Kyoto man arrested over seven years of loud guitar noise, police say

Japanese police arrested a 61-year-old Kyoto man after neighbours said years of loud guitar playing and radio noise had caused health problems, a local police officer said.

The officer told AFP that Kazunori Yokoi had allegedly played dozens of guitars and his radio at high volume day and night since 2019. Police said three neighbours aged from their 60s to their 80s suffered sleep deprivation and depression, while a fourth developed tinnitus.

The officer said official warnings had failed to stop the noise and that the neighbours eventually gave police grounds to arrest Yokoi on assault charges.

Police seized more than 40 guitars, many of them electric, along with CD and radio cassette players and amplifiers. Investigators measured noise levels above 80 decibels in the neighbourhood, which Kyoto city says is roughly as loud as being inside a moving train.

Kyodo News quoted one neighbour in his 60s as saying the noise was constant and mixed many sounds together.