The Japanese Society for Aesthetics

Aesthetics No. 23-24 (2021): 60-75

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan:
The techniques and joy of sound recording *KANEKO Tomotaro
Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo

Introduction
In 1974, a recording engineer, Yoichi Namekata described the trend of “Namaroku” asfollows:
Namaroku─It is simply just an abbreviation of Nama-Rokuon [Iive-recording],
and there isn’t any other proper expression for it so far. The recordings of naturalsound in the field or musical performance in a studio are called namaroku to
distinguish them from the dubbing of FM radio, records, and tapes. If you call themSE (sound effects), it has too broad a sense, and if you call them a documentary, itsounds somehow too formal and strained. Only Namaroku comes to my mind if I
casually say “let’s go out and record sounds.” […]The number of field recording fans is said to be rapidly increasing these days. I
was dubious about that until I actually went to find out and was surprised by theunexpected rush of people when I arrived at a recording scene. It wasn’t quite half ofthe photography maniacs there but certainly more than a quarter of them that also
carried a sound recorder. There was a group of three or four people who concentrated
on sound recording fully armed with a boom stand, mixer, and sound collector. But
there were also people casually holding a recorder for studying.1
The Namaroku trend continued through the 1970s as an activity for enjoying therecording not only of music, but also various sounds from steam locomotives, nature, andevents, among others [Fig.1]. Namaroku was featured in articles in both specialist andgeneralist magazines, and numerous Namaroku guidebooks were published. There were sound* This paper is based on the Japanese version printed in Kallista, no.23, 1016, pp.84-107, published by
Association for Aesthetics and Art Theory. The original Japanese version was based on my oral presentation, “Thediscourses on Namaroku in 1970s Japan” in the 66th national conference of Japanese Society for Aesthetics(October 10, 2015, at Waseda University). I would like to thank Masanori Kimizuka, Genji Ogawa, and Akira
Murota for invaluable suggestions.
1
Yoichi Namekata, “Kieyuku Jokikikansha: C-11 wo otte [Fading Steam Locomotives: In chase of C-11],”in Bessatsu FM Fan: Tokushu Rokuon no Sekai [FM Fan Special Issue: Featuring The World of Sound Recording],
1974, p.71.

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan

61

recording devices for Namaroku, Namaroku contests, magazines, and a radio program towhich listeners contributed recordings.

Fig.1 The snapshots of a traveling recording of Oigawa Railway SL, organized by Rokuhan, andsupported by Victor Company of Japan. Rokuhan, no.9, 1976, pp.12-13.

Recently, the concept of “aurality” has been discussed in an interdisciplinary field called“sound studies.” In contrast to the “visuality” discussed in visual culture theories, aurality
denotes modes of listening that are historically and culturally constructed. Before this word
became common, a number of studies of the history of listening in Japan were undertakenfrom varying approaches, such as musicology, soundscape theory, and sound media theory. A
central element of research into modern aurality has also been the question of the relationshipbetween sound technology and listening. For example, the history of methodologies to produce
spatiality in sound recordings has been discussed in the context of research on studio work inmusic.2 Jonathan Sterne examined documents from laboratories and open experiments fromthe rise of sound reproduction technology to trace the construction of the concept of fidelity insound reproduction through collaborations between humans and technology.3
This paper considers Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan as a contribution to research
examining aurality through sound recording. Although Namaroku culture emerged a century
after the birth of sound recording, it represented the first experience of enjoying sound2

Cf. Fumikazu Taniguchi organized the related arguments introducing researches since the 1990s in“Record ongaku ga motarasu kukan: Oto no media hyogenron [Space of record music: The theory of media
expression]” (in Ratio Special Issue: Shiso toshite no Ongaku [Ratio Special Issue: Music as Thought], 2010,
pp.240-265).
3
Jonathan Sterne, The Audible Past: Cultural Origine of Sound Reproduction, Durham: Duke University
Press, 2003, chap.5.

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62

recording for many Japanese at the time, particularly younger people. Specialists offered
arguments for beginners on how to use recording devices and on defining sound recording andunderstanding how people hear sounds. As Makoto Fujioka described the process, “problems
in sound recording won’t be solved completely only by technology. The heart of soundrecording is what you might call epistemology, a question of how we can understand sounds.”4
Based on such discourses, this paper considers how practitioners of Namaroku hear sounds
through sound recording devices.
The roles of audio makers, journalism, and sound media other than records and radio
were significant in popularizing the Namaroku trend. These elements were as impactful as
developments in sound recording technologies in influencing the mode of listening inNamaroku culture. To understand aurality at the time, it is necessary to examine theconnection between Namaroku and society through their roles. Using the words of Hiroshi
Watanabe, “looking into the condition of society and media, to regard diverse movements
around an event as problems of the relationship between several background contexts and theirdynamics” is indispensable to a proper consideration of the mode of listening in Namaroku.5
For example, Sterne studied how the collaboration between sound reproduction technology
and human beings was influenced by the society of the same period, highlighting the impact of
capitalism, bureaucracy, and a culture called “the ethos of preservation.”6 Therefore, thispaper begins by investigating the process and background of the Namaroku trend as a means
to understand its perspective and present the first comprehensive inquiry into this culture.
Previous research related to Namaroku includes a study on “Sound Hunting,” similar toNamaroku, in several Western countries. 7 David Morton, who traced the history of thetechnology and culture of sound recording in North America, mentioned field recordings andsound albums as cultures that emerged with the popularization of the tape recorder but soon
disappeared.8 Karin Bijsterveld described how practitioners in the Netherlands in the 1950s
and 1960s enjoyed sound recording like a sport, and that sounds associated with traditional
cultures were significant elements in the culture of sound hunting.9 Japanese Namaroku has
been discussed with regard to the history of sound technologies published by audio critics suchas Shuji Kasagi and Tetsuo Nagaoka, who identified Namaroku as an important or cyclical4

Makoto Fujioka, Jitsuyo Audio Koza 5: Oto no Hunt (Rokuon no Tanoshimi) [Practical Audio Course 5:
Sound Hunting (The Joy of Sound Recording)], Tokyo: Ongaku No Tomo Sha Corp, 1975, p.1.
5
Hiroshi Watanabe, Sound to Media no Bunkashigengaku: Kyokaisenjo no Ongaku [The Cultural Resources
Studies of Sound and Media: Music on a Borderline], Tokyo: Shunjusha Publishing Company, 2013, p.417.
6
Sterne, op.cit., chap.5, 6.
7
The comparison between Namaroku and Sound Hunting in detail is out of the scope of this paper. Both ofthem were basically cultures enjoying the recording of various sounds but became trends at different times.
Further, another difference is that the former mainly used a cassette whereas the latter an open reel.
8
David Morton, Off the Record: The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America, New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2000, pp.138-143.
9
Karin Bijsterveld “‘What do I do with my tape recorder…?’: Sound hunting and the sounds of everyday
Dutch life in the 1950s and 1960s” in Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, 24:4, 2004, pp.613-634.

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan63

phenomenon in the history of audio culture.10 Nyumon Audio Bunkaron: Human na Audio woMotomete [Introduction to Audio Culture Theory: Searching for a Human Audio], which was
published by Kasagi in 1976, was a particularly ambitious work that considered the history ofaudio beginning with the discovery of electricity and the influence of audio culture on othercultures.
This paper adds to the body of previous research by investigating audio journalism andnumerous Namaroku guidebooks as a means to examine Namaroku’s mode of listening oraurality. The term “audio journalism” is borrowed from Kasagi and Nagaoka.11 Kasagi used“audio journalism” as a generic term to describe technology magazines such as Musen to
Jikken [The Radio Experimenter’s Magazine], audio magazines like Stereo, FM magazines
such as FM Fan, and music magazines like Record Geijutsu [Record Art]. So-called audio
critics developed their arguments in the fields of these media, and discourses on Namaroku
were located mainly in these contexts.
This paper consists of three sections. The introduction notes the topics of each section inadvance. The first section outlines the history of tape-recording culture in Japan since the1950s and describes the emergence of the Namaroku trend as an extension of this process. The
second section examines discourses and criticisms associated with Namaroku at that time, tounderstand the background of this cultural phenomenon. The third section considers the modeof listening in Namaroku culture. Although music was recognized as an element of Namaroku,
as stated in this paper’s opening quote, in what follows I will address listening in the context
of field recording of actual sounds (genjitsuon).12 “Genjitsuon” denotes all real sounds except
for conversation and music. This paper focuses on such sounds because it is regarded as arepresentative practice of Namaroku. As Namekata argued, the popularity of Namaroku
increased rapidly after people began paying attention to “surrounding sounds except formusic.”13 Moreover, discourses on the recording of actual sounds tend to be more concernedwith the act of listening rather than the sources of the sounds due to the lack of the limitationof recording objects. It can be said that eliminating distractions deriving from music andconversation turns people’s attention from sound sources to listening. The third section
analyzes the discourses of contemporary specialists who explained Namaroku techniques as ameans to better understand the aurality of Namaroku culture. In conclusion, the paper reviews
arguments presented in the preceding sections and discusses the joy of sound recording and its
10

Shuji Kasagi, Nyumon Audio Bunkaron: Human na Audio wo Motomete [Introduction to Audio Culture
Theory: Searching for a Human Audio], Tokyo: Miosha, 1976, pp.32-41. Tetsuo Nagaoka, Nagaoka Tetsuo no
Nihon Audio Shi 1950-82 [Tesuo Nagaoka’s Japan Audio History 1950-82], Tokyo: Ongaku No Tomo Sha Corp,
1993, p.180. Cf. Yoshihisa Mori, Masanori Kimizuka, Toru Kamekawa, Onkyo Gijutsushi [History of Sound
Recording], Tokyo: Tokyo Geidai Press, 2011, pp.93-94.
11
Nagaoka, op.cit., p.48. Kasagi, op.cit., pp.67-93.
12
It is beyond question that the development of amateur home musical recording, so-called Takuroku, that isparallel with the recording of actual sounds in the field is quite an important movement in the history of popular
music. Yet, to question how the listening through sound recording devices was understood at the time, this essaychooses the recording of actual sounds in particular from Namaroku culture as a subject.
13
Namekata, op.cit., p.71.

