Q. What are the governmental responses to the children's noise issues in Japan?

  Q. What are the governmental responses to the noise issues made by children or educational facilities in Japan? Do we have a law related to the issue?


 As you know, Japan is one of the countries which has an abrupt declining birthrate and an aging population. Due to this condition, Japanese government constantly has meetings to discuss how to improve child’s living environment. In this part of the blog, we would like to think about the issue from a political perspective.

 

 In April 2023, Cabinet Office held Children's Future Strategic Council (子供未来戦略会議-Kodomo Mirai Senryaku Kaigi) for the second time. This is a setting to discuss policies and their financial resources to realize the improvement of the birthrate. This time, the need for a law that says” children's voices are not noise" was the topic of discussion. As an example, it was mentioned that Germany revised a law in 2011, and the new law states that children's voices are not noise that affects the environment. In Germany, since the 1970s, residents in the neighborhood have been filing lawsuits against noise from child day care facilities, demanding compensation for mental and physical damages. And finally, in 2005, an example of a court decision leading to the abolition of the facility became a controversial issue in society. In Japan, there have been also cases where plans to build parks and daycare centers have faced difficulties due to concerning of neighborhood residents about the noise of children. Prime Minister Kishida, in his response, expressed his agreement to the law, saying, "We must share an awareness of the problem and change our minds about the children's noise issues.”

 

 On the other hand, Tokyo Metropolitan Government has already established an ordinance with the content mentioned above several years ago.

In March 2015, the Tokyo Metropolitan Council adopted a proposal to exclude "children's voices" from the numerical regulations of the Tokyo Metropolitan Noise Ordinance. It means that if there is a legal case regarding the voices of children and the adults supervising them, various factors are generally considered, but especially the "level of damage" and the "response of the accused" are more important than the specific volume of the noise. 


 According to information we mentioned above, it is expected that the government, which wants to make the country easier to raise children in order to tackle the declining birth rate, will set up a legal system that gives families and educational facilities preferential treatment. 




Published by Galina

__________________________

References:

https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/246934 東京新聞 Tokyo Web, published in April 29, accesed July 10
https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/64622 東洋経済　Toyo Kezai Online, published 2015 March 30, accesed July 10

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Q. How does noise affect people's health? (Noise especially from schools)

Image
Q. How does noise affect people's health? How can excessive noise from children impact the mental and physical health of individuals in the community? Are there any specific health risks associated with prolonged exposure to noise caused by children? A. Noise can have a significant impact on people's health, especially when it comes to excessive noise from children within a community.       Decibels, the unit used to measure noise levels, play a crucial role in understanding these effects. For instance, a normal conversation typically ranges from 60 to 70 decibels, but sustained exposure to noise levels of 80-90 decibels can lead to hearing loss.       Research specifically focused on children's noise in schools reveals interesting findings. The Japanese Ministry of Education suggests that classroom noise levels should be below 50 decibels with windows closed and below 55 decibels with windows open. Although a difference of 5 decibels may seem insignificant, it's import
Read more

Q. How many people complain about the noise children make?

Image
  Q1. How many people complain about the noise children make?   A1. 　I would like to summarize the results of a survey conducted by a nursery school to find out how many people actually consider children to be noisy. The survey was open from November 5 to November 30, 2014; and 720 people responded to it. 　According to the result of a survey, about 43% of all (315 people) answered that they have felt that children's noises are noise. Although the numbers are not extremely high, it is clear that a certain number of people still feel that children's voices are noisy. In addition, the survey was conducted online, and some people found and responded to the survey as a result of a search, which may be more biased than actual public opinion. 　The fact that such a survey was conducted shows that there is at least a high level of interest in this issue in Japan. _________________________   Q2. How can you talk to the parents of children who make noise?   A2. I would like to suggest ho
Read more

Q. Have they ever had a trial regarding children's noise in Japan?

  Q1 . Have they ever had a trial regarding children's noise in Japan? What was the judgement of a trial?   Q2. If they have had,what was the judgement of the trial? 　A.The answer to the first question is yes. And then, I would like to introduce you some examples of actual court cases in Japan involving sounds made by children and educational facilities.  【Case1】 Tokyo District Court, October 3, 2007   The defendant's eldest son (3~4 years old at the time) was complained of the noise produced when he ran, jumped and bounced in the hallway. The performance of the structure of the second floor of this building in terms of heavy impact sound insulation was about LH-60. According to the sound insulation performance standard for buildings of the Architectural Institute of Japan, this is a slightly inferior level in terms of sound insulation performance for apartment buildings. However, this condominium was intended for a family of three bedrooms, and children were also expected to l
Read more