sounds of tokyo

I've noticed, living here in Tokyo, that there are some new sounds and sounds that I appreciate more, now that they are rare.

New Sounds

• I keep hearing and seeing these large, loud and resonant crows. Honestly, these crows (ravens?) sound like they're cawing into megaphones!
  
• While the typhoon was threatening off the coast of Japan on Sunday, Tokyo saw a lot more wind than the gentle breezes I had been enjoying pulling through my apartment. As the wind blew between and around all the buildings it ocassionally made a sucking sound, like a giant vaccuum cleaner!
• The area that I live in is relatively quiet, because it is off of main roads a bit and the city I live in, Chofu, is technically outside of "official" Tokyo. So very few "city sounds" disrupt my little apartment. However, I do hear sirens now and then. These are different than the normal fire, ambulance, and police sirens from home. I think they sound like the French police sirens, which sound kind of old fashioned, and you know, funny.
  

English!

• I have been listening to a Tokyo radio station, 81.3 am, which plays some English music. It's DJ's occasionally say a phrase or sentence in English and the commercials have the random short sentence in English or familiar word: "I'm lovin' it!" or "Starbucks." (Actually, one of the first businesses I saw in Tokyo was in the train station area underneath the airport terminal. It was a Starbucks. I was equally saddened and comforted. I didn't shop there, though. Instead, I got a Melon Soda (by Fanta) at a stand upstairs, with the help of Osamu, who picked me up.)
  
• "Hi I'm Johnny Depp. I hope you like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." When these words came from Japanese tv out of the mouth of no other but Johnny Depp, I was enthralled. It was only a preview for the movie, with Johnny Depp wishing that his Japanese audiences would enjoy it, but it was in English. And it was a face I recognized! At the end of the commercial, Johnny was back on and he did a little wink and maybe a cool "guns" thing. I just wish I could have watched it with my Depp-fan, little sister. Sammi, I am considering trying to tape it for you, but I've only seen it once so far. . .