Petty and malicious neighbor and/or property manager. Can I somehow report this to the authorities?

I just moved to my current apartment (アパート not マンション), I’ve had multiple problems with my next door neighbor and harassment from my property manager.

A couple nights after moving in, I decided it was finally time to call my friends back home and I got my walls knocked on. Universal sign for I’m being too loud, so I got it and immediately went to a whisper with one ear out of my headphones the rest of the night. The sound of a potato chip bag opening would’ve been twice as loud as my talking.

The next morning, I got a call regarding the sound complaint from my property manager and I apologized, promised I immediately went to a whisper and no longer made a ruckus and no longer would. She sounded cool with it.

The same night, I got another knock when I wasn’t even speaking, just using my PC and gaming a little bit. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just started being a bit more careful about my keyboard.

The next morning, property manager came straight to my door and proceeded to berate me for making カタカタ、ガタガタ sounds in my room at night, as well as not taking out the trash properly (I have been) amongst other things like how I should behave and live like a Japanese since I’m now in Japan. But that she understood it must be hard to change one’s lifestyle to fit the Japanese society ways as a foreigner and other racist remarks. Despite me always speaking in fluent Japanese with her.

BUT, she did admit that same day that the neighbor agreed my speaking noises have not been heard again since the first complaint. I know, I’ve been 100% whispering within my own frickin room above 10pm.

And since that faithful day, both the property manager and the neighbor have been continually harassing me in the forms of:

– going so far as to collect all of the leaves in the 2nd floor hallway and dumping them in front of my entrance door. I live at the very end of the hallway. This has happened once a week now even without me cleaning up the leaves anymore.

I did clean up the hallway in front of my door a couple days prior to the leaf incident because I’m deathly scared of bugs and was worried the coming warm weather would make the leaves in front of my door the perfect breeding ground for insects. But it’s also not my job to clean those up, so I only cleaned my section.

– property manager sent me 2 very racist/discriminatory letters, the first signed by herself, the second signed only by the property management company. The first letter said 特に深夜の海外へのお電話はお控えください。日本社会のルールに従うようお願いします。amongst other things and the second one said 「自分だけはいいだろう…」という考えは日本社会に絶対許されません!!! The second one is in regards to me leaving my tiny broom outside my genkan because I only plan to use it for the leaves outside.

Property manager claims the hallway is not to be used for anything at all and no personal items can be put there, despite the obvious umbrellas and sometimes cardboard boxes other people in the whole apartment put outside on a daily basis.

– property manager has continuously called my phone at least once every 2 days using different numbers since the 24th of december, I think because the neighbor went absolute apeshit on my wall that day claiming I was singing loudly and playing music late at night.

I was watching Ratatouille with my headphones on waiting for the clock to hit midnight so I could text my family and friends Merry Christmas.

I’ve rejected all her calls that I assume are from her personal phone because I’d rather have evidence of her harassment. I know it’s her because I am not waiting for any calls and Google lets me know who’s calling me if it’s from an establishment.

ETA: – I mistakenly took out some boxes and paper trash for recycle on the 31st of December. I completely blanked that the trash collection has stopped since the 30th, but there was still a lot of trash at the collection spot, which is why I also didn’t remember about the yasumi.

What proceeded was I got an email from property manager on the 4th saying that I left “a mountain of trash” right before the break. Basically she’s blaming me for all of the trash jusy because she saw my name on one of the boxes. I collected my boxes and paper trash when I noticed the mistake on the 4th, which was the day I got home to pick up some clothes to move back to my SO’s hotel. This is the day the next thing happened on.

– I’ve been out of my apartment since the New Years because my SO is visitting, meaning I stay with him the entire duration in his hotel, but the moment I came back to my apartment to grab some extra clothes one afternoon, property manager was in front of my door within 15 minutes screaming 〇〇管理会社です!!!ドアを開けてください! After ringing my bell twice. The property management company’s office is at least 20 minutes away by any means of transport if I assume they leave the building as soon as I stepped into the apartment.

I didn’t answer the door because at this point, I’m sick of her harassment and again, would rather have solid evidence such as writing or video if I were to face her again.

– I’ve just got back home for real tonight and already, I’ve heard knocks on my wall. I haven’t done anything to warrant that yet, not to mention it’s 6 frickin PM. This is after I find the sight that is a sparkling clean hallway with a pile of leaves in front of my door that I assume has been building since last week.

I’m starting to think property manager IS my neighbor due to the pettiness and how fast she came to my door. But that could’ve been a fluke.

Either way, I’m going crazy dealing with this BS and I’d like to report her somehow even with all my circumstantial evidence.

I’ve taken pictures and videos of all that I could to proof the harassment. I’ve also related all of this to my real estate agent, who has been an angle throughout all this. Ensuring me that this is all very unusual, promising to help, and actively agreeing that my actions so far have been correct.

Please help and sorry it got so long.

Thank you for any of you still here reading.

4 comments
  1. If I were you I’d just move out as soon as possible. Life’s too short to deal with this bs.

  2. I’d move as soon as possible. If that’s not possible due to money problems then I’d start to call the cops on the neighbor. Maybe also record yourself, set up a camera and record proof that you’re not being loud.. that’ll shut them up.

  3. You have the patience of a saint. That being said, Japan is full of racist psychos that will target you. The police are quite useless, but you should call them anyway. Even if it solves nothing, maybe your psycho landlord/possibly neighbor will back off.

    You’re paying to live there and you shouldn’t have to put up with that.

    Also, are you from another Asian country? I’ve noticed a lot of my Asian friends seem to get targeted harassment like that. I’m sorry to hear you have to deal with this nonsense.

  4. My advice for dealing with troublesome neighbors will always be the same: get a slice of pizza and staple it to a pizza flyer. Put it in their letterbox or under their car’s windscreen wiper.

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