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How Aircraft Noise is Heard in Okinawa, Japan
Kozo Hiramatsu

World Forum for Acoustic Ecology 2023 Conference
Listening Pasts - Listening Futures
Friday, 24 March, 2023. Presented at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.
(c) 2023

Abstract: Aircraft noise is not just tremendously loud noise exceeding 100dB, but it is continuous torture stirring up the war memory in Okinawa which experienced the only and most tragic ground combat in Japanese history during WW2 followed by the 27-years US military occupation. I am going to present how the local ears hear the military aircraft noise in Okinawa through the life-history of an old woman having lived in a small community vicinal to the Kadena U.S. Airbase. Born in 1903 in a small village of Okinawa, illiterate though, she was an active protester against the US airbases in Okinawa. The reason why she was so active in the anti-military campaign is in her life history. She emigrated to Saipan Island in 1929 where a fierce battle was fought in 1944 claiming lives of 90% of the Japanese soldiers and 50% of the civilians. Having dreadfully horrifying experiences, she survived the hell-like 3 weeks. Her life-history told me how she heard the noise and what it meant to her. Okinawan people more less have similar war memories on the basis of which they hear the noise, which characterizes their way of hearing aircraft noise.

Bio: Member of Soundscape Association of Japan. Born in 1946. Graduate of English Department, Kyoto University. After being devoted to noise control engineering and the effects of noise on man for about a decade, his work shifted to acoustic ecology. While working on the epidemiology study on aircraft noise in Okinawa, he interviewed an old woman there who lived in the vicinity of Kadena US Airbase. The paper being presented at the conference is part of her oral history.