Mansion/Apartment Noise

I see a lot of posts in this sub about noise problems or complaints from people who live in apartments or mansions. Interestingly enough, NHK’s Asa Ichi program had a segment on mansion/apartment noise this morning. It looks like it’s a big problem that affects not only foreigners but Japanese people, as well.

One woman complained that her upstairs neighbor does exercise by running laps around the inside of his apartment. If you have noise problems with your neighbors or you get noise complaints from your neighbors it isn’t because you’re a foreigner, it’s because it is a widespread problem. It looks like there are a lot of cheaply built mansions and apartments in Japan.

9 comments
  1. I don’t think anyone believed it’s a foreigner only problem. It’s just that the majority of people here are foreigners living in Japan. So obviously the complaints you see here come from foreigners mostly.

  2. >If you have noise problems with your neighbors or you get noise complaints from your neighbors it isn’t because you’re a foreigner, it’s because it is a widespread problem.

    TIL

  3. > It looks like it’s a big problem that affects not only foreigners but Japanese people, as well.

    You need to get out more.

  4. Of course it affects everyone. There was an article the other month about man that murdered his upstairs neighbour over too much noise. It can send some people loopy. I know not everyone has the luxury to shop around for places to live, but at the very least people should be looking at the materials the building and construction is made from when they’re looking at listings. If it’s a wooden apartment with neighbours on all sides, what do you realistically think is going to happen? A lot of places get renovated so they look really nice and the features are great, but the walls may as well be made from paper.

  5. Sometimes I squirt my ketchup bottle too loudly, and the neighbor across the street complained.

    She even recommended I purchase a ketchup bottle silencer from Daiso.

    So that’s my crazy neighbor story….

    Yo whassup Mr Ketchup hater I thought you blocked me anyway? You wanna be my fweind?

  6. It’s definitely a foreigner man problem.

    One time when we came back, the J-couple on the ground floor sounded like they were murdering each other. It was impossible to tell who was winning.

    All of our neighbours were Japanese, so naturally it fell to us to call the cops about the screaming, gouging, smashing, and grinding sounds.

    They even sent the HUGE copper, because a foreigner man was involved.

    If we hadn’t disturbed the wa by doing that, then nobody else would have been bothered 🙁

  7. Does anyone have normal neighbors here? Been living in different parts of Japan for 10 years and so far I had:

    * Overly noisy neighbors of all sorts: running around, partying, singing, shouting
    * The “noise police:” people who bang on the wall for every minor infraction (it really varies what they consider by noise, regardless of apartment rules)
    * Had my bike tires slashed, or a bike stolen from apartment parking lot
    * Snitches of all sorts: no littering, smoking, standing around, talking on the street, etc

    Idk maybe I’ve been blessed with good neighbors back at home but I’m seriously getting tired of this shit here. It doesn’t even depend on how expensive the place is, I moved to a relatively good mansion and I still have to deal with the same crap

  8. I think it’s just very Japanese to expect that people constantly adapt themselves to not inconvenience others (and some are more tolerant then others as with every human being) and that combined with paper thin walls, creates unrealistic expectations of how much noise there ‘should’ be. Of course people should be considerate of each other but you can’t completely stop making sounds. That’s part of living in these kind of places but it seems people are divided into 2 categories: those who accept that others to their best but are not perfect and those who expect that others tiptoe around their own house. Of course I am not talking about people who truly take the piss and are not considerate of their neighbors at all.

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