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An obnoxious neighbor with a pet ROOSTER!

jammac

後輩
27 Apr 2003
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Can you believe it? I just moved to Tokyo (Otsuka area) and I've discovered that my neighbor has 2 or 3 very loud, very vocal, pet roosters. Of course, if I had known before I moved into my new apartment (which cost me nearly 200,000 yen) that a strange man in the area is keeping such noisy roosters, I would never have taken the apartment. How silly of me. I hadn窶冲 the foresight to spend an early morning in the area to insure that I get a good night窶冱 sleep. Now, after such a huge investment, I find that I am forced to wake-up every morning at 4 am, sometimes earlier, to the sound of incredibly loud roosters crowing their brains out and, worse, that I have no recourse. I have spoken to many Japanese people, including my building manager and the police manning the local Koban about this problem and the only response that I get is "Sorewa shogunai" (it can't be helped). I have also discovered that many others in this neighborhood are also very angry that this rooster owning individual insists on keeping his pets on the roof of his apartment building so that people can hear their ungodly shrill at all hours of the day and night for miles around!
I find it inconceivable in this day and age that one individual can keep farm animals within the city limits of a supposedly modern city like Tokyo, infringing on the rights of the literally thousands of people that live in this densely populated area of Tokyo. How can this be possible? I cannot dismiss this situation as just another Japanese oddity because it窶冱 a fact that all civilized people in this world adhere to basic laws of governance when it comes to "maintaining the peace" or law and order or whatever you want to call it. It seems that the rights of this community far outweigh the rights of this one individual, who is obviously unstable to begin with. Who in their right mind would keep a farm animal in such a large city?
Can someone lend me a hand? I would like to know what my options are (legally of course). A lawyer and a lawsuit? An equally annoying habit that will drive him nuts such as a motorcycle with no muffler, etc? Perhaps I am being selfish to expect the same rights that westerners have - that is the right to be protected from obnoxious neighbors that make a nuisance of themselves. These nuisance laws go back to English common laws that are hundreds of years old. Do I have the right to play loud and annoying Japanese acid/punk on my stereo at extremely high decibels? Apparently I do but the important thing to consider is that I don't. Its unfortunate a law must be written that undermines individual liberty but that is the price for peaceful relations with your neighbors.
On top of the many strange and annoying noises one must tolerate in Tokyo, this is one situation that no-one living in a civilized society should endure.
 
Originally posted by jammac
Can you believe it? I just moved to Tokyo (Otsuka area) and I've discovered that my neighbor has 2 or 3 very loud, very vocal, pet roosters. Of course, if I had known before I moved into my new apartment (which cost me nearly 200,000 yen) that a strange man in the area is keeping such noisy roosters, I would never have taken the apartment. How silly of me. I hadn窶冲 the foresight to spend an early morning in the area to insure that I get a good night窶冱 sleep. Now, after such a huge investment, I find that I am forced to wake-up every morning at 4 am, sometimes earlier, to the sound of incredibly loud roosters crowing their brains out and, worse, that I have no recourse. I have spoken to many Japanese people, including my building manager and the police manning the local Koban about this problem and the only response that I get is "Sorewa shogunai" (it can't be helped). I have also discovered that many others in this neighborhood are also very angry that this rooster owning individual insists on keeping his pets on the roof of his apartment building so that people can hear their ungodly shrill at all hours of the day and night for miles around!
I find it inconceivable in this day and age that one individual can keep farm animals within the city limits of a supposedly modern city like Tokyo, infringing on the rights of the literally thousands of people that live in this densely populated area of Tokyo. How can this be possible? I cannot dismiss this situation as just another Japanese oddity because it窶冱 a fact that all civilized people in this world adhere to basic laws of governance when it comes to "maintaining the peace" or law and order or whatever you want to call it. It seems that the rights of this community far outweigh the rights of this one individual, who is obviously unstable to begin with. Who in their right mind would keep a farm animal in such a large city?
Can someone lend me a hand? I would like to know what my options are (legally of course). A lawyer and a lawsuit? An equally annoying habit that will drive him nuts such as a motorcycle with no muffler, etc? Perhaps I am being selfish to expect the same rights that westerners have - that is the right to be protected from obnoxious neighbors that make a nuisance of themselves. These nuisance laws go back to English common laws that are hundreds of years old. Do I have the right to play loud and annoying Japanese acid/punk on my stereo at extremely high decibels? Apparently I do but the important thing to consider is that I don't. Its unfortunate a law must be written that undermines individual liberty but that is the price for peaceful relations with your neighbors.
On top of the many strange and annoying noises one must tolerate in Tokyo, this is one situation that no-one living in a civilized society should endure.

In one of my old neighbourhoods I use to live in... if your pet was noisy, some strange man was going around poisoning peoples pets or finding some other way to "get rid" of them. =D
 
Hi jammac, welcome to the forum!

First of all, I can feel with you, noise pollution can be quite troublesome. In our case it wasn't a rooster, but a braindead (and obviously deaf) techno freak living in the apartment above ours. Advantage: "music" can be turned off.

A few months ago I've read about a similar case in Tokyo in which a foreign couple complained about a little dog barking all night long. They consulted the local koban, they talked to neighbours and even the owners of the dog who "felt extremely sorry", but the situation didn't change. As far as I can remember lawyers were reluctant to start a case. In the end they seriously considered to move somewhere else.

I suggest a BBQ party for the entire neighbourhood, lol.
 
You could invite your neighbour for a French "coq au vin" dinner ("wine-sauce rooster"). Alternatively you could shoot the volatiles.. or buy a cat and send it on the roof with the rooster when your neighbour is absent. Of course, don't claim it's your cat. You've never seen it before... Make sure to give the cat a good diet before you do that. It should work, as long as you have so kind of access to the chicken-run itself.
 
laser pointers into the eyes to blind them so they can't tell when it's light or dark? :D

seriously, too bad you can't talk sense into the neighbor...but some of them folks are not living in reality so.....
 
try city hall

First of all, I'm sorry you have to go through this.
I don't think contacting the police for stuff like this will help, so try contacting the city hall. I'm not an expert, but I know there is a place where you can report various problems.
BTY, Have you contacted the health department? Maybe you can use the fear (SARS, West Nile Virus, HongKong Flu) againt this annoying neighbor.
The last thing I can think of is to contact the media. It sounds like your other neighbors are fed up with this dude, so they should act too if they really want to do something about it, that is.

If nothing works, call KFC.

Good luck!
 
im kinda wondering how this guy sleeps at night himself with such a ****-doodle-racket goin on.
 
It's a shame the victims of noise pollution, especially that from dogs, have to jump through hoops to try to resolve the problem legally. In the end, we are left with very few options:
1-put up with the noise
2-move at your own expense
3-give the dog a perma-sleep treat
A dog's rights should not supercede those of humans when it comes to peace and quiet = health.
 
I think the cat idea is good! You can probably find one free off the street. That way you can honestly say you don't own the cat.
Desperate times call for desperate actions. Within legal safe limits of course. Good Luck! Welcome to the land of the rising sun!!!
 
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