Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I have noticed that for some reason, simple melodies play a bigger part of Japanese daily interactive life, especially to do with transport and retail settings. Search for a story about how every JR station in Tokyo has its own special theme melody for when the train doors close?

Also, side story, I remember there was some road in Nevada or maybe near Sacramento (?) where GM (?) sponsored a melody road with the lines cut in the pavement. The song was the Lone Ranger (William Tell). However, maybe it was just me being a stickler, but I felt it was horribly out of tune when I heard the video. I think they got the spacing of the lines wrong.



You got it, here’s the road and why it sounds so rough: https://youtu.be/Ef93WmlEho0


The station jingles in Japan can have quite a deep meaning in Japan - for example the Shin Imamiya Station plays a part from Dvoraks 9th symphony - "From the New World". Coming from Czech Republic we recognized the melody immediately & knew what was going on - the station is very close to the famous Shin Sekai or "New World" district of Osaka. A really nice touch. :)


Wikipedia claims there are over 30 melody roads in Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_road#Japan Here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_xvfZUqAtg


Also, another front page story now has several commenters posting about Japanese rice cookers playing twinkle twinkle




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2026 batch! Applications are open till July 27.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: