11: Forbidden Narita

Following my interest in how to represent exclusive, forbidden spaces, I got this idea as I was going through the usual routine of the airport security check. I took my recorder and mics out of my pocket and was about to stuff them in my bag when it occurred that I could actually do a little military exploration here. I switched on record and in it went, a satellite probe into one of the most forbidden, fortified spaces of the 21st century. The carry-on x ray machine.

Listen:

10: Okinawa Creepy Yaedake

I finished day 8 on top of Okinawa's second tallest mountain, or rather a hill at about 450m above sea level. My goal was a US communication station which has been partially returned to the Okinawa Prefecture. There are several satellites still in function, including the one which I describe in the podcast. After the sun sets I head down alone, darkness chasing my tail. The surrounding jungle comes alive. Listen:

9: Okinawa Bad Karaoke, Loudness, andFrogs

After nearly 20 miles of walking today, a moderate day, I have just enough energy to share three samples of sound from this strange island.

First, a quintessential Okinawa experience: the enduring of Air Force vocal chords. Listen (if you dare):


Next, another common sound, the jet swooping in to land at Futenma Air Station. I am standing about 300 feet below the jets when they come in. Get ready to be rocked. Listen:




Finally, a bit more of a peaceful scene. I explore a beach near a military base. Listen:

8: A terrible noise

The thunderous jet noise described last time:




There is a lot more sound, but I'm off to Okinawa.

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Drawing the void

The void is an evocative theme. It works two ways, across a threshold. For the military, what lies outside the fence, as far as I have seen, is always represented on their maps as a blank region. And in city plans, the military base is a grey block, a chess piece which makes no move and can never be taken. There is an important difference with each type of "void space" here. From within the base, the world outside is an ocean, an expanse of otherness which laps at its shores but has no real effect there. From without, the military space is dense, solid, filled in. It may as well be a wall projected a thousand feet high. The military can virtually come and go as it pleases, but civilians must be screened, and only a select few--those who work there--have access.

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soft Tokyo

Tokyo is a soft city. It is incredibly relenting. This is not a visual experience. I am talking about the cushion of space that people make way for you. The language, both bodily and spoken, is designed to ease the potential awkwardness of strangers crossing paths. Eventually the polite but ubiquitous "Irashaimase!" that store clerks deliver when you walk into their space wears out and becomes annoying. But now my attention is focused on it. In fact, if someone working in a store or restaurant breezes past me without apologizing profusely or at least acknowledging my holy presence with an irashaimase, I feel wronged. God forbid someone bumps into you.

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