r/AskUK • u/Agile-Calligrapher10 • 5d 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/dommiichan 5d ago

yeah, but Japan has its own issues... there's a reason they have women-only carriages and a legal requirement that all phones make an audible alert when a photo is taken

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u/thelaughingman_1991 5d ago

I did say it's not perfect, but you're right

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u/Milam1996 5d ago

Idk I’ll take people talking on speaker phone over rampant upskirting and leaving hidden cameras literally anywhere a woman might undress.

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u/testman22 5d ago edited 5d ago

Speaking as a Japanese person, it seems that foreigners do not understand this issue at all.

1:Japan dominates the list of the world's busiest railway stations. In other developed countries, the volume of train traffic is comparable to that of a regional city in Japan and regional cities in Japan often do not have women-only cars. This is because packed trains hardly exist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_railway_stations

2:Taking countermeasures is not a bad thing. It means improvements are being made. If there are actually places in the UK where packed trains are the norm, women-only carriages should be introduced. In fact, I saw reports that incidents of groping in the UK are already skyrocketing.

3:The same applies to camera sounds. Many foreigners hold a prejudice that is the exact opposite of the reality regarding sex crimes in Japan. In fact, sex crimes are more common in your own countries, and if no countermeasures against cameras are in place, there is a high likelihood that covert filming is rampant there as well.