Held in Sound
November 21
Held in Sound
A special Moments edition
Shunkō-in Temple, Kyoto
A two-hour listening experience, cut live to an original playback disc using teenage engineering’s APC–2.
Curated by semi permanent × teenage engineering.
Presented by KCRW, Los Angeles.
A quiet coda.
A moment to return.
To listen.
To settle what has moved.
Not performance.
Not program.
Sound, spoken word, and silence unfold together. Tea, shadow, and seasonality sit alongside them as forms of attention.
Participation is intentionally limited.
A small, carefully held room.
The experience is cut to disc by design.
It happens once.
What remains is attention.
Afternoon details
Doors open
November 21 at 13:00
Gathering
14:00–16:30
Listening experience
The two-hour listening experience unfolds within the afternoon gathering.
Attendance
Attendance is subject to confirmation. Precise arrival and location details will be shared privately with approved and invited guests.
Held in Sound Passport
US$990 including 10% Japan Consumption Tax
US$900 before tax
Only 15 spaces.
For those who understand listening as a form of participation, and who choose to support what is being built.
Your participation contributes directly to the continuity of Tokyo Salone, supporting community access, emerging voices, and the systems that hold the work together.
You are helping hold the room.
And what comes after it.
Your Passport includes
Full access on November 21
Access to the complete Held in Sound afternoon at Shunkō-in Temple.
A live original recording
The listening experience will be cut in real time to an original playback disc using teenage engineering’s APC–2 professional record cutter.
Tea and seasonal hospitality
A quiet offering shaped around the setting, the season, and the rhythm of the experience.
Kit
A bespoke offering created specifically for those in the room.
Side quests
The gathering is only the beginning. Together with our official Japan Experience Partner, Kammui, discover a deeper Japan through curated journeys, regional explorations, local introductions, and unforgettable side quests. Experience Japan through the makers, growers, and families who open their doors to us, and the places and stories rarely found on an itinerary. Discover the side quests.
The Held in Sound Passport is more than entry. It is an invitation to listen without distraction and become part of something that can happen only once.
Not simply attendance.
A place within the recording.
Sound. Silence. Attention.
Come ready to listen.
Invoices are available for workplace reimbursement upon request.
Held in Sound with
teenage engineering
The APC–2 is a professional record cutter designed to produce original playback discs in real time.
For Held in Sound, the machine transforms a fleeting shared experience into a physical record, capturing sound, spoken word, silence, and the atmosphere of the room as they unfold.
Alejandro “Ale” Cohen
Director of Music Content, KCRW
Alejandro Cohen is Director of Music Content at KCRW and a longtime advocate for independent music, listening culture, and creative community.
For more than 25 years, he has worked across radio, performance, composition, and cultural programming, connecting artists and audiences through meaningful shared experiences.
Formerly Executive Director of dublab, Los Angeles’ pioneering nonprofit community radio station, Ale has collaborated with musicians, designers, filmmakers, and cultural institutions around the world.
His work is guided by the belief that music is more than entertainment. It is a way of gathering, listening, and making sense of the world together.
Rev. Takafumi Zenryu Kawakami
Rev. Takafumi Zenryu Kawakami is a Zen Buddhist priest at Shunkō-in Temple in Kyoto.
He shares teachings on Zen, Eastern philosophy, and well-being through international talks and workshops. His work focuses on self-cultivation, clarity, and living with intention.
Ana Arriola-Kanada
Host, Curator & Steward
Ana is a founder, builder, designer, and cultural orchestrator based in Tokyo.
As Chairwoman of 「 yes, 」 and steward of semi permanent, alongside teenage engineering, she builds long-horizon cultural infrastructure through Tokyo Salone and its constellations.
Her work brings designers, technologists, and cultural practitioners into shared dialogue, connecting culture, technology, and human systems. Her career includes leadership roles at Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Sony, and IDEO.
Venue
Shunkō-in Temple, Kyoto
Rooted within Kyoto’s Myōshin-ji temple complex, Shunkō-in is a Zen temple dedicated to contemplation, practice, and the quiet study of mind.
A place shaped by stillness.
By ritual.
By time held differently.
Here, Held in Sound unfolds as a listening practice—where sound is not performed, but experienced, and attention becomes the medium.
Not a venue.
A place of living heritage, where silence and sound meet.
Explore the constellation
Tokyo Salone · Nourish · Speculative Futures · Shibuya
Intentionally limited.
A place in the room has been held for you.
We’ll meet you in Kyoto.
Constellation
Held in Sound, a special Moments edition at Shunkō-in Temple, is part of Tokyo Salone: a constellation unfolding across restaurants, galleries, studios, workshops, cafés, gardens, listening rooms, hotels, kitchens, cultural institutions, and unexpected spaces throughout Tokyo and Kyoto.
Every place shapes the conversations it hosts. Together, the cities become our campus.
Semi Permanent Community List
Instagram & Threads
Facebook
LinkedIn
Code of Conduct,
Commercial Disclosure,
and Media Release
Partnering with Tokyo Salone
Tokyo Salone is built for the long term. Rather than sponsoring a single event, our partners become part of an evolving cultural institution connecting global creative communities with Japan.