Sunday, April 3, 2011

Noise pollution in Japan

Japanese people in general tend to value peace and quiet. For this reason, it's not unusual for people to complain about noise caused by neighbors, which I guess is understandable. One thing I'll never get, though, is why despite this fact, there seem to be no laws against using extremely loud noise for public announcements.

Sometimes garbage collection trucks will drive by with a recording blaring from an attached loudspeaker, but that's not what I'm specifically referring to, because those announcements tend not to be too loud. What I'm mainly talking about here are political campaigning messages. I've never seen this kind of advertising in any other country, and it reminds me of the way propaganda vans drove around the Soviet Union.



Basically they just drive around yelling "Vote for so-and-so! Thank you very much!"

I can't be the only one who finds this kind of noise pollution extremely annoying.
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16 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 3, 2011 at 8:10 PM

    Don't forget the Black Vans, they're the worst! Also, I hate it when politickers drive by the school during class, it's so distracting >.<

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  2. Blue ShoeApril 3, 2011 at 8:11 PM

    Oooh, black vans? Believe I've heard of them but never seen them around here. Sounds shady.

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  3. ErykApril 3, 2011 at 11:29 PM

    Weren't they supposed to be toning that down out of respect for the tsunami situation?

    One woke me up at 9 am on Sunday, which might have been a blessing.

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  4. Blue ShoeApril 3, 2011 at 11:30 PM

    Eryk, I dunno. I wish they would tone it down out of respect for peace and quiet, at least.

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  5. linaApril 4, 2011 at 12:31 AM

    For visitors like me, those noise can be quite "entertaining".

    But yeah, hearing them at odd hours can be downright annoying.

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  6. Blue ShoeApril 4, 2011 at 1:04 AM

    Indeed. It's just noise. If I were voting, I think I'd make a conscious effort not to vote for people who run those damn things.

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  7. Orchid64April 4, 2011 at 1:33 AM

    The "black vans" are the right-wingers spewing their notions about Imperialism and tossing out the foreigners. They're the worst noise polluters.

    This year, they are supposed to tone it down (show self-restraint). So far, so good, but they'll be back next year.

    The reason it is tolerated is that political advertising on T.V. is illegal in Japan. This is the only way for them to get the word out in a macro fashion.

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  8. Blue ShoeApril 4, 2011 at 1:37 AM

    Thanks, Orchid. I see. That's too bad...at least if they're on TV you can decide not to watch them.

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  9. KaoriApril 4, 2011 at 1:45 AM

    Well, they do also apologize loudly through the speakers for in fact being loud. Not sure if that's better or worse.

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  10. Blue ShoeApril 4, 2011 at 1:46 AM

    Hi Kaori,

    Haha...that's actually kind of funny.

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  11. ChrisApril 4, 2011 at 5:42 AM

    I am ...and have been listening to those psycho freaks all day.

    I got tickets in Hawaii for disturbing the peace with my car stereo...at least that had a beat!!

    YOSHINAGA!!
    YOSHINAGA ONEGAISHIMAS
    YOSHINAGA!!
    YOSHINAGA ONEGAISHIMAS
    YOSHINAGA!!

    I wanna bb gun so I can pop ou their windows when they drive by.

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  12. Blue ShoeApril 4, 2011 at 5:44 AM

    I hear you, Chris. Not sure why politicians should be allowed to annoy us.

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  13. BillyApril 5, 2011 at 10:31 AM

    It's not just the propaganda wagons, there are wonderful noises like the repeating announcements that tell you how to ride escalators as if people stupid enough to do something dangerous on an escalator are ever going to be deterred by a robotic message they've heard a million times and have likely tuned out anyway...

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  14. Blue ShoeApril 5, 2011 at 10:35 AM

    Yup, there are annoying noise-makers all over the place here. Just walk down a busy shoutengai in a major city and hear people yelling at you to come into their shops. I just find the campaign vans particularly annoying, but everyone has their own.

    Thanks for commenting, Billy!

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  15. cocominoApril 5, 2011 at 8:19 PM

    Perhaps many people including me don't like this political campaigning messages.
    In general the noise and wrapping car are forbidden by the law.
    However, only the political things are exception. This is very strange.

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  16. Blue ShoeApril 5, 2011 at 8:25 PM

    Hey Cocomino, thanks for commenting. Yeah, I feel like those kinds of cars and vans are very out of place in Japan.

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