Music in the Daily Life of Japanese People

Music is embedded in Japanese child-adult communication as a part of their daily lives. Babies are sung lullabies and occasionally caregivers create songs and chants for children in an improvisational manner. Children are also surrounded by various nursery rhymes and traditional folk songs called warabeuta. Many warabeuta contain very simple imitation and/or call-and-response sections in a narrow range of pitches. Similar to warabeuta, in Japan, for example, kindergarten teachers often call a child’s name with a musical chant daily. For example, “Nene-chan” (la-so-la) is used to call a female child’s name, so that the child will answer “Ha-a-i” (la-so-la) which means “Yes” Another example is found in kakurendbo, a popular version of hide-and-seek.

During the game, the seeker asks the one who is hiding, “Mo-ii-kai” (fa-la-so), so that the person who is already hiding answers “Mo-ii-yo” (fa-la-so) to indicate that they are ready to play. The pattern is very popular among Japanese people and is often played through the hand clapping of all attendees at various sorts of events. It is usually called sansannanabyoshi, meaning three-three-seven rhythmic pattern. It is especially popular for school children because it is always used to cheer sports activities at schools and in communities (Ishigami, 2018). The pattern is often performed independently by a team’s cheering section, again, through hand clapping (Ishigami, 2016).

Japanese youths are drawn to a variety of popular musics. Most listen to Japanese popular music, “J-pop,” which is created by young artists and amateur musicians. Recently, many young people have begun to enthusiastically embrace the Korean popular music known as “K-pop.” Moreover, many Japanese young people listen to anime songs that use vocaloid (a modern singing synthesizer) partnered with visual images. Nearly all populations of Japan listen to music, a large number perform music, and some even compose.

The Japanese calendar is full of celebrations marked by matsuri, the carnivals of Japan. These events are an expression of culture and always feature music consisting of the use of voices or singing, playing instruments, and dancing. For example, there is a famous carnival called Awaordori in Tokushima in Shikoku Island. Awa is the former name for Tokushima Prefecture, and odori simply means dance. In early August every year, in Tokushima, dancers and audiences come to gather in the thousands to participate and watch this dance, which dates back 400 years in the area.

The nickname comes from the lyrics to a common dance song, which translates as follows: “Fools dance and fools watch; if both are fools, you might as well dance.” The groups dance through designated spectator areas in a procession, playing traditional musical instruments called narimono. In the Taisho period, even the violin was considered a part of narimono along with Japanese traditional instruments.