Tokyo and tech through the eyes of a split pea

Japanese attentiveness at its finest: measuring construction noise

If you’ve been to Japan in the past few years you’ve undoubtedly noticed the uptick in building construction.  From architectural marvels such as Herzog and Demuron’s Prada building to the Mori group’s campus-size Roppongi and Omotesando Hills to even an onsen in the middle of Roppongi, new buildings and establishments continue to pop up like weeds.  In-tune with all this construction, I don’t think anyone can argue that when it comes to attending to the foot-traffic around the real-estate under development, Japan comes in at number one.  As if there were never enough real people waving their hands, bowing, and warning passers-by to watch their steps and not walk into protective walls, robotic mannequins in full security-guard attire and swinging flashing lights are strategically placed to warn on-coming vehicular traffic of potholes and construction workers milling about.  Now this courteousness seems to have reached a new level.

I was picking up some hardware from the back-alley stores of Akihabara when I spotted these odd looking red lights flashing digits like a roadside speedometer you might see in America. Closer examination revealed they were measuring loudness in the area – the top was measuring volume, the bottom I think was measuring some sort of vibration level (can’t read the characters in this low-res photo), as in when heavy trucks drive by. Impressive was that these were being recorded in real-time. My guess is there have been an increasing number of complaints about noise levels. Where the authorities should really be focusing to address the noise pollution is of course the campaign trucks.

At any rate, give your lungs a good exercise if you ever come across these – it’s amusing to see how loud one can get.