Seems like this article could trigger the Japanese into hooking up the equipment to do this through-out Japan.

Though...I wonder how many times people hear unusual static on the phone line but do not try to correlate it to quakes.

Before a M7.x there was static on my phone line which was very unusual. The lady at the other end said they were having the problem all day. Within 24 hours the quake hit (somewhere in the world...I forgot where). Of course there are many things which could cause this ...excluding quake effects.

Maybe the next step is to find VLF harmonics in the audio range and then to teach people (in Japan) to be on the lookout for the sounds and to report them accordingly.

Guess we'll have to see how this one shakes out....