How bad is noise pollution in your neighborhood?

I am living in the middle of a large city hub, on a second floor, where many drunkards, legal druggers, buses and trams pass by hourly (the formers multiply at night, as the latters tune it down). I also have to suffer the existence of two next-room neighbours whose culture does not encompass basic respect to sleep-time (it is overridden by the desire for self-entertainment). Thankfully, the medieval building has two layers of windows to battle at least the outside disturbance. Which it does splendidly, unless I open them...

Our once quiet neighbourhood has been turned into a permanent building site as blocks of flats and identikit houses are knocked up cheaply to accommodate all the young families moving into the area. The school next door is currently being demolished to be made bigger to accommodate the increasing roll. Nothing but noise, dust and tremors for months.

The number of builds going on at the same time is causing problems, so much so that many residents have got together to protest against another large area earmarked as blocks of flats being built, citing, correctly, that facilities to support the sudden increase of residents should be built instead. Schools, health care facilities, day care, shops and, particularly, car parking is now in short supply. The roads are jammed too.

The only complaints I have are the twice or thrice yearly lone bosozoku, and the more frequent, yet still occasional, campaigning-politician truck.

same.

Would be perfectly fine if it weren't for the annoying bikers who think they're bad-ass in the summer....

Not much noise on the ground leve other than the usual kids playing, dog barking, and laundry pole salesman. There are frequent US and SDF fly-bys.

Not complaining, though. The residential area developed after the bases, and it’s pretty cool to see the F-15s and F-2s.

Cats in heat, however, sound like a baby being tortured all night and recently the dog has begun imitating it. Neuter and release should be implemented.

zichi - that sounds lovely. But I wonder how easy is it to get to buses and trains?

I used to live in the middle of a big city but on top of a hill, so it was very peaceful (although you could still hear the bosozoku faintly in the distance at night).

Japan has got to be the worst country when it comes to noise pollution. I have never been to a supermarket that didn't have loud annoying music playing.

In what is basically a rural and very peaceful area, from time to time the peace is shattered by the scream of military aircraft. I don't know what they are, Japanese or American, but they are noisy.

It's far worse in the Chatan area. I was walking along near the sea wall in the early morning and a group of about six or seven came screaming past at low level.

If they absolutely have to play their war games, can't they do it where there are no people?

When I first moved here it was usually housing chosen by my employer. Later I was able to look for a place better suited to my needs. Where I am now is near a main road so that is one negative factor, and you can hear the occasional aircraft, a dog bark, a child crying, and local bosozoku on weekends.

It is on the top of a little hill, surrounded by woods, so generally it's tranquil here and I do not have to think about whether what I am doing is annoying the neighbors. I can practice with a musical instrument for example to my heart's content. Noise pollution from outside is relatively minimal.

I can hear the ship horns

That's a sound I miss. As a kid in Edinburgh, I could hear ship horns most days. Much later I often worked up a hillside in Kobe with a view of the sea and ships and the sound of horns. Now I live 50 kilometers from the sea, and while the sound of birds is nice, I like nothing better than going somewhere where I can see and hear ships on the sea.

Not bad, the occasional festival/political campaign truck/bicycle karaoke star/bosozoku biker comes through but not very often. There is a park nearby but it's quiet, just on weekend mornings I wake up to the squeaky seesaw (thing really could use some grease!) and kids playing, but I don't mind it, it means "weekend".

The only annoying things are

the local elementary school when they have undokai or other events. BLARING loudspeakers they start off at around 8am on Sundays with the same annoying loops of music playing when some old man isn't clearing his throat and shouting off peoples' names into the mic (who shouts into a mic??). Fortunately this only happens 2-3 times a year.

rajio taiso in the park in the summer, bright and early each morning around 6am. The past 3-4 years the volume was unbelievable. Booming around the neighborhood like an outdoor concert! Perhaps enough folks complained because last year I realized it was finally at a level I could tune out and go back to sleep.