About Your Guide

Hi, I'm Simon. I grew up in Suffolk in England, spent years living across Asia, and for the last four years before moving here, my wife Chie and I lived on a narrowboat on Regent's Canal in London. Before that, we ran a small coffee shop in Tokyo; Deakin St coffee stand, in the east of the city. We lived above it. I still remember the sound of kids clattering up the metal stairs that separated our living space from the cafe below.

When we eventually left London, Kyoto was the obvious choice. We have a big group of friends here, people building things for themselves, and a quality of life that the UK stopped offering us for one reason or another. We arrived in Kyoto with intention, and it's been kind to us in return.

I've been a sound artist and composer for nearly two decades and I've spent years recording the sound of places; Tokyo, Seoul, the jungles of Borneo, shrines across Japan. When I arrived in Kyoto, I noticed pretty quickly that most visitors were passing through it with their cameras out, trying to get the shot everyone else already had. And underneath all of that, there was a city with a lot going on sonically. If you slowed down enough to hear it.

That's what led me to start the sound walks. We move through the quieter neighbourhoods, away from the main tourist routes, using professional binaural microphones and field recorders. The technology acts as a magnifying glass and it pulls out sounds you'd otherwise walk straight past. The creak of a gate. Rain landing on moss. The particular silence that settles on a temple garden in the early morning.

Each walk is two to three hours, with a maximum of four guests. At the end, I mix down the sounds you recorded into an audio postcard — a short piece you can take home. People tell me they play them back months later and find themselves immediately standing in the place again.

I'm not a history lecturer and this isn't a guided tour in the traditional sense. It's closer to a few hours of paying attention together, with good equipment and someone who knows where to go.

Speaking at Pecha Kucha Kyoto — on what happens when you slow down enough to hear a city.

If you want more of this kind of thing, I write letters from Kyoto most weeks on Substack at ohayo.substack.com — video letters, reflections, and the odd essay. I also post over on YouTube at @SJF_Kyoto. Both are free to read and watch. Come and find me there if you're curious.

I also make ambient music — field recordings, long-form compositions, things that work well late at night: sjfmusic.bandcamp.com