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snoring neighbours and thin japanese walls
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Lindsay



Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Posts: 29
Location: kitakyushu, japan

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 2:58 pm    Post subject: snoring neighbours and thin japanese walls Reply with quote

ok, i have tried my best, but i can't take it anymore! my neighbour snores like a bulldozer! i find it takes me at least an extra hour or two every night to fall asleep trying to tune out the snoring sound. i have heard snoring before, but not snoring like this, it is so loud. i have tried listening to my ipod while falling asleep and still i can hear the snoring OVER my music. i have tried earplugs, no dice. i cannot move my bed to any other location and i just do not know what to do. do i just have to grin and bear it with dark circles under my eyes? would i be a terribly rude westerner if i approached my neighbour? what's a girl to do?
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crazyteacher



Joined: 28 Sep 2004
Posts: 34
Location: Tokyo

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know that feeling! I live in a wooden house next to an old couple who chant for an hour every morning around 7. It freaked me out a first but now its ok. During the week I leave the house before 7 and on weekends if it sometimes wakes me up, im so used to it ,it doesnt wake me up fully. I just think (half asleep) "oh Its 7am. I`ll sleep some more" and roll over.

But snoring is different. Sorry I dont have any good advice for you.
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Eleckid



Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 102
Location: Aichi, Japan

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you're really desperate, re-arranging furnitures & moving to another location to sleep might be the best thing. What is the setting of your room? If you describe it, maybe someone can help out.

Another thing you can do is to hang something big on the wall to muffle the sound. Try using a big towel blanket, a big fleece blanket, or a thick curtain. A thick carpet is best but I don't know if it's possible to hang one up. Anything thick & rigid (facing the wall, not to you) would make the wall a wee bit thicker & help absorb the sound coming from the wall & muffles it a bit. It won't help much, but at least the noise won't sound as "direct" & sharp.

Also try not to have your bed touch the wall & have something against the wall to block the sound. Something like: wall-carpet-object-your bed. Again, try to make the thin wall thicker by putting things between the wall & your bed.

You know, right outside my window is a house with a really noisy dog, that barks 24/7 at nothing! My next door neighbour is this young girl who makes noise with her bf really loud day & night. There's also this crazy man in my neighbourhood who'd laughs & claps his hands really loud throughout the night, every night. I just had to bare with the noise & there's really nothing I can do about it.

If you really can't stand it, & your Japanese is good enough, you can complain to the superintendent of your apt. Or if you're brave enough, knock next door & talk to them about it. But I'm sure your neighbour can't stop himself from snoring (naturally, unless he uses something to stop his snoring).

This is an issue which I'd be really annoyed if I was you. Sorry to hear that you have a noisy neighbour! And see if you can do something about it. Good luck~
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The Great Wall of Whiner



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 4946
Location: Blabbing

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, you could knock on his door and say:

"Excuse me, I am a foreigner. You are not. I am better than you. So you should stop snoring. If you don't, I'm going to whine on the internet to everyone about you."

Also, you could try this:

BANG BANG "Stop snoring mutherfukka!!!!!!"

Which would sound like this to us:

BANG BANG: "Hajimma greocheo ship shekkii ya!"

In other words:

There is nothing you can do that will remedy your plight.

I lived near a train track for about a year. After 6 months, I got used to it. After I moved away, I couldn't sleep without the Ch-CHU-ba da---Ch CHU-ba da......

The only cure is move to another place.

Either that, or befriend the offender's wife, and tell her "Oh, by the way...is that you or your hubby who snores so loud? It's interesting, indeed!"
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Lindsay



Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Posts: 29
Location: kitakyushu, japan

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Well, you could knock on his door and say:

"Excuse me, I am a foreigner. You are not. I am better than you. So you should stop snoring. If you don't, I'm going to whine on the internet to everyone about you."



I don't feel I am better than anybody. I just want to get a good nights sleep, that is why I am "whining" on the internet for advice on how to be culturally sensitive in handling this issue. So, are you saying any attempt to discuss this with my neighbour will make me appear superior because I am a foriegner?
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spidey



Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 382
Location: Web-slinging over Japan...

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How about recording your neighbor snoring and...... playing it back for him?....Or...playing it at night really loud so that he gets a taste of his own medicine. Evil or Very Mad
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Sweetsee



Joined: 11 Jun 2004
Posts: 2302
Location: ) is everything

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 1:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How about insulating the wall with eggcartons or something and then masking it with a rug, carpet or a some type of wall hanging.