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64

conditions at the time.

1. The Namaroku boom and the cultural history of tape recording until the 1970s
This section reviews the development of the Namaroku trend and locates Namaroku inthe cultural history of tape recording in Japan. The first tape recorder manufactured in Japan
was the “Tape Corder Type-G” released in 1950 by the predecessor of Sony Corporation,
Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo [Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation]. The portable
recorder “Type-M” released by Sony in 1951 was used in the broadcast scene and given the
nickname “Densuke” derived from the main character of a comic who gathered news in thestreet with the recorder. Later, the Sony “TC-2850SD,” a recorder released in 1973 thatsymbolized the Namaroku trend, succeeded to the nickname and was called the “Cassette
Densuke.”According to Hiroshi Watanabe, a documentary method called “rokuon kosei” [programs
composed of recorded voices] based on tape-recorded man-on-the-street interviews emerged
mainly in the radio scene in the 1950s.14 Then it was applied to documentary records and“sound reportage” in sonosheets like Asahi Sonorama as well as television. Meanwhile, trialsof new expressions through Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation’s taperecorders started in the 1950s in the context of contemporary music. For example, Jikken
Kobo [Experimental Workshop], a group formed by young avant-garde artists in various
genres, with Shuzo Takiguchi as its main member, presented a work using the reverse rotationof tape in their fifth presentation, in 1953, and gave a concert titled “Music Concrete andElectronic Music Audition” in 1956. However, only a few articles on Namaroku specificallymention rokuon kosei and Music Concrete, and references to particular methods and the namesof works and artists appear to have been rare in the Namaroku context. As will be explained in
the third section, one reason for this might be that instructions on the method of Namaroku
emphasized how to use a microphone rather than tape editing. It is necessary to consider thiscarefully in order to better understand the influence of the above-mentioned cultures on
Namaroku.
From here, let us shift the focus to more general audio users. Masahiro Ogi, a film critic
who judged Namaroku contests and published a number of works on audio, noted that soundrecording devices became widespread about five years later than audio playback.15 Aftermainly imported playback devices became popularized in the early 1950s, Akai and Sonyreleased low-priced domestic recorders in 1957. After the stereo boom emerged around 1960,
domestic makers released recorders one after another in 1964. The technology magazine
Musen to Jikken began holding a series of “tape recording contests” with no restrictions on the
14

Watanabe, op.cit., pp.474-478.
Masahiro Ogi, “ “Kiku” kara “Tsukuru” he: Namaroku toiu na no Sozo [From “listening” to “creation”:
Creation called Namaroku],” in Bessatsu FM Fan: Tokushu Rokuon no Sekai [FM Fan Special Issue: Featuring
The World of Sound Recording], 1974, pp.56-61.
15

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan65

object of recording in 1962. These contests were supported by TRK (Tape Recorder
Kenkyukai [Society for Tape Recorder Research]), a group promoting self-made taperecorders, and included entries that dealt with various actual sounds as well as music.
In the late 1960s, Japanese tape-recording culture came to be largely bisected. On the one
hand, Hi-Fi open reel recorders like “Tsutora sanpachi [2 tracks 38 centimeters]” became
popular for audiophiles. Although these devices were too heavy to be easily carried,
audiophiles would bring their own recorders to recording concerts organized by audio makers
and enjoy sound recordings that were largely limited to music [Fig.2].16 On the other hand,when the Philips cassette recorder was released in Japan in 1965, domestic makers reproduced
their own versions, and cheap easy-to-operate monaural recorders spread widely. However,these devices were often used in language study or making minutes rather than recording
music.

Fig.2 A recoding concert (The 6th Recording Concert organized by Shinko Electric Company).
Tape Sound, no.21, 1976, p.343.

Masahiro Ogi identified the early 1970s as the period when recording culture re-emerged
as a trend in Japan. This section traces the process of the trend’s emergence and the next
section examines the factors in its popularization. Rokuon no Subete [All about Sound
Recording], a book edited by Jun Okada and published in 1971, was a guidebook foraudiophiles who were interested in “the creation of new sound ‘by their own hands’.”17
Previous works on tape recorders had dealt mainly with recording devices and treated only
recordings of music and conversation; however, Okada’s volume spared chapters forrecordings of “documentary sounds,” “voices of birds,” and “sound effects” in addition to
16

About Recording Concert, cf. Nagaoka, op.cit., p.180.
Jun Okada, “A postface style preface,” in Rokuon no Subete, Jun Okada ed., Tokyo: Futoh-sha, 1971,
pp.164-165.
17

