Yamaha Music Sirens

[Evan Vander Stoep]

...Also I don't know how I didn't even bother posting this here but a few months ago I found a good, clear quality audio of the Marumitsu Department Store's music siren going off for "homeway"? Here's the link:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZIKVPZFIPg

Amazing find! I have not found a video of that siren in operation yet go great job! The song is Moon of Arajo which was played on this EXACT music box style drum before it was put on display (more photos/info about this in the original post I made).



As for the image of the manual thing, I have had that photo for a long time. I need to get that translated but I believe its a manual for the Generation 1. Whatever it is, its an early model generation one. Like it was not even patented to look like that. I really need to get more info about those 4 note music sirens as there is a few of them like the Ueno Chamber of Commence and Industry music siren. I think they are the prototype development models which later became the larger Generation 1 sirens like the one mounted on the The TOKIWA Main Store.

There is a few changes I need to make for information that is not correct in the article which I will make soon. For instance, this photo is NOT of the siren that was at Marumitsu Department Store. In fact, I have no idea where its from. 3 major things verify that its not from this location. First, there is trees in the background which means the roof is not that high off the ground. This is not the case for the Marumitsu Department Store building. Also, there is no cell tower equipment or exposed brick wall on the building that I can see. The white trim at the edge of the roof is also not on the Marumitsu Department Store building. A Japanese twitter user who I'm talking to believes this is on top of a middle school building.



I will let people know if I get any more info but I'm going to also start posting the stuff I have no clue about because I have spent well over 250+ hours researching sense I started this whole adventure and need to broaden the people who are searching for more info instead of just coming across stuff I have already found. I would spend whole days searching Japanese search terms I generated on google translate into google searches. My best search terms were usually the following (I wrote them in English but I search them in Japanese):

- Yamaha Music Siren
- Motor Siren
- Motor Music Siren
- Multivoice Siren
- Multivoice Siren Device

The Multivoice search terms were because the siren was patented under the name "Multivoice Siren Device". The Japanese platpat patent website where I got the patent from is kind of broken so I will upload the PDF I have saved to my webserver incase others need it when I make the article changes in the following weeks.

[TheSirenFan]

Do you know why the Headquarters was demolished?

[Evan Vander Stoep]

Do you know why the Headquarters was demolished?

The headquarters was NOT demolished. Just one of the buildings on the property used for an office space which I think they believe, needed to be modernized. The Yamaha Headquarters is a big property and has many buildings on it including office and manufacturing spaces. The building the Music Sirens sat on was over 70 years old (as far as I can guess). I have no clue what happened to the Music Sirens that were atop the building and really wish to find out but I don't know Japanese so contacting Yamaha in Japan would be a real struggle along with just trying to get answers in general. When you have a building that large, its a lot of upkeep which costs a lot more then a modern building. It also could be that it was not safe for earthquakes or was damaged by earthquakes over many years and deemed unsafe. This seems like a high possibility as earthquakes are pretty common in Japan. A lot of possibilities without many answers and that's about all the answers I have sadly.

[IHaveAName]

There is a few changes I need to make for information that is not correct in the article which I will make soon. For instance, this photo is NOT of the siren that was at Marumitsu Department Store. In fact, I have no idea where its from. 3 major things verify that its not from this location. First, there is trees in the background which means the roof is not that high off the ground. This is not the case for the Marumitsu Department Store building. Also, there is no cell tower equipment or exposed brick wall on the building that I can see. The white trim at the edge of the roof is also not on the Marumitsu Department Store building. A Japanese twitter user who I'm talking to believes this is on top of a middle school building.

Now that I look back at the twitter post (see twitter post herehttps://twitter.com/hoi9007/status/1233641311544078338), the siren played the songs "Edelweiss" and what I think was mistranslated, but means "Sunset Koyake"
I'm not sure what Edelweiss is, but Sunset Koyake might work on that siren. Given that the Yawatahama siren and this mystery siren both have 10 notes, they both could play the same songs if they were to be the same notes.

*Here's a basic translation I made of the post*
A music siren made by a Music instrument company that remains in a certain place. Until about 30 years ago, the siren would play Edelweiss and Yuyake Koyake. Because the shaft is stuck, it'll make it very hard to restore this siren.

