Beloved station melodies fade as East Japan Railway pursues cost cuts
The distinctive melodies that have long marked train departures across East Japan Railway Co.'s network are steadily falling silent, as the company accelerates a shift toward one-man operations and modernized equipment.
For many passengers and communities, the change signals the fading of a small but cherished piece of railway culture.
In the Tokyo metropolitan area, JR East's station departure melodies -- once triggered by conductors on the platform -- have been discontinued at a growing number of stations.
The move is largely tied to the elimination of conductor roles under one-man operation and to upgrades in broadcasting systems. Even on regional lines, where the melodies have remained relatively common, their future is uncertain.
"They won't be around forever," a JR East executive said.
Like 20 years ago I dated the woman who was the voice artist who did the JR East announcement recordings at the time.
At some point she started thinking it was funny while we were being intimate to shift into that JR announcer voice and say things like 「まもなく、膣内行きが参ります。黒色毛の内側まで下がってお待ちください」or 「急中出します。ご注意ください。」or if she wasn't quite in the mood yet 「駆け込みエッチはおやめください」or after finishing turn to me and say 「ご乗上ありがとうございます。」
She thought it was hilarious and would start laughing but it was kind of annoying but also funny so I had really mixed feelings about it.
Her voice was the one I heard in the trains still for several years after we broke up so I tried to take Keikyu and the Metro more often than JR because can you imagine hearing that same voice from your bed in your head every day on the commute? OMG
Holy shit that is literally legendary behaviour
But also f dude hearing your ex on commute must be roughhh buddy
It was actually pretty funny but she overdid it, pretty much all the time ha. She was lovely and it wasn't a bad breakup but just so weird to hear!
Oh--once she also broke out the voice when we were drinking at the Yurakucho Rose & Crown. When the waitress came with the order "まもなく、ラガー、ラガー 。お出口は、右側です。」and pointed to my side of the table for where the waitress should put it! The waitress and tables nearby allllll heard and recognized her voice which was pretty hilarious.
But why though? Why would the jingle have anything to do with how many operate the train?
Because the chimes are not automated, it requires a station staff member to manually play them when the appropriate train is arriving.
Could they be easily automated? Yes. Would it save money and make sense to automate it? Yes.
But this is 日本 🌈
Wait, is this true?
So you are saying that there is an actual human being annoyingly cutting off the baystars jingle at Kannai station and I actually do have an enemy out there somewhere?
There is a little man in a room playing a flute, a chime and a piano every time a train departs?
Then just automate them Ffs
Entshitification
Because automated chime sounds is an extra development cost.
I just think that is the excuse they use to avoid paying more and cheaping out.
Could this not be automated? I don’t get it. They’re so charming and it’s sad to see them go.
This. I’m surprised that more people aren’t surprised that it’s apparently not automated already lol.
No, it is physically impossible to automate chimes.
Don’t fact check me.
The issue is that the melodies weren’t ever recorded, they just had to hire people that could play them each time, and now they’re heading into retirement. Music also can’t be recorded, as we all know. And playing of said recording can’t be automated, that’s the devil’s deed.
/s (all of it)
This makes me very sad.
I feel like the human touch is at the core of every culture but especially Japan and we are moving towards every big city in the world feeling like a shitty optimized uniform place that is basically nowhere tied to no culture
of all the things to cut, why this which sparks so much joy? is this passive aggressive fundraising
This is deeply saddening. Those small melodies might seem "trivial" to an exec, but to the commuters it's a tiny spark of joy that also helped make the travel a bit less samey :(
Enshittification comes for us all
Enshittification comes for us all...
It's worldwide
Capitalism min-max =\ How many times do we lose mundane improvements to dry budgets?
This makes me want to cry
Crazy. This is such a unique part of the train culture here. Sad to see so much of the train station personality disappear. If enough people protest it, they will find a solution...but this is Japan. People will just accept its "fate".
Wait, how am I going to know how much time I have left to make it onto the train??
The melodies going away, Saga arcades closing the Japan we cherished is disappearing. Why don’t they just make new tones?
*Sega, but a lot of stuff is closing in Saga too lol
Damn I really liked them, honestly the jingles were one of my favourite surprises when I first visited. Sad to see them being a victim of global enshitification as well :(
right after increasing fare price
If they started a gofundme i think enough overseas weebs would help cover the cost for a hundred years
The same JR that made record profits last year?
JR East: Reported a consolidated operating revenue of ¥715.3 billion in Q1 2025, a 4.2% year-over-year increase, with net income rising by ¥5.3 billion over the same period. Full-year revenue for FY2025 is expected to rise to approximately ¥2.89 trillion, up from ¥2.73 trillion.
Comeon dont cut this
This is extremely disappointing. I thought I was sad when the Yamanote Line jingles were changed, but this is far worse. I hope they end up keeping them. It’s an inseparable part of the Tokyo experience. It’s something I always mention to anyone before they visit.
Everything that made the train ride experience authentic is slowly fading away and disappearing.
The enshittification of absolutely everything proceeds apace.
why are they going away? the premise doesn't really make sense.
just because it was triggered by a conductor doesn't mean it has to be. like, a self driving train still knows where it is and should be able to automatically play the per station jingle.
hopefully this turns out like donpen and they realize phasing it out is a terrible idea and backtrack.
The enshittification continues.
Bring back JNR.
https://youtu.be/nSG5IkRA9BE?si=fdhTZXb-VEv5GZuw
This keeps getting reported but the key here is 'the station now uses a standardized melody shared across multiple locations.'
My own station switched from a unique melody to a standard one last month. I think that's the direction JR East is going.
Perhaps someone has evidence of a station truly silent with no melodies.
Myogadani station, not on JR, stopped playing any melody since last year or two years ago, it's only mildly bothersome, when you don't know if the doors of the train are about to close.