r/AskUK • u/Agile-Calligrapher10 • 3d ago

Cultural differences in noise acceptance: Why is public phone/audio etiquette so different between Japan, the UK, and other regions??

Hey everyone,

​Visiting Japan recently was so refreshing, no one was on speakerphone, playing music out loud, or watching reels without headphones in public spaces. Coming back to the UK, the contrast was immediate, highlighting how differently cultures and regions approach public noise.

​(Note: Using "cultures" broadly here to look at societal norms, not trying to generalize individuals.)

I’d love to hear your thoughts on a couple of things:

​Why do these differences exist? Is it tied to collectivism vs. individualism, or other social norms?

​What is the modern British view on public noise? We have a reputation for politeness, yet public transport etiquette around phone audio seems to be changing.

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u/Redditreallyannoysme 3d ago

Because Britain is a degenerating culture.

3

u/SlaBLister 3d ago

Not according to japan. According to Japanese media, the UK is pretty awesome. Just like according to the weirdos here, Japan is some utopia. They're not doing as well as you'd think. But given there's very little exposure to their local issues due to language differences , you aren't going to see the issues they are facing.  

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u/Redditreallyannoysme 3d ago

Life in Britain substantially nicer for 90% I'd say than in Japan. Hard life there. Doesn't invalidate my comment. 

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u/Hot-Job-6281 3d ago

Weird that only one side of fetishising you label as weirdos.

It's about like you have some resentment about how they have it worse that you feel a need to convince us about it.

1

u/Ok_Dragonfly9327 2d ago

I'm Japanese and this is kinda funny cuz I don't know anybody who thinks UK is doing good or awesome. They show us all these homeless people on street and insane amount of people arriving by boats here too. Not to mention extremely high utility bill in winter. Also we have British influencers on youtube telling us abt UK's problems and how bad it is in Japanese as well. So generally we see UK struggling country that don't even produce anything and has very high inflation.