Hi JL community. I’ll try to keep this brief. I would like some advice on how to deal with this situation, or what I should expect to happen (if anything).
I work for an international company and am sometimes required to have late night international calls due to timezone issues. Last night was one of those cases.
I live on the second floor in an apartment in Tokyo and my study/work room faces the neighbor’s house. My room also has a window that was open just a bit last night.
During my call, I heard this noise coming from outside. It was the neighbor, this probably-50-something man, standing on his carport with his finger on his lips quite literally screaming “SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” repeatedly for like 20 seconds. I shut the window and just continued on with my meeting.
I wasn’t being loud or obnoxious at. I just believe our apartments are quite close and it’s easy to hear even the slightest noise.
Also, moving forward, I’ll make sure to keep the window closed in order to break some of the sound.
My concern is this: these meetings aren’t going to stop. He’s already proved to be unreasonable and extremely rude. Assuming that closing the window doesn’t help, how should I deal with a confrontational neighbor should he become unreasonable (such as calling the cops, landlord, screaming at me, or worse case become physical)?
It’s also worth noting that this guy runs a skillsaw and is always banging on something in his open garage at 6:30 or 7, which has been waking me up. I’ve just ignored it but it makes me understand that this guy cares only about his schedule, comfort, and peace, without caring about anyone or anything else.
Any feedback is appreciated!
12 comments
Depends on a number of factors.
You said your window was open and you live in an apartment. What time was the call? How long was the call? Would you reasonably expect that people in other apartments would be able to hear you talking?
Honestly would you describe your phone voice as loud for Japan?
Continue what you’re doing and make sure the window is closed and you’re not screaming greetings at 2 am. If he calls the cops you tell them it’s your job and you are being as quiet as possible, they won’t do shit, if he comes over and yells just close the door and call the cops, dont even entertain him. He wont get physical, he is old,
Well depending on how loud you were, obviously loud enough for him to hear you, and what time of night it was, I wouldn’t say he was necessarily rude.
Hopefully keeping the window closed will deal with the issue. Sounds like you weren’t using headphones either if you were able to hear him, try that but watch out for your voice.
I mean if your window was open and they’re close…. anywhere in the world you would have gotten that reaction. Especially if it’s after 10PM. People don’t want to hear other people’s work meetings!
Honestly it might be worth going over and apologizing for that one incident. You could also try and explain and say you will be more careful. People will be less aggressive towards someone they have talked to. For yourself… might be a bit hard to solve, if you have another room away form the window that would be better.
But if this is the single incident, and it’s late at night, they aren’t being really unreasonable. 6:30 AM banging is not great either tbh of course. But sounds like it would be worth going over and being apologetic (and _not trying to be right_).
I don’t know what time you’re talking about but I’m assuming you’re talking after 10pm or something. I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all for him to be angry about the noise you were making. The walls are super thin in many apartments here and it is often VERY easy to hear your neighbours and especially at night when it’s mostly quiet outside it is very annoying and loud to hear talking from your neighbour’s place. I think it is super rude to have your window open at night while talking on a conference call like that, he can probably hear you as if you’re in the same room. I’ve had neighbours who did stuff like that at night before and the sound does travel very clearly in a lot of places. I even lived all the way up on the 6f once but in a fairly busy area with several bars and I could hear people walking down on the street and talking clear as day in the night when the car traffic died down and it was quieter. I’ve also lived in a wooden 2 storey place on the 2f where I could clearly hear the neighbors in the next building over having a late night drinking session with their balcony door open.
Quiet time at most places I’ve lived is usually around 11-7am so him using a saw at 7am also unfortunately isn’t unreasonable. It’s on the borderline of acceptable. Louder activities like laundry, vacuuming, etc can be done from around 7am usually.
By law, you are not supposed to engage in any loud activity before 9:00am, and after 9:00pm.
You could report his hacksawing to the police, but he could also report you, and falsify reports about you being loud.
My neighbor wakes me with their landline phone during the night, however I haven’t done any reporting because it’s just not worth it, and would put me at odds being the non Japanese party.
It looks like if you continue to talk, a police visit could be in your cards in the near future because the neighbor has it in for you being a foreigner if he so much as gets an inkling of you doing any activity. It could be a light on in your apartment, and from there he could claim you were up making noise. Some people are so petty.
It would be best to move.
If there’s one thing i learned from reading this type of post: keep a detailed log of when he starts sawing and making noise. Dates and times, record the sound if possible. That way, if he does bring in police or threaten legal action, you have something to fight back with.
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.
sorry but I don’t get all the replies trying to frame OP as being at fault here. the Japanese guy is clearly not following the sound rules himself, and who the FUCK climbs on his car port to get close to a stranger’s apartment window to then SHUSH him? has anyone thought how damn creepy that is?? seriously the guy sounds completely deranged, and just from this I would rather assume the guy just wants to find any fault to try to “caution” the foreigner. and also how is it OP’s fault that many apartments have such paper thin walls and windows that you can even hear the neighbor in the next building just *talking*? if a person is so sensitive that even people in other buildings bother him, then it’s that person who needs to move, not anyone in the vicinity who dares to exist.
so my advice to OP is to use the same common sense you’d use in any other country. try to remember to close the window next time and just talk in a regular voice. don’t listen to those trying to turn this into a “well, this is Japan” topic. guy’s just crazy, regardless of his nationality and yours.
“I wasn’t being loud at all” is what all loud people say, myself included.
this actually happened in my street .. canadian guy moved into the 4th floor apartment across the street from me and used to do remote work with headphone mic all day..
you could actually hear his voice quite clearly even though he wasnt shouting or anything.. just his balcony door open and he was somewhere inside.
it was even pissing me off during spring when i had my windows open.
anyway he was told by real estate that he was being a nuisance and ended up leaving just before summer.
Just ignore him. He doesn’t have any standing to tell you how to live in your own apartment. Do what you can to keep the noise down but otherwise don’t let him harass or intimidate you. He isn’t the boss of you simply because he’s Japanese and you aren’t, so don’t let him get away with acting like he is. If he confronts you just say 邪魔しないで (jama shinaide) and move on. If he becomes threatening or harasses you he’s the one potentially violating the law and you can make a complaint to the police about him.
Maybe he has a babby who he has finally managed to get to sleep, and then some gaijin starts zooming about meeting their KPIs.
I wouldn’t take it personally.