Earthquakes are the movement of the Earth’s surface, as activated by its sudden vibrations, and the sound of the Earth. In other words, sound is telling us that the Earth itself is an active “living organism” filled with hot magma that may shift to create earthquakes. Earthquakes are among the natural disasters that occur often in monsoon Asia. In particular, Japan experiences many earthquakes. We who live in Japan have come to recognize this fact, and are more conscious of our land being located on large active faults that run under the ground. A mega-quake occurred off the coast of Sanriku on March 11, 2011. The resulting tsunami wiped out many cities and communities along the Sanriku coast, with estimates of nearly 19,000 people who disappeared or were killed. The disaster also triggered a nuclear plant accident and subsequent events; consequently we have a renewed awareness that our soundscape is in essence a global composition, a work tuned through the providence of nature. As such we feel the importance of the now nearly-forgotten culture of those who had co-existed with nature, sharing soundscapes within their environment. At the same time, we also feel it is important to carry out research and recordings on our everyday life.
Keiko Torigoe (Wed,) studied this question.