[Evan Vander Stoep]

Found some amazing information! This video from Jun 18, 2021 states in the description that the Iga City Hall Generation 1 Music Siren is actually the Ueno Chamber of Commerce Music Siren. The music siren was installed at Ueno Chamber of Commerce in 1959 and moved to Iga City Hall in 1982 where it sits today. This source seems to be reliable because of the amount of information but this raises the question, what is that photo of a 4 note siren I have listed as the siren for Ueno. Its obviously not the siren that's now on Iga City Hall. Could there have been 2 sirens at Ueno? Is this an early prototype model (which I have been speculating) that was given to Ueno and then they got a regular Generation 1 siren later on? This would also explain why there is a full keyboard in that photo of the control box. Possibly this is because its actually a photo of the Iga City Hall control box. When this siren was moved from Ueno to Iga, it would make sense that they did some maintenance on it. This, along with the cover over the siren, is probably the reason this siren is still active and has survived as the last active Generation 1 music siren.

Photos discussed above:

[Evan Vander Stoep]

I again have some amazing news! The Tokiwa Main Store Generation 1 Music Siren is active!

Let me explain what happened. Today I was sent a video of the Tokiwa Main Store Siren via Discord by IHaveAName which was posted on May 27th, 2021. In the description, there is a link to a blog post written by the person who filmed the video. In this blogpost, there was a ton of information which was obtained by interviewing a manager at the store (Who I believe is Yoshihiko Shimizu). The siren is now automatically played which means it's now connected to a clock. Here are some quoted content I can take away from this blogpost which was obtained in this persons interview with Yoshihiko Shimizu who works at the store:

1. “The music siren is installed on the roof of the main store and is sounded every day at 10 o'clock when the store opens and at 19:00 when the store closes at noon.”

2. “Surprisingly, at the time of my interview, the machine was started manually, and the staff in the call center room of the Customer Service Division pressed the start button every time to start the sound.”

3. “Considering the first "Uo-n", I heard a valuable story that it is a good idea to press the button a few seconds after the specified time, but from 10 days after the day I visited the interview, It is said that the start of the blowing will be automated. Therefore, the performance should probably start automatically now.”

4. “At 10 o'clock, the above-mentioned "Morning", at noon, the nursery rhyme "Bride Doll" written by Haseo Sugiyama and composed by Haseo Sugiyama, and at 19:00, the Scottish folk song "Annie Raleigh" composed by Alicia Scott will be performed. There was also Brahms's "Children's Song" and "Kimi ga Dai" "Music Box", which are not used now, and were once played.”

(Please excuse any translation issues)

The amount of information is insane! I am wondering why people (including me) thought the siren was deactivated in 2019 as this seems to have never been the case. I believe this could have been a misconception that was started by the conclusion written in the Hamamatsu Study Group Report but I don’t think I will ever know unless I recheck all my sources. This does indeed mean that there are 2 active Generation 1 Music Sirens in Japan (Tokiwa Main Store & Iga City Hall). If you want to learn more, I highly recommend you look at the blog post yourself! I will be adding this updated information to my original post.

I will leave you all with a quote from the author:

“Tokiwa's music siren, which has been listening to Oita citizens every day for nearly 50 years, functions as an indispensable "signal sound" in the sound landscape of Oita City. It may be difficult to maintain, but I hope that this precious performance will continue to ring as usual for as long as possible.”

(Please note, I’m gone from the 4th to the 15th and will be unable to answer any questions anyone may have. Please leave your question and I will get back to you when I can.)

[Jake_7367]

Today I was sent a video of the Tokiwa Main Store Siren via Discord by IHaveAName which was posted on May 27th, 2021. In the description, there is a link to a blog post written by the person who filmed the video.

Youtube recommended me this video filmed on the rooftop next to the siren! It looks like a 10-tone Gen 1 siren, possibly at that same Tokiwa Main Store location! Surprisingly the audio only has a little distortion.

[IHaveAName]

Today I was sent a video of the Tokiwa Main Store Siren via Discord by IHaveAName which was posted on May 27th, 2021. In the description, there is a link to a blog post written by the person who filmed the video.

Youtube recommended me this video filmed on the rooftop next to the siren! It looks like a 10-tone Gen 1 siren, possibly at that same Tokiwa Main Store location! Surprisingly the audio only has a little distortion.

I've seen that video before. It's almost the same, if not, the exact same.
I'm kidding. That is indeed the Tokiwa siren playing its 10am blast of Morning.
By the way, I found the actual song. Comprised by Shingo Oda (not sure if that's a mistranslation or not)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L46Kdg6RaJM

[Jake_7367]

How did you manage to find the song?

[IHaveAName]

How did you manage to find the song?

I just translated the word "Morning" and searched it up on YouTube.
I also found the video on an article talking about a speaker array, I just was too lazy to go out and find it again, so I just searched on YouTube.