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66

music. A number of works explaining the recordings of diverse sound sources were published
one after another in 1973, including Amateur Rokuon Nyumon [Introduction to Amateur Sound
Recording], supervised by Shigeki Kato, Kimiyasu Kondo’s Darenidemo wakaru Rokuon no
Chishiki to Jissai [The Knowledge and Reality of Sound Recording for Everyone], and Stereo
Shukan FM Bessatsu: Rokuon no Subete [The Stereo, The Weekly FM Special Issue:
Expansion of the Recording World]. In the same year, the Sony “TC-2850SD” was released,
and an audio magazine, Tape Sound, featured field recording over two issues. Around thesame time, the term Namaroku began to appear frequently in audio journalism.
The number of Namaroku fans increased in the mid-1970s. Whereas there were only 206
entries for the “Audio Union Recording Contest” in 1974, entries for the “Sony Zen Nihon
Narmaroku Contest [Sony All Japan Namaroku Contest]” in 1976 reached 1147.18 Namaroku
was featured not only in audio journalism magazines, but also in general magazines and traveland comic magazines. A number of guidebooks were published, and those that contained
recordings of actual sounds increased. In 1975, publication began for Rokuhan, a magazinethat specialized in Namaroku and embodied its trends. The title was an abbreviation of“Rokuon Hunting [Recording Hunting].” The magazine included “Kyomei Kan [ResonanceHall],” a page for readers’ interactive communication that listed announcements of activities
of Namaroku clubs in each district. The above-mentioned “Sony Zen Nihon Namaroku
Contest” expanded the range of the Namaroku trend, as did the establishment of the Federationof All Japan Amateur Recording Associations (FJR), which was founded in 1976 and joined
the Fédération Internationale des Chasseurs de Sons (FICS, International Federation ofSoundhunters). That same year, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting began airing Sony Namaroku
Jockey, a radio program to which listeners contributed Namaroku recordings.
However, the Namaroku trend began to decline in the late 1970s. Although Rokuhan held
its “Rokuhan Tape Contest” annually since 1977, the entries decreased each year. The
magazine’s publication ceased in 1979, and the Sony Namaroku Jockey program ended in thesame year. Following that, there was no publication of the Namaroku guidebook. What factors
contributed to the decline of Namaroku? This paper cannot explore this question in detail;however, it is useful to consider the context surrounding the phenomenon. For example, thetransition of the article topics in Rokuhan is highly suggestive; in the magazine’s later issues, itappears that the readers’ interests had expanded into diverse electric devices and home musicalrecording activities, and the focus of its Namaroku contest entries shifted from documentary toelectronic sounds and drama made by more advanced editing. Similarly, the original subtitle ofthe magazine, “Namaroku Adventure,” was replaced in 1977 with a new moniker reflective of
this shift, “Sound Create Magazine.” The next section continues to examine the factors in the
decline of Namaroku.
This section traced the history of tape recording culture in Japan and located theNamaroku boon within this framework. By the early 1960s at the latest, general audio users
18

Ogi, op.cit., p.58.

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan67

were expressing interests in the recording of “actual” sounds. In the late 1960s, tape recording
culture became separated between Hi-Fi and Lo-Fi, followed shortly by the popularization of
the Namaroku phenomenon. The next section provides a detailed examination of how theNamaroku boom emerged from split tape-recording culture. The expansion of interest inrecording actual sounds can be traced to the early 1970s, contemporary with the appearance of
the Namaroku trend, which reached its apex in the mid-1970s before gradually dissipating in
the late 1970s.

2. The background of Namaroku culture: Discourses on the trend’s emergence
What was the situation surrounding sound recording culture in the 1970s when Namaroku
became a trend? To answer this question, this section will explore some events that werementioned previously as potential factors in the popularization of discourses on Namaroku. A
review of relevant writings shows that critics active during this period highlighted factors suchas an attitude of enjoying sound recording and the popularization of a culture of recording
actual sounds. The emergence of HiFi stereo cassette recorders, as represented by “TC2850SD,” was most frequently given as a reason. The sound quality of the cassette improved
with the spread of Dolby systems in 1971, leading to the release of relatively cheaper andhighly mobile HiFi stereo recording devices with significantly greater capabilities than earlier
recorders, which were either large, hard-to-operate, and Hi-Fi, or small, Lo-Fi, and monaural.
There was no question that these devices facilitated the popularization of the Namaroku trend.
However, the question is in what context were these devices produced and released as
Namaroku equipment?
The aircheck of the radio programs has been widely cited as predecessors of Namaroku,
and the influence of FM radio recording has often been mentioned. NHK (Japan Broadcasting
Corporation) began experimental stereo broadcasting in FM radio in 1962, and the firstpublication of FM Fan marked that publication as a focal point for the widespread interest in
airchecks. According to Kasagi, recording devices for airchecks drew attention at the Fifteenth
All Japan Audio Fair in 1966.19 The aircheck fan base rapidly increased in parallel withimprovements in the sound quality of cassette recorders. Namekata and Kasagi both noted thatairchecks allowed the public to participate in the practice of sound recording and opened apath to appreciating its joys.20 Although some critics elevated the dynamic creativity ofNamaroku above the more passive operations of airchecks, Kasagi emphasized theinnovativeness evidenced in aircheck culture’s exploration of favorite sounds.
As mentioned above, tape recording culture in the 1960s was split into Hi-Fi and Lo-Fi,
and it seemed that both the cultures had their own contributing factors in the popularization ofNamaroku. Audio magazines like Stereo and Stereo Sound took the lead in highlighting HiFi

19
20

Kasagi, op.cit., pp.22-23.
Namekata, op.cit., pp.72. Kasagi, op.cit., pp.12-13.

