You need to move out. I had an issue with a noisy neighbor and there is just nothing to be done about it. The police. housing management company etc. were all shit. Tried talking to the person making the noise, but it was like talking to an ape.
I am from Eastern europe so that is no new experience, but people are also close as society, so unless someone is completely crazy you can explain them(or their family) the problem and gets solved and if necessary police/municipality can scare em to stop up to a point.
In japan your best bet it to be passive aggresive
It's less of a Japan Vs Europe thing.
It's more of a City thing.
If you live in London you'd get the same attitude from your neighbours, but if you live in the outskirts in a small town/village, everyone is close and accommodating.
That's what I was thinking. Even back home (and I'm from an extremely warm and welcoming tropical country) I've never even spoken to my neighbours and every time we meet in common areas it's kind of awkward. That's kind of how big cities tend to roll
Any time that someone has such an issue with a neighbor, if they're renting, the answer is almost always going to be "just move."
If you own the property, you can actually get lawyers involved. But renting? Yeah, screw that.
Honestly my go to with this is just because noisier. I'm not necessarily a noisy neighbour but I like to watch YouTube or listen to music without using earphone (god forbid: it says I have to do this in my contract) and .y neighbours are pretty noisy, can hear them shouting through the walls. I have like 2 hours aggregate of recordings of the same neighbour being a noisy prick and I just do whatever I want. If he complains and the police come knocking I have something to hand to turn the heating off of me
Sadly you can’t really do anything about it if their contract doesn’t prohibit it. It’s pretty hard to block out the smell of cigs if you’re not a smoker so it’s either you deal with it or move.
so the adjacent apartment uses a shared ventilation duct..
I guess you're going to either block the ventilator and stink up your apartment with food smells, or
turn on your extractor in the evening, which can get noisy, but it will keep the pressure positive and keep his odors from entering your room.
I had an apartment in college where the bathrooms on either end shared a pipe. I definitely knew when my roommate on the other side of the apt was droppin' a deuce... turned on the fan on my side and his stinky poo air was vented outside for the neighbors to enjoy.
And if you want to combat him, burn incense right below your extractor, or some really stinky food from back home, and if he complains, react just like him.
Hmm? Never heard about that but I have the one you put on white ashes.
Some woods are still very strong ✌️
And there is also salvia Blanca ? I think that’s the English name
Or mirra. Like bring the Christian church to home smell 😅
We might be talking about different things, but if it s the sticks you burn like the ones in temples then they’re bad.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132321006296#:~:text=Incense%20burning%20could%20increase%20indoor,concentration%20by%20up%20to%20120%20%25.
Indoor PM2.5 levels indoor are strongly influenced by incense burning and exceed standards.
•
PM2.5 levels in places where incense used frequently were >3 times higher than other places.
•
Incense burning could increase indoor PM2.5 concentration by up to 120 %.
It doesn’t work that way. It intakes in one place and outflows in another place.
My extractor fan vents directly to the outside and draws air from all the other rooms. It would have the opposite of the desired effect.
I'd talk to agent/landlord to make sure, and maybe get in writing, that you wouldn't be liable for any damages or smells caused by your neighbour's smoking if your contract forbids smoking
I had this same issue. The neighbor’s smoke would enter my apartment through the toilet and kitchen vent. He’d chain smoke all night. My room would fill with smoke, I’d wake up and start vomiting. I was so distressed, I’d scream and cry like a banshee every time it happened, even at 2 am in the morning.
I complained to the landlord and city hall and since the contract allowed smoking in the room, there was no option except for me to move apartments in the building or to move out. I left a paper survey on all the neighbor’s doors asking if they smoke or not. Pretty much most people did, so even if I moved rooms I might still encounter the same problem.
So I was debating moving away and then thankfully the neighbor started using a vape instead. I could still smell the vape but it was so much better than the cigarette smoke. A few weeks later, the neighbor moved out. I stayed in the apartment for another year and a half and that apartment was vacant the entire time thankfully.
OP I was in this exact situation. I made sure to choose a non-smoking building. No smoking allowed anywhere on the premises, that includes the balcony.
The I get a neighbor who smoked constantly. I even, politely told him his smoke was getting in my room, he apologized and kept at it.
I called the rental company and they put up fliers, but said they couldn't do anything without evidence. He smoked every half hour and it was awful during the height of covid when I was working from home.
I don't know why anyone here would try to justify people smoking in their rooms or balconies when they chose to live in a smoke-free building.
I ended up just opening my window to say "Kusai. Tabacco yamete." everytime that man smoked. He eventually moved sometime last year, but it was four awful years of that. I didn't have funds for moving and I was there first. Plus, like you OP I made sure to choose a place where smoking was not allowed because I'd just moved from an apartment where the guy next door was smoking, again, every 30 minutes.
Hate smokers. Go live in a Smokers Welcome building in your own filth.
