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Japanese Turning To "Therapeutic Ringtones"
indiavision writes "A host of young Japanese are drawn to the allure of 'therapeutic ringtones' — a genre of melodies that promises to ease a range of day-to-day gripes, from chronic insomnia to a rotten hangover. Developed by Matsumi Suzuki, the head of the Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory, an eight-year-old subsidiary of the Japan Acoustic Laboratory, the tones are a hit with housewives as well as teenagers."
Well so are placebos to a certain extent, which this seems to be nothing more than.
There are two kinds of fool. One says, This is old, and therefore good. And one says, This is new, and therefore better.
Why does this make me think that it's actually Vocaloid J-Pop?
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BMO
Japan : therapeutic ringtones :: USA : Lynyrd Skynyrd ringtones
0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
What's the Japanese for "There's a sucker born every minute"?
Sometimes I wish I had the moral fortitude to create and sell snake oil.
As in "I wish there were fewer illiterate retards on Slashdot."
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a therapeutic ringtone.
In order to make it through the day, do these Japanese rely on a bunch of people calling them? Somehow I don't think phonecalls are going to motivate a "sluggardly housewife" (from TFA) to do more housework. Also, where are the examples? This article is no good without examples.
I admit I only scan read the article but are these for playing when you get a call or just audio on the phone to play? Ringtones are for informing you that you have a call, if my phone rings (I admit that doesn't happen very often) I answer it straight away. Sitting and listening to a tone is a precise art; if you leave it too long the call times out and you are left with a very nice memory of the tone but no purpose for your phone other than 'therapy'.
I care not for your karma and your mod points.
This does sound so cooky. I haven't read the article.. perhaps i should. But music can sometimes make me feel good. Certain music definitely feels be better in certain situations. I wont believe music will be able to cure physical ailments, but i see no reason why certain tones could help relieve stress.
Sounds can definitely have the opposite effect. I'm sure kids screaming on the public transport raises my bloody pressure and i know my alarm in the morning makes my heart beat much faster. Many other sounds can also bring about stress, such as the sound of my ex girl friends voice :/.
So couldn't sounds have a calming effect on the mind? The brain is also the centre of the body that controls a magnitude of chemicals that simulate other parts of the body. I think its very likely that sounds or music could interfere with this, just as they can in a negative way.
No it's probably not the sounds frequency but our interpretation of it and what feels good to one person may feel bad to another depending on their history. But i would guess that there are certain sounds that make everyone feel good this has it's roots in evolutionary theory.
Giving IE users a taste of their own medicine since 2005 - http://pods.-is-a-geek.net/
Japan is no stranger to bizarre phone fads but the popularity of the ringtones is perhaps surprising given the flimsiness of the science behind them.
How about "Anti-HIV properties of... bananas?". And it's written by ERV, not some quack.
http://outcampaign.org/
the tones are a hit with housewives as well as teenagers.
Ah, the two most well-informed, fad-immune, money-conscious target markets out there. If anything was going to convince me that this wasn't just total bullshit, it would be the take up of this concept by those two groups. I'll take three, please.
for idiots letting their phone ring to the annoyance of all in the vicinity.
I swear the length of time ringing is proportional to the product of ring volume and ringer annoyance quotient. Competively predicting the time can be a means of offsetting the irritation of enduring the Geico Boss' ringtone.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
I may be the first to point it out in this thread but the Japanese have many odd cultural likes and dislikes on any given day.
For your reference, see Anime. For my reference, see Cowboy Bebop. That was a damned good show. Now go watch Squidbillies. Culture(s) is odd.
The Ohana Sukkiri Melody emits a series of sounds at different frequencies "so that people can choose the sound that resonates most to their sinus and causes pollen lodged there to fall from the nasal cavity".
That settles it. Gotta have that one. Any sound powerful enough to dislodge pollen from one's sinuses has got to be a dangerous weapon.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
i wonder if they will have whale songs, maybe the death screams of the whales, or is that more of the erotic side?
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
Japans major export these days is weirdness.
I work a call center job, and I can vouch that having an irritating ring-tone does increase stress levels, especially during busy times, so I can see how something milder than a series of irritating beeps might help.
I've lived and worked in Japan for the last 10 years -- I have 200+ college students a semester, and I have to hear about this or hear one of these.
I wonder what they writer meant about it's being a "hit"... WHERE is it a hit again? Some small ward in Shinjuku?
Jds
Now I can tell my boss and co-workers that I have to have a porn orgasm ringtone because it's therapautic!!! Too bad they'll see through this and fire me just as quickly but at least I can say I left my last job on medical grounds.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
The Japanese will take just about any patent nostrum and wacky remedy. The culture is steeped in the wacky. Walk into a pharmacy over there and see magnetized bandaids.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
A-ring-a-ding-diggy-doe, a-ring-ding-ding-diggity doe. thanks, now I've got THAT in my head all day
and here I am with my "screeching, terrified woman about to be murdered" ringtone. People say I'm a little tense...
I spend most of my time in bed, darling.
I've got a perfect studio recording here of the first movement of Four Minutes, Thirty-Three Seconds, which I consider to the the perfect ringtone.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Yeah!! music therapy is successful in treating many diseases especially mental diseases. It is gonna have a great future ahead. http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/dentasmile-md-review-does-denta-smile-md-work-1961389.html
Monsieur, as a therapeutic ring tone, may I propose a composition by Matthew Bianco? It is called "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed."
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Japan screams with "therapeutic" sounds intended to improve the mood of everyone, everywhere, from supermarkets, singing traffic lights to toilettes. This omnipresent cacaphony actually makes one want to hear a therapeutic silence. Would it be a commercial hit in Japan - that remains to be seen.
What's wrong with marimba ?