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68

recording culture from the 1960s, and critics who taught their readers about the difference
between good and bad audio became famous. For example, in citing major factors in the
spread of Namaroku, Ogi recounted the emergence of “star recording producers” such as audio
critics Shunsuke Wakabayashi and Okihiko Sugano.21 They both participated as judges in arecording concert and “Stereo Recording Contest” organized by Stereo Rinji Zoukan: TapeMusic [Stereo Special Issue: Tape Music] in 1969.
Documentary recording was also influential in directing audiophiles’ interest toward therecording of actual sound. Ogi devoted a chapter to “documentary recording” in his 1968 book,
Stereo: Kiku Hito no Soi to Yorokobi [Stereo: the Creativity and Joy of Listeners], in which hedefined it as “an exclusive territory of stereo.”22 Shigeki Kato proposed that one reason for the
popularization of recording actual sounds was that it “has different qualities of a sonic fieldfrom music like a natural expansion of and a feeling of movement in a sonic field. These
qualities drew new attention as program sources.”23
Meanwhile, in the case of LoFi recording culture, Kasagi emphasized the spread of theradio cassette recorders beginning around 1967.24 He described how some radio cassetterecorder owners who had purchased the devices for aircheck purposes started recording sounds
in their daily life, such as taking pictures, rather than recording concerts. After 1970, the yearthat Japanese National Railways launched their “Discover Japan” campaign, Kasagi reported
seeing travelers taking radio cassette recorders, listening to a radio or cassette, and recording
the sounds much like other tourists take photographs to document their journeys. Among thesound tourists, SL (steam lcocmotive) enthusiasts were the most dedicated to working withsounds and making trips solely for the purpose of recording. This was the middle of the “SLboom,” which had been stimulated by events like restarting the operation of the Koumi line in
1973.
It was in the above contexts that “Cassette Densuke” was released in the early 1970s. In
1973, Heitaro Nakajima reported that a survey on audio had found that demand for recording
singers’ voices, musical performances, and actual sounds was increasing.25 Nakajima also
noted that users of HiFi recording devices were demanding cheaper and easier-to-operate
devices, whereas fans of LoFi demanded higher sound quality. It can be argued that audiomakers released HiFi stereo cassette recorders to meet those demands. However, the audiomakers did more than meet consumer demands; they also embarked on marketing campaigns
to further increase public interest in sound recording.
Genji Ogawa, who directed the marketing of “TC-2850SD,” documented the sales
21

Ogi, op.cit., p.60.
Masahiro Ogi, Stereo: Kiku Hito no Soi to Yorokobi [Stereo: the Creativity and Joy of Listeners], Tokyo:
The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd, 1968, p.124.
23
Shigeki Kato, Yoshiyuki Ishida, Yoichi Namekata, Amateur Rokuon Nyumon [Introduction to Amateur
Recording], Tokyo: Radio-Craft Company, 1973, p.97.
24
Kasagi, op.cit., pp.32-36.
25
Heitaro Nakajima, Audio ni Tsuyokunaru: Atarashii Oto no Sozu [Let’s become skilled in Sound
Recording: Creation of New Sound], Tokyo: Kodansha LTD., 1973, p.226.
22

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan69

strategy for that product in detail.26 He reported that Sony “did not only introduce “Densuke”[…] but also decided to emphasize the live recording as a software.” In order to do so, it
organized a location recording in Africa and placed the resulting recordings and photographs
in the center of the advertisement. Sony distributed demo tapes to retailers and published aguidebook to make the joy of Namaroku known to the public. It also organized Namaroku
tours for enthusiasts and provided related accessories like mixers and parabolic soundcollectors to further promote Namaroku culture itself. Later, Sony sponsored special contests
such as the aforementioned “Sony Zen Nihon Namaroku Contest” and Sony Namaroku Jockey,
among others, to expand the market beyond the field of audiophiles. Indeed, it is impossible tounderstand the popularity of Namaroku in the 1970s without a consideration of the strategies
of audio makers.
The sales strategy of “TC-2850SD” was twofold.27 The pamphlet accompanying thedevice had two headings, namely “INDOOR” and “OUTDOOR,” to which was appended suchsuggestions as “first, please examine it thoroughly as a Hi-Fi cassette deck,” or “deck machine
jumps out into the field.” Under a heading titled “We recommend this for,” was a list that
identified potential users as those “who use this as stereo cassette decks in a room” and “whowant to stereo-record natural sounds in the field.” In describing the popularity of this device,
Kasagi explained that “young people who wanted to have a cassette deck paid attention to it
because they can use it both as a deck and Densuke.”28 Therefore, it can be inferred that anincrease in the population of consumers who wanted a Hi-Fi cassette deck for playback was asignificant factor contributing to the Namaroku boom. The price of the “TC-2850SD” wasclose to a new employee’s starting salary. Thus, this device appears to have been marketed as
a component of personal Hi-Fi stereo ownership by younger, single people rather than families.
Thus far, this section has considered some factors contributing to the emergence of theNamaroku trend as a means of understanding its cultural background. The popularization ofradio airchecks in the 1960s made sound recordings more familiar to ordinary people, after
which audio journalism and documentary recordings led Hi-Fi recording culture. Then, theemergence of radio cassette recorders activated Lo-Fi recording culture, which was also
impacted by expanding travel and the SL boom. Finally, the introduction of the HiFi stereo
cassette recorder in the early 1970s solidified the Namaroku trend. Audio makers that
supported the trend considered Namaroku as a useful vehicle for expanding their market
beyond audiophiles. In addition, it can be supposed that the marketing strategy for HiFi
cassette recorders was related to the personalization of audio consumers.
To end this section, we can briefly examine some factors in the decline of Namaroku, themarkers of which were outlined in the preceding section. In discussing the decline of Sound

