My top 5 favourite Japanese sounds

1. Number one is unbeatable and hard to miss. It comes in as many varieties as there are Japanese. What I’m talking about is the [ääääääh]-sound, a conversation filler like [uhmm, aha] and the like. It’s at its best when exclaimed after someone has said something surprising and especially when it comes from a girl – then the [ääääääh] can be very high pitched. (To continue my course in Swedish sounds for you English speakers, ä sounds like the vocals in hair. Or at least it was the best I could come up with right know, anyone who has a better suggestion?)

2. The sound lorries make when they reverse and turn. It’s the voice of a girl and I guess she’s saying something like “sorry for being in the way and please watch out”, together with an extremely silly beeping sound. Ambulances also have the same type of sound, saying they’re sorry that they’re in the way. Maybe it’s inappropriate to say it’s hilarious, but it really is. Hearing this sound always puts a smile on my face.

3. The drunken, mumbly sound bus drivers make once in a while. It sound like: [Hasch, hasch… maschimasch… haschi, haschi… maschi]. I don’t have a clue what it means, but I sure like it.

4. A Japanese conversation, and especially when someone is explaining something to someone else. I like the rhythm of the language. I just wish I could understand it.

5. The ear-piercing sound you hear when entering a pachinko parlour (a pachinko resembles an upright pinball game and the parlours are filled with rows of them, and usually they also have a wide variety of video games). The sound is unbelievable, it’s loud and it’s chaotic and I can’t believe people spend hours in there. I wonder if there are any studies of the risk of developing tinnitus in a pachinko parlour?