He even designed a life-sized mock-up of a train conductor's compartment - complete with control panel - that occupies pride of place in his office. The game was so realistic that train operators around the country started asking Mukaiya to design something similar to teach their conductors and drivers. Two decades later, he released one of the world's first train simulator video games for fellow enthusiasts, amassing a huge following and nabbing the attention of industry stalwarts like PlayStation. "I thought that this is a kind of science fiction world," he said. His interest in railways was first kindled as an eight-year-old when Japan's first ever Shinkansen bullet train glided into Tokyo Station a week before the 1964 Olympics. The jingles have allowed Mukaiya to combine his two passions, music and trains. One of the distinguishing features of Mukaiya's work is that the individual tunes at each station along a line can be combined to form a coherent song. The station at Takadanobaba, the home to popular anime series Astro Boy, pays homage to the cartoon with a jingle version of the show's theme tune.Īnd Osaka station features a soundbite of "I guess I really do love you", one of the region's most famous songs. ![]() needs to make it feel like the mountain train." But now the Toyoko line has moved to the subway, and the journey from Shibuya to the next station is a very steep slope," he says. "The Toyoko line used to be up the stairs on a very high level. The rapturous crescendo and rising pitch in Shibuya station's departure song, on the other hand, is a nod to the train's uphill journey to the next platform. In Japan's ancient capital Kyoto, "we have a deep respect for culture, so the song sounds more respectful of Japanese culture," he explained, sandwiched between musical instruments and computer screens. The songs are capped at seven seconds - the "dwell time" train operators have to cram people into packed commuter trains and still, famously, run on time.Ī spokesman for the JR East train company told AFP they were introduced "to prevent passengers from dashing onto the train".īut despite the short timeframe, Mukaiya says that each ditty packs in a story. "Hassha Merodii" started when train operators were looking for ways to make their stations stand out and came up with the idea of a catchy jingle. ![]() It warms them up" after a hard commute to the office, Mukaiya told AFP in an interview in his music room. He has more than 34,000 Twitter followers, performs the ditties at concerts to thousands of screaming fans and is now banned from playing at Ginza station - the epicentre of Tokyo swank - after a live show there sparked pandemonium.įans tell him the music is "good for their health, for their work, for walking. Nevertheless, Mukaiya's work has attracted a cult following. "Hassha Merodii" is so common now in Japan that locals are unfazed when the sharp twang of an electronic keyboard or an organ's trill spills out of a loudspeaker but tourists are often thrilled. "170? What? I wrote 170," he says, exploding with laughter.
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