26

Genji Ogawa, “Namaroku boom no tateyakusya, “Cassette Densuke” [The leading figure of Namaroku
boom, “Cassette Densuke”]” in Sendenkaigi Special Issue, no.8, 1974, pp.102-105.
27
From the interview with Masanori Kimizuka and Genji Ogawa by the author [September 15, 2015:
Tokyo].
28
Kasagi, op.cit., p37.

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70

Hunting in the Netherlands, Bijsterveld referred to the concept of remediation proposed by Jay
David Bolter and Richard Grusin.29 It indicates that successful new media absorb the uses ofpast media. Thus, Bijsterveld notes that while a tape recorder came to be used like a record,
the practices of using it like a photograph or letter came to fail eventually because of thetransition of cultures at the time. We can see a similar pattern in the eventual fading of theNamaroku trend in Japan.
In the case of Namaroku, it seems more remarkable that subsequent media took its placethan that it failed to absorb previous media. A review of the later issues of Rokuhan andNamaroku guidebooks of the same period clarifies that new media and tools replaced the joyof Namaroku with a tape recorder. From the late 1970s to the 1980s, the tape recorder’sfunction as a musical medium was usurped by the CD and mini-component, home video took
its place as a documentary medium of daily life, synthesizers and multitrack recorders
superseded it as tools for sonic creation, and the Walkman displaced it as a medium forenjoying sounds in the field. Such transitions of media can be considered as major factors in
the decline of the Namaroku trend.

3. The phonography of Namaroku: How a microphone captures the reality
Up to now, this paper has explored the development and background of Namaroku
culture as a means to create a perspective on this phenomenon. It is necessary to regard theculture “as problems of the relationship between several background contexts and theirdynamics.” Based on the above discussion, this section will proceed to an examination of themode of listening in Namaroku, which is the main aim of this paper. In order to do so, it will
analyze the contemporary discourses of specialists’ instructions on Namaroku techniques, or
its “phonography.” According to Fujioka, phonography includes not only the knowledge of
how to operate sound recording devices, but also the understanding of sounds. Therefore, howsounds and listening were understood in Namaroku and how this perspective connected to its
development and background will be examined through the discourses on phonography. Thissection considers only the recording of actual sounds, as the liberation from music andlanguage was a core element of the Namaroku culture. Further, as discussed later in thissection, arguments about how the ears function were often developed in the instructions
published on the phonography of actual sounds.
As mentioned in the first section, numerous books and magazine articles instructing
readers on the phonography of actual sounds were published during the onset of the Namaroku
boom, and many of those instructions primarily dealt with how to use a microphone. For
example, the chapters in Namaroku ni Tsuyokunaru Record vol.2: Documentary Sound ni
Challenge!! [Record to get skills in Namaroku vol.2: Challenge to documentary sounds!!],which explained phonography along with examples of sound, proceeded from “Microphone
29

Bijsterveld, op.cit., p.631.

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan71

setting (the distance between two microphones),” to “The effect of windshield”, “Thedifferences between sounds due to directivity,” “Setting of sound level,” “The effect of alimiter,” “How to grab a microphone,” and “Making sound sources change.”30 As Fujioka
noted, illustrations of microphone arrangements for each sound source [Fig.3] were often
included in Namaroku guidebooks. Fujioka, however, viewed how to handle a microphone as“the essence of amateur recording,” and reported that “although most of the articles on basic
knowledge or techniques of sound recording give an example of microphone arrangementswith illustrations, I neither write about it nor give an example of it in this article’ to encourage
the readers to arrange microphone settings freely.”31 In the case of sending a work to arecording contest, it was important to be able tocompose sound recordings within a limited time;
however, average fans seemed more interested in how
to capture sounds in the field than the composition ofrecordings.
At the end of the first section, it was pointed outthat articles on electronic instruments and homemusical recording increased in later issues of Rokuhan,
and the magazine replaced the subtitle with “Sound
create magazine.” However, the notion of soundcreation was more or less connected to Namaroku in
general as well, and terms like “creation” or“creativity” were frequently used in the relevantpublications of the period. Toru Yuki asked “whycould sound recording be a hobby? After all, thebiggest common reason is that there is the joy ofcreation in producing a world through sounds.” 32
Shohachiro Aizawa stressed that creativity was not Fig.3 An example of the illustration of alimited to multitrack recording and tape editing, but microphone arrangement. Shigeki Kato,
was also possible with stereo recording, and he traced Yoshiyuki Ishida, Yoichi Namekata, Amateur
Rokuon Nyumon [Introduction to Amateur“the transition of the policy of recording” from the Recording], Tokyo: Radio-Craft Company,
spread of electric recording in the 1920s.33 Thus, the 1973, p.280.
30