Or how about recording some good snoring and playing it full blast out on the veranda in the neighbors general direction, say early morning or dinnertime, some time for maximum effect.

How about drawing a cartoon and pasting it to the neighbors door.

Or how about an envelope in the post box with a cartoon and large wooden clothespin.

Or if all else fails just smoke a fatty and have a glass of rouge before bed.


Good luck,
s


P.S. Neighbor obviously drinks too much, be careful.
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BradS



Joined: 05 Sep 2004
Posts: 173
Location: Tokyo, Japan

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 5:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well the Japanese thing to do would be to avoid confrontation and go directly to the landlord and complain. Very Happy
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David W



Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 457
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 7:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Put your stereo on 11.
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BradS



Joined: 05 Sep 2004
Posts: 173
Location: Tokyo, Japan

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Over "10"?!?!? That's CRAZY!!! Very Happy
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hamel



Joined: 03 May 2004
Posts: 95

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

have you tried opening your window when you sleep to drown out the snoring noises? western people without kids are the most sensitive about noises, but snoring is pretty unavoidable. i have a cd player that also has ocean, stream, and other nature sounds. that could help.
good luck.
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The Great Wall of Whiner



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 4946
Location: Blabbing

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lindsay wrote:
Quote:
Well, you could knock on his door and say:

"Excuse me, I am a foreigner. You are not. I am better than you. So you should stop snoring. If you don't, I'm going to whine on the internet to everyone about you."



I don't feel I am better than anybody. I just want to get a good nights sleep, that is why I am "whining" on the internet for advice on how to be culturally sensitive in handling this issue. So, are you saying any attempt to discuss this with my neighbour will make me appear superior because I am a foriegner?


No, I'm not saying anything of the sort. However from my experiences in both Korea and in Japan, everytime I complain about something 9 times out of 10 it was always "Geez, foreigners always complain about the small things".

I agree with the poster who said record his snoring, then play it back for him. "This is what I hear every night from you. This is you."

If my memory serves me correct, you could get away with something like this "Aanata no [then make a snoring noise] des!" (This is your SNNNORE!)
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AgentMulderUK



Joined: 22 Sep 2003
Posts: 360
Location: Concrete jungle (Tokyo)

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 2:27 pm    Post subject: Bear Necessities Reply with quote

One night, tell the authorities that you think there is a bear in the next apartment.

Judging from the latest fad of bear scare stories on Japanese national news........you should soon have the police and members of the National Defence Farce running around like headless chickens, waving small bells incase a 'giant' black bear decides to rip them to pieces.

They are magical bells, of course, so it's ok.

Perhaps there is a link between the bears and terrorism that I missed somewhere.
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6810



Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 309

PostPosted: Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

not advice. but empathy. not that is was so terrible at the time.

I lived in one of those cheap kennel <ahem> apartment complexes and at precisely the same time each day (rather night, or morning if you're picky - 3 am) the neighbour on the floor above, just to the right of my bed would tread on the same loose floor board on his way to the toilet. THis was followed of course by the soothing gurgle of water as it went down behind my wall and under my floor.

I never got used to it.

Then I moved next to a bright and noisy highway. That took months to accomadate.

Finally, a decent pad out in the boonies with a good friend. All that darkness and silence, well - now that took some getting used to!
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The Great Wall of Whiner



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 4946
Location: Blabbing

PostPosted: Fri Oct 08, 2004 4:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

6810 wrote:
not advice. but empathy. not that is was so terrible at the time.

I lived in one of those cheap kennel <ahem> apartment complexes and at precisely the same time each day (rather night, or morning if you're picky - 3 am) the neighbour on the floor above, just to the right of my bed would tread on the same loose floor board on his way to the toilet. THis was followed of course by the soothing gurgle of water as it went down behind my wall and under my floor.

I never got used to it.

Then I moved next to a bright and noisy highway. That took months to accomadate.

Finally, a decent pad out in the boonies with a good friend. All that darkness and silence, well - now that took some getting used to!


Better than what I had in Korea.

Husband comes home from drinking with his buddies. Argues with wife for ten minutes. Then "rapes" her. Then goes to sleep.

Every night for one year.

I complained, oh I don't know. A million times.
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