Train departure melodies played at stations in Japan.

[tom73]

Psychological studies found that buzzers and bells irritated passengers so these abrupt noises are being replaced with pleasant little 7-second melodies.
Of course there have been complaints from those living close to open air stations hearing the same jingle over and over again from early morning until late night.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They seem a bit too long - the likes of the SNCF jingle are in my view a bit better.

 

[yoyothehobo]

I dont know, when I was in Japan a couple of weeks ago i rather enjoyed the varied melodies. Although pretty much everything has a bell of some sort over there, the most annoying be the 2 tone noise a lot of random things seemed to make.

The Ekimelo (as i think they are known) were much better than the piped bird noises they had at some stations!

 

[WideRanger]

Bear in mind that one of the main purposes of these is to act as the signal that the train is about the depart - on JR is starts when the guard presses a button at the end of the platform, and normally the guard will close the doors at the end of the melody. So in some ways, it serves a similar purpose as the door closing sounds on UK trains.

My favourite is at Ebisu station on the Yamanote line. It references the music that has been the brand melody for Ebisu beer for decades, which comes from the same area. It's the theme melody from 'The Third Man'.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Psychological studies found that buzzers and bells irritated passengers so these abrupt noises are being replaced with pleasant little 7-second melodies.
Of course there have been complaints from those living close to open air stations hearing the same jingle over and over again from early morning until late night.

Some sound like mobile telephone ring tones etc.

 

[route101]

In Tokyo , is it not the case that ever station has a unique melody .

 

[WideRanger]

In Tokyo , is it not the case that ever station has a unique melody .

No. Many of the flagship stations do, but not all.