An obnoxious topic covered by a loud ugly American--let's talk about noise pollution in Japan. I rant about Japan's problem with excessive noise, sharing personal experiences and heavily-biased conclusions.
POSTSCRIPT
It occurred to me that the excessive announcements might be for the benefit of blind people. As the story goes, a famous Japanese politician had a blind son, so he enacted lots of reform to make Japan more accessible and accommodating for the blind. This is why you find those yellow sidewalk guides everywhere in Japan. But why did they stop there? Why not better accommodate wheelchairs, etc? Don't get me wrong--Japan is gradually getting better at accessibility for the disabled, but it currently seems biased towards certain groups.
FURTHER READING
What Japan Needs - More Anti-Noise Laws
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/10/10/lifestyle/making-noise-keeping-decibels
http://sky.geocities.jp/bunka_so_on/
http://no-senkyo-car.com/