We’ve all had nightmare neighbors, but spare a thought for the residents of Kyoto’s Nishikyo neighborhood, who’ve spent the last decade putting up with one Kazunori Yokoi, a man who sounds like he could be a strong contender for the title of Japan’s worst neighbor.
Yokoi, 61, was arrested this week after allegedly having spent the last decade tormenting his fellow residents by blasting his radio and playing his electric guitar at obnoxious volumes. As per Kyodo News, Yokoi has been the subject of multiple complaints over the years, and has continued making a racket despite “officers repeatedly warn[ing] Yokoi.” Apparently three of his neighbors, each aged somewhere between their 60s and 80s, have “developed health problems because of the prolonged noise,” including depression and, unsurprisingly, sleep deprivation.
Another woman aged in her 60s allegedly developed tinnitus over the course of the two-ish years between April 2025 and Yokoi’s arrest. The report suggests that his electric guitar was measured between 80 dB and 90 dB. The former compares to the sound of a passing truck or motorcycle, or perhaps a police siren; the latter is more like a subway train or a power tool. Most scales also note that sounds above 85 dB are considered harmful.
Why Yokoi allegedly behaved like this is unclear. Reports note that he placed his radio in the window and directed it toward the street, which suggests that he may have held animus toward his neighbors. A report from News on Japan says that the radio was on around the clock, with one resident explaining, “The music was hard rock… playing 24 hours a day.” The amplified electric guitar, meanwhile, “began … from early in the morning.”
In any case, it seems that authorities finally got as sick of receiving complaints about Yokoi as his neighbors were of making them, because as well as arresting him, police also confiscated a bunch of guitars, amplifiers, and other assorted pieces of noise-making equipment from his apartment. In total, 76 items were seized, which truly makes you wonder what on earth Yokoi was up to in there. Yokoi himself was unrepentant: according to News on Japan, he “admitted producing the noise but denied that his actions caused any injuries.”
It does make you wonder why it took a decade and an unfortunate woman developing tinnitus for authorities to finally act, though. Yokoi will have his day in court, and we look forward to hearing his of what could go down as one of the most epic noise complaint sagas in history.
