JR Station Melodies (Yamanote)

[SuperMarrio]

Hello all! I am new to the forums and found you due to some very intensive web searching I have been doing.

Last week, I returned from a week-long visit to Japan (specifically Yokohama) to see my girlfriend, who is doing a study abroad program there. This was not only my first visit to Japan, but it was also my first trip out of the US.

I enjoyed myself enormously and cannot wait to return in the future sometime.

While on vacation, my girlfriend and I primarily used the JR line to get around, and most of the time, it was the Yamanote line. Over the course of my visit, I became obsessed with the melodies or jingles that play when a train is approaching and when it is boarding.
I need to find these short songs in a recordable form. Extensive web browsing has been a fruitless search, and one such query led me to these boards.

Do any of you guys know where I can find them? I would greatly appreciate any help, as these things don't seem to garner enough attention online.

Thanks in advance!

 

[okaeri_man]

hmm, they are kind of catchy aren't they. i think it will be hard finding them online (as you've found). have you considered asking the station master if you can have a copy?

 

[epigene]

Hope you can read Japanese at least a little. There are MIDI files for most Yamanote line stations here.

http://www.japan-railways.com/yatej.htm

 

[okaeri_man]

well there you go. still, i can't find the tune on there that i'm used to...

 

[epigene]

Hi okaeri_man,

When was the last time you heard the tunes? Music appears to be changed for some stations, as explained on the website. It says there that the music for Shibuya station has been changed during the last couple of years. Click the 旧渋谷 button to hear the old tune. (I only know Shinjuku, because I ride private railways most of the time.)

 

[SuperMarrio]

Hey WOW! Thanks Epigene! You rock!

 

[okaeri_man]

i was in okayama when i was in japan. i was under the impression the tune was for pretty much the whole area, but i can't seem to find it. it was a few years ago i suppose, so it could have changed.

 

[Flashjeff]

Give this site a try, Marrio! I used it for my trip to Japan in 2003! It lists all the lines for JR East (including the Yamanote), pictures of the stations, and the melodies, AND it's in English! I think you'll like it!

http://hisaai-hp.hp.infoseek.co.jp/JREast/index_eg.html

 

[SuperMarrio]

FLASHJEFF!!! You are officially the winner of this post. I bow to your greatness! Every single melody I remember is there! I love it!
Thank you so much!

 

[Flashjeff]

The pleasure was all mine, Marrio! Glad to have been of help! Happy listening!

 

[Apollo]

This site and the sound bring back memories! Great site, thanks for the link Flashjeff!
It is fun listening to these melodies!

 

[Brooker]

After living in Japan for a while those jingles started to wear on my sanity. Public places in Japan are so noisy. Not sure why you'd want to listen to those jingles over and over again, but I'm glad you were able to find them.

The worst is when you go to the supermarket and they're playing the sa-ka-na, sa-ka-na, sa-ka-nAAAAAA song over and over again, but playing it in different sections of the the store at different points in the song and in different keys. My god, the insanity! I always found myself glabbing items as quickly as possible and running franticly out of the store before my brains exploded.

 

[Flashjeff]

This site and the sound bring back memories! Great site, thanks for the link Flashjeff!
It is fun listening to these melodies!

Glad you liked them, Miss A! When I was in Japan last year, I rode the trains a lot and found the station melodies to be really neat!

 

[citizensmith]

Here's another train related sound FX site.

http://ori.oc.to/index.htm

This one is all in Japanese, but if you click the ATOS link and explore from there, you are sure to find some familiar train jingles. Most of them are really clear MP3's. I've no idea how he managed to get such clear recordings.

I used to have the "train approaching" jingle playing as the startup sound for my computer until it drove me insane.

 

[Fantt]

I can't find the jingles on that page. Everything I've clicked on so far is just station announcements...

 

[citizensmith]

Departure melodies are here

http://ori.oc.to/line/index.htm

Sorry about that. The ATOS link is for train approach announcements

Its ordered by line name, then station name, then platform number.
Eventually you'll find the departure melody for just about every station in Tokyo!

 

[SuperMarrio]

citizensmith- thanks for the link. Making a ringtone out of some of there for my Wife as a surprise (specifically Totsuka)!
She will love it.

I know it's been years since I last posted, but I eventually remembered to collect these sounds!

 

[fireBlaze_YT]

I've tried every single link. Is it just for me, or does anyone else also seem to get Error 404 or URL Typo Errors?

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I've tried every single link. Is it just for me, or does anyone else also seem to get Error 404 or URL Typo Errors?

If you look at the date of those posts , the links are 20 years old so not a surprise they don't work.

 

[Toritoribe]

Japan Railway.com is still available. It doesn't contain Yamanote line stations' MIDI files anymore, though.

Musical Boxes in the trains

MIDI files performed before guide announcement in the train.

www.japan-railways.com

 

[Majestic]

Wow, I wonder how @SuperMarrio is doing. Nearly 20 years since he first posted.

 

[thomas]

FYI: I have updated the links in this thread via Wayback Machine. However, I am unsure whether they archived the sound files (they sometimes do).

 

[fireBlaze_YT]

hmm, they are kind of catchy aren't they. i think it will be hard finding them online (as you've found). have you considered asking the station master if you can have a copy?

Wait, you can do that..?
I never knew that.

 

[Lothor]

Does this help?
Some of them are out of date on the video. Ikebukuro station now plays the (new) tune of the Bic Camera department store.