Yoshiyuki Ishida supervising ed., Namaroku ni Tsuyokunaru Record vol.2: Documentary Sound ni
Challenge!! [Record to get skills in Namaroku vol.2: Let’s challenge to documentary sounds!!] (TW-50008)
Tokyo: Toshiba-EMI Limited, 1978.
31
Makoto Fujioka, “Rokuon technique nyumon [Introduction to sound recording technique],” in Stereo
Shukan FM Bessatsu: Rokuon no Subete 1974 [The Stereo, The Weekly FM Special Issue: Expansion of theRecording World 1974], 1974, p.66.
32
Toru Yuki, “Hajimeni Image Ariki: Recording director toshite amateur rockon wo kangaeru [In the
beginning was the image: Thinking about amateur recording as a recording director],” in Tape Sound, no.14, 1974,
p.252.
33
Shohachiro Aizawa, Motohiko Takawa, Ken-ichi Handa, Rokuon Seisaku to Saisei: Recording no Genba
kara [Recording Production and Playback: From a Site of Recording], Tokyo: Ohmsha, 1977, pp.8-15.

KANEKO Tomotaro

72

creativity of stereo recording appears to have been an important theme for Namaroku, whichbecame established contemporaneously with the popularization of the Hi-Fi stereo cassetterecorder. Further, this view derives from the origins of hobby audio in the form of self-maderadios.34
The connection between the microphone and the ears was repeatedly mentioned as a
guiding principle of creation in phonography instructions of the period, and Akira Miyazawa
concisely described the relationship:
The human ear itself is very convenient for humans by nature, being able to hearsounds that you need and not to hear sounds that you do not need. […] A living ear hasa mechanism that conveniently shuts out so-called noises. However, it is ironic thatpeople who try to record natural sounds with a microphone take the first step in
capturing sounds when they start to become conscious of the noises. That is, the key ofcapturing great sounds in a natural sound recording is how to take out consciously
what the living ear naturally rejects and removes as noise, and how to approach thenatural sounds that you want to take.35
The first part of the liner notes of “Record to get skills in Namaroku” explains the selectivityof an ear and the phonography of Namaroku. Sugano often used the term “microphone ear” todescribe the microphone’s specific way of capturing sounds. Another common explanation
was that the eye affects the selection of the ear. For example, when you listen to the sound of abeach while standing there, you can feel that the sound of the waves is moving along with thewaves; however, when you listen to the same sound on a stereo recording, the only sensation is
the increases or decreases in volume. These understandings about the relationship between
microphone and ear are the foundation of the phonography of Namaroku.
The microphone arrangement mentioned earlier is the most important method forconsciously separating noises which is the basis of Namaroku phonography, and a Namaroku
icon, the parabolic sound collector is another useful tool. Minoru Gennaka introduced theclassification “point, group, or moving sound sources” in his instructions on microphonearrangement [Fig.4].36 As he explained, “when a recorded sound source is replayed by two
speakers, it forms various sound structures. A sound source focusing into a single sound image

34

Cf. Shuhei Hosokawa and Hideaki Matsuoka, “On the fetish character of sound and the progression oftechnology: Theorizing Japanese audiophiles,” in Sonic Synergies: Music, Technology, Community, Identity,
Gerry Bloustien, Margaret Peters, and Susan Luckman eds., Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2008, pp.3950.
35
Akira Miyazawa, “Kokaon no troikata: Radio drama no seisaku ni sokushite [How to record soundeffects: On the basis of the production of a radio drama],” in Rokuon no Subete, Jun Okada ed., Tokyo: Futoh-sha,
1971, pp.257.
36
Minoru Gennaka, Ken Hoyanagi, “Neratta ongen wo Ikani shuroku suruka [How to record a target soundsource],” in Tape Sound, no.12, 1974, pp.63-86.

