Oct.
1999, Xene #12
NOISE - The City's "Silent"
Problem
by William Kennedy
It's a pleasant autumn afternoon in Sapporo. The stereo
plays quietly in the background, in your office there's
the quiet buzz of things being done. Looking out the
window, you are struck by the wish to feel the warmth
of the sunshine and the edge in the light breeze.
You open the window -- and the music disappears, activity
comes to a halt, the sunshine and the breeze are forgotten.
All you can think about is the din pouring in through
your window. Welcome to life in the city.
Like crowds and garbage, noise is an unfortunate part
of city life and Sapporo is no different than any
other city anywhere in the world. It can be argued
that for a city of almost 2 million people, Sapporoites
have relatively little to complain about and city
officials are quick to point out that the public is
rarely subjected to excessive noise.
But this by-the-book argument ignores a growing worldwide
concern over urban noise. It may also not be the best
policy for a city that prides itself on its livability
and which lives and dies by tourism.
According
to the City of Sapporo, complaints about noise greatly
outnumber those about any other kind of pollution.
Tetsuo Senshu of the city's Environmental Department
says that complaints -- all complaints -- are taken
seriously.
"Whenever there is a complaint, we send someone
out. We take measurements and tell the complainant
if the level is bearable," he says. Senshu spoke
with Xene because his boss with whom the interview
had been scheduled had been called out to investigate
a complaint.
Noise standards in Sapporo are roughly the same as
those around the world. The magic number for exposure
is 85 decibels for eight hours. Senshu's department
uses a new system, LEQ, a calculation which considers
maximum and mean levels and duration.
Decibel levels range from 0 to 140. A normal conversation
would register about 58 or 60 dbs. Hearing can be
damaged from prolonged exposure to 85 dbs and above.
In rough measurements conducted by Xene, a pachinko
parlor in Susukino was found to have an average level
of between 85 and 90 dbs. The maximum level for the
parlor was 100 dbs, which is 32 times as destructive
to hearing as 85 dbs.
When noise standards are broken, says Senshu, the
department will offer "instruction", gentle
suggestions that are intended to be regarded as orders.
If there is no change, a formal warning is issued,
with the threat of a court appearance down the road.
Most offenders, he says, are cooperative.
But what of those who are not cooperative or who ignore
or flout regulations? Two obvious -- and obnoxious
-- examples in Japan are the motorcycle-riding bosozoku
and the amplifier-laden trucks known as uyoku driven
by local right-wing extremists. Here Senshu acknowledges
one of the common problems in enforcing noise standards:
jurisdiction. The police, he says, are responsible
for both the bosozoku and the uyoku.
The police, however, appear to be ineffectual in dealing
with both groups. Comical low-speed chases involving
police cars and masked bosozoku winding through downtown
streets are common across Japan and the right-wingers
seem able to act with impunity. Senshu knows of five
arrests the police have made for noise violations
by uyoku trucks. The same offender has been arrested
each time, he says.
Another problem may be that the noise which bothers
you is not noise in the eyes of the city. Senshu says
most complaints do not break regulations and therefore
require no enforcement, although he says the city
will sometimes request a "favor" of an offending
party.
For the individual this means that unless you live
next door to New Chitose Airport or the rock band
Glay have included your balcony on their next tour,
you're out of luck.
This policy also ignores a growing worldwide trend
which considers environmental noise to be more than
just an annoyance. Physicians, bureaucrats and activists
in the West have begun to consider the effects of
noise on quality of life, stress and even learning
among children.
A green paper prepared by the European Union calls
noise one of the continent's main local environmental
problems. With tongue only slightly in cheek, a report
by the city of Vancouver, Canada, two years ago referred
to noise as the "silent" environmental issue
of the '90s.
In Japan, however, there is still a great division
between what is referred to as "medical"
and "sense" problems, with attention limited
to "medical" issues, particularly regarding
hearing loss, industry and airports.
Senshu
is familiar with some of the recent research, but
remains noncommittal on the dangers of environmental
noise; the responsibility, he says, rests with Japan's
lawmakers.
"The government should draw the line about whether
this (environmental noise) is a medical problem or
a sense problem," he says.
Senshu does agree that Sapporo is becoming noisier.
He winces at the mention of the high-pitched advertisements
for shopping arcades, conversation schools and sports
newspapers that are blasted through the city's streets.
As irritating as they may be, however, they come nowhere
near cracking the noise barrier and so are officially
no problem.
In other departments, attitudes towards noise complaints
are at best indifferent and border on hostile. Residents
complaining to the city's traffic and environment
department about situations near their homes are told
that they shouldn't have moved there in the first
place. For decades, the official position favored
the vague all-encompassing concept of "public
welfare" over the suffering of individual citizens.
In the last several years changes have begun to creep
in. In 1995 the government lost a 20-year legal battle
over noise and air pollution on national roads. Tokyo
was found to be responsible and was ordered to pay
compensation for damages.
Such cases, however, are still rare. There are no
lawyers in Sapporo who handle noise complaints and,
rather than seeking a solution, people are usually
advised to seek financial assistance to install double-pane
windows and then put up with the noise.
Concerns over noise pollution have been slow to receive
attention around the world it is unlikely to think
that Japan, where phrases like gaman (perseverance)
and sho ga nai (it can't be helped) are regularly
heard, will be a leader in this area. Within Japan,
however, Sapporo, whose quality of life is the envy
of the country, is well suited to show the way.
Until that happens, though, your only hope is to grin
and bear it. And keep the windows closed.
