Kyoto, in Sound • Episode 02
The second episode of a new podcast series which asks the people who live in this city to share their favourite sounds.
Last time on Kyoto, in Sound we visited Suzaku Garden, where Rumi shared memories of her childhood summers with her grandmother.
For this second episode, recorded in early September, the season has begun to shift. The heat still lingers during the day, but as the sun sets in the evening everything gets cooler and easier to bear.
I’m walking with Chie, a freelance illustrator who lives here in Kyoto, along the narrow waters of the Takase River. It’s a place where the city and nature meet. Stone paths lined with leaning trees, the gentle call of insects, the quiet flow of water, and the noise of partygoers behind us.
Chie, in her own voice, tells me the story of why the sounds of autumn are her favourite. She introduces me to a Japanese phrase 静と動 — sei to dō — stillness and movement, and how the voices of the autumn insects feel both refreshing and melancholic.
This episode is full of delicate shifts: the intensity of summer that gives way to the calm of autumn, and the noise of the city softening into the clear call of insects. The flow of the river carries us through both.
This episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Fountain.fm.
If you’d like to follow along for future episodes — or if you’re visiting Kyoto and would like to join one of my guided sound walks — you’ll find everything at www.kyotoinsound.com.
Thank you, as always, for noticing with me.
🍂 SJF
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