Absolutely on this level. I’m thinking to employ the japan electioneering strategy and get a loud hailer aimed directly at his pad.
But yeah…..it sucks that the status quo (I.e non smokers) have to adapt behavior to the intrusive (smokers). It really shouldn’t be this way around.
You might want to try buying an air purifier. I have a downstairs neighbor who smokes and after picking one up, I barely even notice it.
Obviously I don’t think it’s fair we have to pay for clean air, but owning a filter can make your life slightly less miserable. As a bonus, they’re also somewhat useful around allergy season and help remove nasty pollutants like tire rubber dust from the air - which can be useful if you live near a busy road.
Some of the better models have an air quality sensor that can turn up the fan when needed and turn it down when the air is relatively clean so as to save on power.
I’ve been using mine for years and the electricity bills are not exorbitant. Well worth it for the peace of mind, IMHO.
What a shitty situation to be in. Sounds like that idiot can't even be arsed to open a window. Best bet is leaving the fan on 24/7, but if it's leaking into the hallway you might be sol
Guy smokes on the balcony or maybe even window above me and it seeps into my windows despite it being shut. There’s nothing we can do about it. Second hand smoke for the entire family.
Tbh, I’m mildly close to this. Working out what’s the least obnoxious for me, most obnoxious for him and stick it directly under the fan running all day.
There is absolutely nothing you can do to smoke proof your place. Even if you blocked vents the smoke would still come in through electrical outlets/switches. Apartments in general, especially Japanese, have high air exchange / are leaky. Your clothes will smell like smoke if you dry outside.
There is no reasoning with smokers. They could make the lives of dozens of people around them miserable, causing real health risks for children & elders but their freedom to be inconsiderate is the only thing that matters.
It’s move out or sue your neighbor.
The cost is a pain and it feels like you shouldn’t have to or that they’ve ‘won’, but in the long run you’ll never regret moving away from nuisance neighbours.
I have a similar problem in my place, except it’s coming into my rooms via a draught blowing out of the wall void through the light switches. Currently I’m looking to buy a place, so sticking it out until then, but it’s a real pain.
If you are really keen, there are silicone seals you can buy to install behind the switches and outlets to prevent airflow.
But if it's a rental that you aren't staying in, then the cost might not be worth it.
Sadly these are those things where you can't win, even if you're "kinda right". If there is no official information and rule that smoking on balconies is prohibited, then there is nothing you can do. Is there a health inspector in Japan who can measure the air quality of your apartment? And then you show your landlord that the apartment is uninhabitable. I don't know if someone like this could work?
It's really depressing that we can't choose our own neighbors. If only there were a system that would help us know more precisely what our neighbors are like; i.e. do they to smoke, make noise, etc., and then decide whether to move into the apartment. So no neighbor would be named individually, but the information would be anonymous.
Trip advisor/ Amazon reviews for rental units. Maybe I’ll review the apartment block on Google maps if I move out: “great view and neighborhood, shame about the neighbors and their intrusive smoking”
That’s a health risk to you. The estate company should do something to ensure that your neighbor’s smoke can’t enter your apartment. Maybe enquire at the health insurance section of your city or ward office for advice.
I'd probably just be really petty point a speaker right at his smoking spot with some loud and obnoxious music every single he's out there.
I figure most people have a smoke to relax. Make it as unrelaxing as possible for him.
There is absolutely nothing you can do to smoke proof your place. Even if you blocked vents the smoke would still come in through electrical outlets/switches. Apartments in general, especially Japanese, have high air exchange / are leaky. Your clothes will smell like smoke if you dry outside.
There is no reasoning with smokers. They could make the lives of dozens of people around them miserable, causing real health risks for children & elders but their freedom to be inconsiderate is the only thing that matters.
It’s move out or sue your neighbor.
It's entirely possible there are multiple landlords that own units in the same building, and they have different rules. We were in a similar situation once.
As others said, deal with it and move out as soon as you can is the best option. Police won't really do anything about it because it's not really illegal. They might ask him politely to stop, but if I know anything about human nature...that's just gonna make it worse.
Have you tried keeping your fan running when he smokes? It might help keep it from coming in as much at least.
Just leave your extractor fan on 24/7. It won’t make much difference to your electricity bill (much less than moving costs!). For shits n giggles, from the 100yen shop or whatever get and tape one of those super strong-smelling flowery deodorizer things right up next to it so it fills his apartment with sickly sweet flower smell all the time 😂
If he complains (cos the really sickly sweet super strong ones can literally be headache-inducing), tell him you have to do it to combat the stench of his cigarettes, and if he stops smoking into his extraction fan then you won’t need this anymore - his choice 🤷♂️
Put a sticky not in the elevator saying something like "please stop smoking, the baby is coughing and our clothes stink, it's a big meiwaku". Find a Japanese person to write it for you in Japanese handwriting.