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan73

is called a point sound source.” It is notablethat these three categories are not related to theclassification of sound sources but rather ofsound images. In other words, they do not
represent the classification of live sound butthat of replayed sound. Sound image denotes
sounds with direction and distance replayed byspeakers. As Gennaka argued, “a point soundsource is not about a sound source itself. It
would be more accurate to say a sound sourcethat is replayed as a point sound image.” It is
up to the recordist to make a sound source,whether it is a point- or group sound source,
and this choice corresponds to the unconscious
selection of the ear. To record a point soundsource, the recordist brings a unidirectional
microphone closer to the sound source. If using
a stereo recorder, the recordist must make theangle of two microphones as small as possible
to exclude environmental noises. To record as
Fig.4 Illustrations of a microphone arrangement based
group sound sources, the recordist makes theon the classification between point, group, moving
sound source, by Minoru Gennaka. Tape Sound, no.11,
angle larger to enlarge the sound image. The
1973, p.99.
sense of localization of the sound image isenhanced by using a unidirectional microphone, whereas a nondirectional microphone stresses
the sense of atmosphere.
Reiji Nakatsubo’s instructions on phonography for a cassette recorder are particularlyinteresting. Nakatsubo and Saburo Takahashi’s Shumi no Yagai Rokuon [Field Recording as a
Hobby] was published in 1974 and based on a lecture by Nakatsubo ten years prior to that.
Nakatsubo and Takahashi regarded “decomposing sounds in recording, and composing them at
the final stage [the italics indicates bold types in the original text]” as the foundational
principle of field recording of actual sounds.37 This was a method of embodying a planned
image by separately removing noises through recording sounds and composing them.
However, in his next book, Cassette Rokuon: Yagai Hen [Cassette Recording: In the Field],
Nakatsubo proposed a replacement for this method because he thought it was less suitable forthe stereo cassette recording technique that was in fashion at the time. During the compositionof stereo recordings, the sense of incompatibility tends to occur in the sound image, and before
that, it is difficult to edit cassette tapes through cuts and splices. Therefore, Nakatsubo proposed

37

Reiji Nakatsubo, Saburo Takahashi, Shumi no Yagai Rokuon [Field Recording as a Hobby], Tokyo: Japan
Broadcast Publishing, 1974, p.8.

KANEKO Tomotaro74

to make the elaborate search of appropriate soundsources for recording the substitution of thehuman ear’s selectivity. Nakatsubo centered his
phonography upon the comprehensive search for“a well-organized scenery” in which there wereclear sounds near the recordist and noises in the
distance, rather than making an imagined soundthrough decomposing and composing recordings[Fig.5].38 As he explained, “the important thingis to focus on something and grasp the movementof the sounds firmly and to have an opportunity
to record them when sounds clearly different inquality were combined well.”39 Nakatsubo’s cassettephonography showed that developments in thisfield were stimulated not only by thedevelopment of technology, but also by thecreativity of the recordist.
This section examined phonography
instructions to consider how Namaroku
practitioners listened to sounds through recording
Fig.5 “Well-organized group of sounds in the street,”devices. Underlying these instructions was thean illustration by Reiji Nakatsubo. Reiji Nakatsubo,
Cassette Rokuon: Yagai Hen [Cassette Recording: In
concept of sound recording as a creative act. The
the Field], Tokyo: Japan Broadcast Publishing Co.,
principle of creation was founded on theLtd., 1975, p.31.
argument that a recordist needed elaborate
microphone arrangements because of the microphone’s inability to achieve the same selections
made unconsciously by the human ear. It can be said that this argument crystallized theunderstanding of sounds, listening, and sound recording in Namaroku culture. The
classification of microphone arrangements that Gennaka explained was based on the
differences between sound images rather than sound sources, and it substituted the selection of
those arrangements for that of the human ear. Further, based on the spread of the cassetterecorder, Nakatsubo proposed to substitute this technique with searching for sound sources
suitable for recording with the ear’s selectivity.

Conclusion
What was the joy of sound recording in Namaroku? Although of course, this is difficult todefine uniformly, the trend’s foundation can be described as “the joy of creation” celebrated
38

Reiji Nakatsubo, Cassette Rokuon: Yagai Hen [Cassette Recording: In the Field], Tokyo: Japan Broadcast
Publishing Co., Ltd., 1975, p.4.
39
Ibid., p32.

Namaroku culture in 1970s Japan75

by Yuki. In the context of phonography, it could be inferred that the joy of creation wasachieved in identifying a recordist’s targeted sounds from noises that a microphone has
captured without any selectivity on the part of the recorder. In order to do so, the recordist
determined an image of sounds that they wanted to record, carefully selected locations andmicrophone arrangements, and tackled tape editing if necessary. Thus, the original subtitle ofRokuhan, “Namaroku Adventure,” could be applied not only to exploring in natural or urban
space but also to finding a target sound captured by a microphone in an extraordinary soundspace.
A review of relevant literature found that creative modes of listening became common
under historical conditions, such as the FM aircheck, the development and stagnancy of audio
journalism, the emergence of radio cassette recorders and HiFi stereo cassette recorders,targeted marketing campaigns by audio makers, and the travel and SL booms. Without these
conditions, Namaroku’s listening mode of recognizing creativity in stereo phonography andemphasizing microphone arrangements would have taken a different shape.
This paper has examined the relationship between the mode of listening in Namaroku
culture and its background, and these issues will be explored more in future studies. Although
the scope of the research was limited to elements cited by contemporary critics as direct
factors in the Namaroku boom, it is also necessary to survey the situation from a wider
perspective. Future studies should examine the relationship of Namaroku with other media,
such as radio and music; other arts, such as visual arts; and other media such as film. Further,
the phonography that was examined in this paper was based on the specialized knowledge ofrecording engineers from broadcasting and music—normative phonography, so to speak.
However, more playful approaches to phonography also spread in Namaroku culture, and thisshould also be explored in future research.