How to Tell the Sounds of Water Apart

The sound of thaw, of paddies, of the tap. A small essay on the sounds of water flowing through town.

Since I started visiting Higashikawa, I've learned to tell the sounds of water apart. Not that it's a big deal. Just that I noticed the irrigation channel, the Chubetsu River and the rain gutter make different sounds.

City water makes no sound. It moves silently through pipes and speaks for the first time at the tap. Higashikawa's water talks a lot. In spring snowmelt season, I almost think the whole town is made of the sound of water.

Hearing the sound means water is flowing near the surface, in open places. So the abundance of water sounds is also the closeness between water and daily life. The first night back in my Tokyo room, I couldn't sleep because it was too quiet — that was probably why.

Next time you go to Higashikawa, try opening your window a little at night. Which sound is the irrigation channel, which is the river? By the time you can tell them apart, you'll already have one foot in being a resident of this town.