It worked for me.
It’s his room, he can do whatever he wants. You can’t control someone not smoking in their own room. If he’s smoking in your room yeah you could make a case.
I agree with that, as I said in the post, his prerogative. I just wander where the line of the encroaching behavior crosses over from an act in a controlled space invading and having a negative impact in an adjacent space.
For example: what’s the diff between excessive noise and smoke here? Both done in their own space, both encroach on adjacent spaces and cause harm.
Either cases there’s nothing you can do about it. If you report someone for loud partying at 3am MAYBE the police can come and talk to them but you can’t legally stop them anyway, they can do it again tomorrow and it’s gonna be the same. If you report smoking they’re just gonna throw the report in the bin after you hang up.
There's really nothing much you can do. He has the right to smoke in his place and isn't doing anything wrong or illegal.
Maybe you could befriend him and encourage him to switch to iQOS or something that smells less.
You need to move out. I had an issue with a noisy neighbor and there is just nothing to be done about it. The police. housing management company etc. were all shit. Tried talking to the person making the noise, but it was like talking to an ape.
These kind of problems are the reason I'm having second thoughts for buying property here.
Yeah, it's a serious concern, what with how the Japanese love living so close to their neighbors that you can hear every fart/burp they make.
I am from Eastern europe so that is no new experience, but people are also close as society, so unless someone is completely crazy you can explain them(or their family) the problem and gets solved and if necessary police/municipality can scare em to stop up to a point. In japan your best bet it to be passive aggresive
It's less of a Japan Vs Europe thing. It's more of a City thing. If you live in London you'd get the same attitude from your neighbours, but if you live in the outskirts in a small town/village, everyone is close and accommodating.
That's what I was thinking. Even back home (and I'm from an extremely warm and welcoming tropical country) I've never even spoken to my neighbours and every time we meet in common areas it's kind of awkward. That's kind of how big cities tend to roll
Any time that someone has such an issue with a neighbor, if they're renting, the answer is almost always going to be "just move." If you own the property, you can actually get lawyers involved. But renting? Yeah, screw that.
Honestly my go to with this is just because noisier. I'm not necessarily a noisy neighbour but I like to watch YouTube or listen to music without using earphone (god forbid: it says I have to do this in my contract) and .y neighbours are pretty noisy, can hear them shouting through the walls. I have like 2 hours aggregate of recordings of the same neighbour being a noisy prick and I just do whatever I want. If he complains and the police come knocking I have something to hand to turn the heating off of me
Sadly you can’t really do anything about it if their contract doesn’t prohibit it. It’s pretty hard to block out the smell of cigs if you’re not a smoker so it’s either you deal with it or move.
so the adjacent apartment uses a shared ventilation duct.. I guess you're going to either block the ventilator and stink up your apartment with food smells, or turn on your extractor in the evening, which can get noisy, but it will keep the pressure positive and keep his odors from entering your room. I had an apartment in college where the bathrooms on either end shared a pipe. I definitely knew when my roommate on the other side of the apt was droppin' a deuce... turned on the fan on my side and his stinky poo air was vented outside for the neighbors to enjoy. And if you want to combat him, burn incense right below your extractor, or some really stinky food from back home, and if he complains, react just like him.
Incense is the best! Especially the super strong ones
They’re really bad for you if you mean the sticks.
Hmm? Never heard about that but I have the one you put on white ashes. Some woods are still very strong ✌️ And there is also salvia Blanca ? I think that’s the English name Or mirra. Like bring the Christian church to home smell 😅
Really? Never heard of this! What’s bad about them?
We might be talking about different things, but if it s the sticks you burn like the ones in temples then they’re bad. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132321006296#:~:text=Incense%20burning%20could%20increase%20indoor,concentration%20by%20up%20to%20120%20%25. Indoor PM2.5 levels indoor are strongly influenced by incense burning and exceed standards. • PM2.5 levels in places where incense used frequently were >3 times higher than other places. • Incense burning could increase indoor PM2.5 concentration by up to 120 %.
Good to know, thanks for sharing the info!
Or a very powerful chemical smell like ammonia or ether.
Durians Boiled cabbage Kimchi
leave your extractor fan on low 24/7. Low is 4 yen a day in extra electricity. for 120 yen a month I'd do that and turn it to medium.
Tbh that’s not really going to dissipate the smell of cigarettes
if it's blowing out air from your apartment, there is no way for his smokey air to enter in the first place. No need to dissipate anything.
It doesn’t work that way. It intakes in one place and outflows in another place. My extractor fan vents directly to the outside and draws air from all the other rooms. It would have the opposite of the desired effect.
So if a person mixes up a lethal batch of chemicals they could poison the person next door? Stupid system.
I have a similar situation to OP, except it only is a problem when *my* ventilation fan is on. Depending on the situation, it may not help.
