In Japan, the road serenades YOU!

When you get right down to it, music is all about assembling the right vibrations at the right time. Thus, it should come as no surprise that roads can be designed to sing you a song. In Japan, there's a stretch called Melody Road, which has a series of grooves cut into it with spacing varied to produce different tones as car tires roll over them at speed. The quarter notes painted on the road surface are a visual indicator to unsuspecting motorists that their car is not going to puke its driveshafts out, it's just the pavement having a little fun.

Here in the US, we've only got the wakeup strips in front of tollbooths and those warning divots cut into the shoulder to let you know when you're about to drift into the median. We wonder if designers of the singing roads start with simple riffs, like "Smoke On The Water," before moving on to more complex pieces. The first guy who manages to get a Bach Fugue down in asphalt will have our undying admiration. Do old roads get old songs? If that's the case, they'll be teaching the youngsters Sukiaki.

Video embedded after the jump.

Thanks for the tip, Ben!

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