Sex in Japan can be noisy business, with excessive groans and even “narration” of how they feel from the female party. Couple this with thin walls and windows, and densely packed residential areas, and you have a recipe for overheard copulation.
This can be a kinky experience but also infuriating, especially if it’s late at night and you just want some shut-eye. It can even lead, as we’ve shared before, to receiving angry notes from neighbors.
But is this grounds for more serious legal repercussions?
Legal website Bengo4 recently considered this issue. It received an inquiry from someone who complained about being disturbed by the sounds of noisy sex.
And it’s not the horny, inconsiderate youngsters you might think.
Apparently, the middle-aged couple next door are at it all day on the weekend, from six in the morning until two at night. The woman’s groans are audible, as are the man’s grunts of exertion.
It’s got to the point where the person has started mishearing dog barks for the passionate couple’s soundtrack, even when he’s at work.
It’s a similar problem if you have an active neighbor above you: one person complained about the constant thuds they can hear reverberating down to them while their female neighbor presumably enjoys sex on a thin futon.
Another family complained that their neighbor’s bed was hitting the wall between their apartments. Since these thuds were accompanied by her groans, it can only be because she was having sex with a partner. The family have kids and are worried about the children overhearing.
The interpretation of acts of public indecency in Japan hinges on the “act” part, and this might include “obscene” language. In which case, it is not inconceivable — but very unlikely — that someone could face arrest for noisy sex.
Far more feasible, Bengo4 notes, is that neighbors take the matter to court with a civil action seeking compensation. You would have to prove, then, that the level of noise is beyond what can be reasonably tolerated in terms of volume or type. In such a case, it is possible that the court will award damages.
But Bengo4 cautions that the amount of effort involved in collecting evidence and pursuing such a suit probably makes this unrealistic.
Some of the people who inquired with the website said that they called the police, who came around but did nothing, or that they told the company responsible for maintaining the apartment building, but nothing ever happened. The police and building maintenance people are unlikely to get too deeply involved, and it’s also best not to confront the noisy neighbors directly in case it aggravates the bad blood.
Moving is certainly one solution, as is asking a third party that includes legal experts, such as the Housing Dispute Board, to get involved.
