bon that happens every August at a local cemetery (for various reasons I have been unable to shoot over the years). In the afternoon of 23 August neighbors began setting up for the festival but this was also the time that a typhoon was moving in. So not much happened that evening as the rain and wind were quite strong. Luckily things calmed down on the 24th and lanterns were able to be hung and people could gather. What is Jizo-obon?

Toward the end of summer, when children's summer vacation is coming to an end, Jizo-bon takes place... On street comers or in back alleys, in front of the small shrines in which a Jizo statue is placed... Red and white lanterns tell where a Jizo-bon... is taking place in a neighborhood.

Jizo-bon is a festival performed for the Jizo deity, A Buddhist bodhisattva... Japan Buddhism is often associated with funerals and memorials for the dead... But Jizo is an exception: he is considered the guardian deity of children... his mission to walk throughout the world and save anyone in need... On August 24 a special celebration, Jizo-bon, takes place for Jizo...

Excerpts from Jizo-Bon in Kyoto Today: A Celebration of Children and Community by Miyuki Hirayama (Children's Folklore Review, Vol. 29, 2006-2007)

Read the whole article in pdf format: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/cfr/article/view/25292/31172

This is another Japanese festival event that seems to differ locally. Hirayama describes the festival as an exciting event for children in a place as close to us as Kyoto. For our local cemetery there are no games or food booths; the event seems to be a chance to clean and decorate the grave sites and receive offerings (money, flowers, beer) for the local Jizo. So here are my shots of a subdued celebration this year...

Semi-sounds = Japanese Summer

If you play the above video before reading this text you might wonder what the point is: not much action other than a few bugs (yes, they are bugs, not birds) flying about, an occasional bicyclist passes by... But here the image/visual is not so important - it is the sound. Watch/listen to the video again with the volume turned up to the highest setting and you will begin to get an idea of the summer sounds of cicada (semi, セミ in Japanese). Yes, those large, fluttering creatures in the video are cicadas. The semi-sound is constant and loud of the Japanese summer. Here is a brief description of Japanese cicadas:

In Japan, cicadas start screaming around the middle of July and they disappear around the beginning of September. During this period, you can't really escape from the deafening chorus of their love songs. As long as there are some trees, you can find them on the trunks of the trees.

It said they spend several years underground as larvae and they pop out from the earth in a relatively dry summer evening. You can find their larvae slowly climbing the trunks of nearby trees. Once they have found a nice and stable position, they start the metamorphosis. Their wings are soft, thick and opaque at first, but becomes harder, thinner and clearer as they are dried overnight. Next morning they fly somewhere. However, they are allowed to live their life as a mature form only for a week or so. Therefore, they shout and scream their love songs as aloud as possible.

Normally, cicadas only sing during daylight. However, these days busy cities are brightly illuminated even at night, so that some confused cicadas scream at night as well.

There are a number of cicada species in Japan. Each has a different song. (Source: Cicadas in Japan, http://lang-8.com/odon/journals/1034412/)

Behind my house is a stream lined with cherry trees. The spring brings beautiful sakura (cherry blossoms) while the summer brings the wall of sound of the semi. Until one gets used to it, it could drive one mad. Or inspire poetry, stories, movies and manga as it has done in Japan.

Another point here is the emphasis on sound. A good visual anthropologist/filmmaker knows the importance of a good microphone in the field and the challenge of mixing sound in the editing booth. Sound is especially important in contemporary and experimental visual anthropology. One example of this is the work of Amanda Belantara, 耳がきゅっとなる ("Ears Are Dazzled, Touched by Sound"). She describes the project as follows:

A collective exploration of the sounds that surround us, this film features sounds and images inspired by sound diaries kept by local people in Yamaguchi, Japan. An intriguing portrait of the invisible, the film’s unconventional style attempts to reveal the magical quality of sounds that lies hidden in the everyday.

Of course the semi-sound is not hidden at all. There are a number of interesting websites dealing with semi. Here are a couple:

Japanese Cicadae Homepage: http://homepage2.nifty.com/saisho/Zikade-e.html

Singing, ticking timebombs – 5 facts about the special significance of cicadas in Japan: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/08/11/singing-ticking-timebombs-5-facts-about-the-special-significance-of-cicadas-in-japan/

There was another excellent article about the connection between semi and notions of the Japanese seasons by cultural anthropologist/naturalist Kevin Short; unfortunately the source, The Japan News, has removed it... Anyway, articles, webpages and videos don't do justice to the sound. One must experience the hot, humid and noisy Japanese summer to fully appreciate it. But we visual anthropologists still try to share the experience...