Do you find life in Japan noisier or quieter than other places where you have lived ?

[Maciamo]

Everyone has a different sensibility to noise. However, I have noticed that this sensibility can also be influenced by cultural factors (or just the environment in which one grew up). For example, in some parts of Germany it is prohibited by law to have a shower between 10pm and 6am (or something like that) so as not to disturb neighbours trying to sleep. Some cities even forbid dogs from barking between these hours !

Recently some Japanese told me that they found that "foreigners were noisy". I don't know how they could talk about "foreigners" as if they were all similar, but that's typical of Japanese people to see "foreigners" as one monolithic group. Whatever. I was quite surprised by this assumption, as I personally found the Japanese to be among the noisiest people in the developed world after the Americans, and maybe the Italians and Spaniards.

In fact it is not that simple to determine which society tends to be the most noisy, even having lived in the countries compared. The reason is that there are many sorts of noises, and some people can withstand very well some particular noises, but be very irritated by others.

Here are some kinds of noises which I found more annoying in Tokyo that what I used to be :

- Drunk people talking loudly in the streets almost every evening (about from 8pm to midnight), and especially and Friday night. One of the reasons is that I live in a lively district with lots of "nomiya" (drinking places) and "izakaya" (pubs).

- People in restaurants, especially izakayas. I was brought up with the idea that restaurants were civilized places to discuss quietly (i.e. the image people usually have of French restaurants). In Japan it is closer to the concept of Roman orgy with loud laughing and people collapsing as they try to make their way out. It's probably cultural as the average Japanese behaviour in most TV shows is similar (lots of shouting and loud laughing).

- Vans, trucks or cars passing around advertising something in loudspeakers. They also exist where I come from but are not as frequent or as noisy. In Tokyo they pass almost everyday around my house. Everyday a different one : used electronics, vendors of ice cream, gyoza, ramen or yaki-imo, nationalists in black vans, and this week politicians campaigning for the local elections (the worst ! Today I thought they were shouting in loudspeakers just at my window, but they were still 50m away !).

- Ambulances, police, etc. Never understand why ambulances had to perforate people's eardrums when they are supposed to be caring about people's health. The major problem is that in Tokyo I hear them almost everyday, sometimes up to 4x a day. (=> see article 90% of ambulances dispatched in Tokyo are for non emergencies )

- Pachinko parlours. They sometimes make me jump out of my skin when someone open the door while I am passing by. I can't believe that people can actually stay inside these places without going permanently deaf. Maybe that is why I find Japanese people so noisy, given the incredible number of pachinkos everywhere (at least 5 big ones only around my station).

- Neighbours. Walls are usually very thin in Japan and not noise-proff at all. I can hear everytime one neighbours open or close their door, have an argument, watch TV, etc. And I don't even live in an apartment ! It's not that annoying, but I am definitely not used to it.


Other noises which I don't mind in Japan :

- Cars. There is usually less horning than in Europe (and not just Italy).

- Music, jingles, annoucements, welcome message, etc. in big electronic shops, dept. stores, stations, etc. Noisy, but not annoyingly so.

I'd like to remind people that, although I grew up in the countryside, I have lived in several big cities (London, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona) before coming to Japan.

The above mentioned noises for Tokyo are worse than what I have experienced elsewhere. Italian and Spanish cities suffer a lot from cars horning, but at least there are no loudspeakers everywhere or pachinkos.

As for people talking loudly in public places, the Americans (well a representative portion, not all) can be notoriously noisy. I remember a few times in Japan when someone "shouted" to order a drink in a cafe (well, they probably talked normally by their standard, but so loud that everyone, including me, turned to watch), and everytime they were Americans (I could tell from the accent, corpulence and dressing style).

To those who have lived or stayed long enough in Japan, how would you compare "noise" in Japan with what you were used to where you grew up or lived before ?