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Show HN: Yamanote.fun – A complete soundscape for Tokyo's Yamanote line

yamanote.fun

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Re: Show HN: Yamanote.fun – A complete soundscape for Tokyo's Yamanote line

#11

Post by AlexAplin »

JR East is already in the process of eliminating departure melodies as they transition to one-man station operations, so these will unfortunately be gone sooner than later. The Nambu and Joban lines got rid of them last year and it looks like the Yamanote is scheduled for them to be gone by 2030 [1].

I'm sure they can figure out a way to trigger custom melodies with RFID or similar eventually. Keikyu figured out how to recreate their departure boards [2]. JR might be less willing to come up with something immediately given the optics around automating someone out of a job.

[1] https://japantoday.com/category/features/travel/jr-east-axes...

[2] https://soranews24.com/2026/07/04/japanese-train-company-bri...

Re: Show HN: Yamanote.fun – A complete soundscape for Tokyo's Yamanote line

#13

Post by big_toast »

AlexAplin wrote: post #11

JR East is already in the process of eliminating departure melodies as they transition to one-man station operations, so these will unfortunately be gone sooner than later. The Nambu and Joban lines got rid of them last year and it looks like the Yamanote is scheduled for them to be gone by 2030 [1]. I'm sure they can figure out a way to trigger custom melodies with RFID or similar eventually. Keikyu figured out how…

"trains on the Nambu Line have been operated by a team of two staff members, a driver up front and a conductor in the back [...] It turns out that in order to play the station-specific departure melodies, someone has to press an actual button located on the platform, and this has been part of the conductor’s responsibilities"

Ha, thank you for surfacing this.

Re: Show HN: Yamanote.fun – A complete soundscape for Tokyo's Yamanote line

#15

Post by Zee2 »

gmurphy wrote: post #5

This is lovely - I used to use YouTube recordings of Yamanote line trips as a way to fall asleep. As a small bit of feedback - from the sleep perspective, the melodies and door chimes seem quite loud and frequent - would love an even more "backgroundy" version where the ambient travel sections are longer, and those chimes and melodies are quieter. Perhaps even with masking of human noises.

+1 on this - would love to have a more realistic timing mode where there are a few minutes of ambiance for travel sections in between station arrivals.

Re: Show HN: Yamanote.fun – A complete soundscape for Tokyo's Yamanote line

#17

Post by bschwindHN »

AlexAplin wrote: post #11

JR East is already in the process of eliminating departure melodies as they transition to one-man station operations, so these will unfortunately be gone sooner than later. The Nambu and Joban lines got rid of them last year and it looks like the Yamanote is scheduled for them to be gone by 2030 [1]. I'm sure they can figure out a way to trigger custom melodies with RFID or similar eventually. Keikyu figured out how…

I hope they can find a way to keep them, it would certainly garner a lot of goodwill. Not like people will stop taking their trains because the melodies are gone, though...

For the digital flipboard on the Keikyu line, it's nice they did it, but I wish they would add a bit more perspective to the flippy parts. Right now it looks like a horizontal scanline just moving down the signs to reveal the next station name underneath.

Re: Show HN: Yamanote.fun – A complete soundscape for Tokyo's Yamanote line

#18

Post by a34729t »

big_toast wrote: post #13
AlexAplin wrote: post #11

JR East is already in the process of eliminating departure melodies as they transition to one-man station operations, so these will unfortunately be gone sooner than later. The Nambu and Joban lines got rid of them last year and it looks like the Yamanote is scheduled for them to be gone by 2030 [1]. I'm sure they can figure out a way to trigger custom melodies with RFID or similar eventually. Keikyu figured out how…

"trains on the Nambu Line have been operated by a team of two staff members, a driver up front and a conductor in the back [...] It turns out that in order to play the station-specific departure melodies, someone has to press an actual button located on the platform, and this has been part of the conductor’s responsibilities" Ha, thank you for surfacing this.

I want to retire and have this be my job

Re: Show HN: Yamanote.fun – A complete soundscape for Tokyo's Yamanote line

#19

Post by mc3301 »

a34729t wrote: post #18
big_toast wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"trains on the Nambu Line have been operated by a team of two staff members, a driver up front and a conductor in the back [...] It turns out that in order to play the station-specific departure melodies, someone has to press an actual button located on the platform, and this has been part of the conductor’s responsibilities" Ha, thank you for surfacing this.

I want to retire and have this be my job

They might be able to find a few retired-aged people locally, should they keep the non-automated version.
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