Noisy children skate on the street. Couples arguing in their homes. People crowded on the sidewalk and gossiped for long hours. Some people would describe these activities as noise pollution. A new website in Japan has put culprits on a map, prompting debate over those who are disturbing the peace.
The website, DQN Today, describes itself as a rare guide to helping house hunters avoid neighborhoods inhabited by ‘stupid parents who let their children play on roads and parking lots’. It has maps that visualize the dorozoku, or ‘road tribe’, a term that applies to people of all ages blocking the road or sowing public destruction.
Residents who find noise pollution unbearable have found an outlet on the site that collects anonymous grips on neighbors and captures every grievance on an interactive map, creating an extensive record of Japan’s annoying noises and attractions.
Noise has increased in the capital Tokyo, with police increasing by 30 percent between March and April last year. It was then that the government closed schools and advised residents to work remotely because of the coronavirus, causing some to become all too aware of home-made noises to which they have never paid attention.
Outside, although some play areas have been cordoned off in Japan’s state of emergency, most parks have remained open – and busy.
The creator of the site initially responded to email questions about the site on Wednesday, but declined to give his full name. He said the card is a less subtle tip for residents – they know who they are, even though they are never mentioned – and for government officials, who he hoped would pay attention to it. The creator, who describes himself as a freelance web developer in Yokohama, Japan, and goes by the Twitter grip @hotaniya, later stopped responding to emails.
The site launched in 2016 and initially had several hundred users. Since then, it has grown exponentially as it has sparked debate, especially over what experts believe society’s increasing intolerance to the sounds of children at play appears to be.
Although many on social media have praised the site for highlighting the issue of noise, some parents find the approach difficult and fear a growing gap between families with children and neighbors who cannot stand it. Among the 6,000 complaints that are diverse, covering topics such as parking violations, excessive swearing or stray cats scratching car tires, there are many entries that exclude areas without children under supervision.
Saori Hiramoto, 35, an activist who successfully campaigned for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to allow pushchairs in crowded trains in 2019, said the map showed a breakdown in communication and the breakdown of a once-in-a-lifetime society. was dependent.
‘I really feel it’s so hard to raise children,’ she said, ‘people say parents should be responsible for childcare, but it’s very difficult, especially for single parents. We have reached our limits.
“I think society or community should see and raise children as members of society,” she added.
Akihiko Watanabe, a professor in the Faculty of Education at Shiga University near Kyoto, said in an interview on Wednesday that the map has the potential to harm children and teenagers by exposing them to unsupervised places. But some parents get defenses over complaints about their children, making it difficult for others to approach them with concern, he said.
“In the past, parents have apologized and disciplined their children,” he said. “But now parents are becoming hostile to people who scold.”
At least 1,500 new users registered to use the card between March and April last year, just as Tokyo police recorded the increase in noise complaints.
One complaint is lazy: The gatherings “are terribly lazy and noisy. I watched for a long time, but they did not stop. Children are also left unattended and make strange noises. ”
Another one says: ‘Three or four children gather during holidays and play loud, and a loud voice echoes in the area. ‘
“I forgot it was a road,” wrote another user about a piece of asphalt used by skateboarders.
The dorozoku website is not the first digital map to draw controversy over what it contains. Oshimaland reports “stigmatized properties” in Japan and around the world, where murders, suicides and fires have taken place. Recently, new users of the Dorozoku card have tried to file complaints about public nuisance in Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Britain, but postings have been restricted to Japan for legal reasons.
The mapping site does not allow comments directly aimed at private homes or schools, but does refer to unsupervised children playing on nearby roads, pointing out that it was ultimately the responsibility of parents and schools to supervise at all times. love about children.
Over the course of the year, residents in different parts of the country have been pushing for the construction of nursery schools, even as parents have asked for more affordable daycare options. The residents of Kobe sued a nursery school in 2016 due to the cacophony of the playground, but the case was dismissed in 2017.
Experts see an increasing intolerance of children playing, as some of the aging population become less familiar with the sounds of young children. Over the years, residents in various districts have campaigned for the construction of kindergartens, even though parents have called for more affordable daycare options and economists are concerned that people in Japan, with the oldest population, do not have enough babies.
Public parks have been plastered with signs prohibiting all kinds of activities in response to nuisance complaints from residents. The Nishi-Ikebukuro Park in Toshima, Tokyo, drew attention to 45 bans on 45 different activities, such as skateboarding, skipping rope and soccer. A local official said the ban stemmed from ten-year complaints.
Ko Fujii, the founder and CEO of the Makaira Public Affairs Agency and a visiting professor at Tama University’s Center for Rule-Making Strategies in Tokyo, has noticed in recent years that dissatisfied commuters are harassing mothers who transport babies by public transport.
The father of two young children, Mr. Fujii, said he pasted a sticker with the slogan ‘We love babies, it’s OK to cry’, to support their parents.
“I think some people are just as frustrated with city life that they can become so treacherous,” he said.
Japan saw no shortage of noise disputes between neighbors. A 38-year-old construction worker was stabbed to death in his parents’ apartment in Tokyo in May by a 60-year-old resident of the building, who told police he could not stand the harsh footsteps and voices. ‘
On Wednesday, a Kyoto couple won a lawsuit against six neighbors, who charged them with harassment over noise disputes over their children. Telephonically, one of the plaintiffs, Shu Murayama, said he considered the card to be a useful resource for others.
“You can avoid problems with this,” he said, adding that he had noticed complaints in his own area.