I’ve just moved in the Tawaramachi / Kappa Bashi area and everyday at around 5 or 5:30pm there is an announcement made on the neighborhood speakers. I am very curious. Does anyone living in the area happens to know what’s being said or also has announcements in their neighborhood?
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Does it have music playing before it? Probably the announcement to tell kids to go home.
Have you tried google translate via microphone/conversation option? That works quite well these days for at least basic understanding or verbal Japanese.
5 pm announcements are common in many cities i think, to tell kids to go home
Ours usually has kids come on and ask drivers to be careful for their sake. I can’t recall them ever saying anything terribly interesting otherwise.
Citywide loudspeaker systems are standard in Japan. And once a day they test it. That test is usually a message to the children to go home in the late afternoon. The times may differ but it is a daily occurrence. Other things get broadcast as well. I’ve heard messages for the end of the day for elementary school kinds, ostensibly asking motorists not to run them over. And alerts for people who have gone missing from their care home. And in a disaster they’re a way to communicate with the people in the area.