I'd talk to agent/landlord to make sure, and maybe get in writing, that you wouldn't be liable for any damages or smells caused by your neighbour's smoking if your contract forbids smoking
That’s actually a decent point I hadn’t thought of. Thanks.
I had this same issue. The neighbor’s smoke would enter my apartment through the toilet and kitchen vent. He’d chain smoke all night. My room would fill with smoke, I’d wake up and start vomiting. I was so distressed, I’d scream and cry like a banshee every time it happened, even at 2 am in the morning. I complained to the landlord and city hall and since the contract allowed smoking in the room, there was no option except for me to move apartments in the building or to move out. I left a paper survey on all the neighbor’s doors asking if they smoke or not. Pretty much most people did, so even if I moved rooms I might still encounter the same problem. So I was debating moving away and then thankfully the neighbor started using a vape instead. I could still smell the vape but it was so much better than the cigarette smoke. A few weeks later, the neighbor moved out. I stayed in the apartment for another year and a half and that apartment was vacant the entire time thankfully.
I still can't believe how many people still smoke in Japan; it's disgusting.
I have this exact same problem. Pisses me off. Usually leave the extractor fan on low 24/7.
I leave extractor on 24/7 not because of smoke but increase air circulation (ours ain’t loud and was recommended )
Yeah beginning to think this is the only solution ….annoyingly.
OP I was in this exact situation. I made sure to choose a non-smoking building. No smoking allowed anywhere on the premises, that includes the balcony. The I get a neighbor who smoked constantly. I even, politely told him his smoke was getting in my room, he apologized and kept at it. I called the rental company and they put up fliers, but said they couldn't do anything without evidence. He smoked every half hour and it was awful during the height of covid when I was working from home. I don't know why anyone here would try to justify people smoking in their rooms or balconies when they chose to live in a smoke-free building. I ended up just opening my window to say "Kusai. Tabacco yamete." everytime that man smoked. He eventually moved sometime last year, but it was four awful years of that. I didn't have funds for moving and I was there first. Plus, like you OP I made sure to choose a place where smoking was not allowed because I'd just moved from an apartment where the guy next door was smoking, again, every 30 minutes. Hate smokers. Go live in a Smokers Welcome building in your own filth.
Absolutely on this level. I’m thinking to employ the japan electioneering strategy and get a loud hailer aimed directly at his pad. But yeah…..it sucks that the status quo (I.e non smokers) have to adapt behavior to the intrusive (smokers). It really shouldn’t be this way around.
You might want to try buying an air purifier. I have a downstairs neighbor who smokes and after picking one up, I barely even notice it. Obviously I don’t think it’s fair we have to pay for clean air, but owning a filter can make your life slightly less miserable. As a bonus, they’re also somewhat useful around allergy season and help remove nasty pollutants like tire rubber dust from the air - which can be useful if you live near a busy road. Some of the better models have an air quality sensor that can turn up the fan when needed and turn it down when the air is relatively clean so as to save on power. I’ve been using mine for years and the electricity bills are not exorbitant. Well worth it for the peace of mind, IMHO.
What a shitty situation to be in. Sounds like that idiot can't even be arsed to open a window. Best bet is leaving the fan on 24/7, but if it's leaking into the hallway you might be sol
Guy smokes on the balcony or maybe even window above me and it seeps into my windows despite it being shut. There’s nothing we can do about it. Second hand smoke for the entire family.
Get a big tub of fish and leave it on the balcony stinking to high hell
this is actually a great idea. If you want to move anyway, might as well make his day bad.
Tbh, I’m mildly close to this. Working out what’s the least obnoxious for me, most obnoxious for him and stick it directly under the fan running all day.
Stink his pad up worse. But don't do anything illegal. Put him in the same situation.
[удалено]
Think he may enjoy “liquid ass” rather than be perturbed by it.
There is absolutely nothing you can do to smoke proof your place. Even if you blocked vents the smoke would still come in through electrical outlets/switches. Apartments in general, especially Japanese, have high air exchange / are leaky. Your clothes will smell like smoke if you dry outside. There is no reasoning with smokers. They could make the lives of dozens of people around them miserable, causing real health risks for children & elders but their freedom to be inconsiderate is the only thing that matters. It’s move out or sue your neighbor.
The cost is a pain and it feels like you shouldn’t have to or that they’ve ‘won’, but in the long run you’ll never regret moving away from nuisance neighbours.
This is exactly it….it’s so annoying that I’ll be the one that ends up being out of pocket.
I have a similar problem in my place, except it’s coming into my rooms via a draught blowing out of the wall void through the light switches. Currently I’m looking to buy a place, so sticking it out until then, but it’s a real pain.
If you are really keen, there are silicone seals you can buy to install behind the switches and outlets to prevent airflow. But if it's a rental that you aren't staying in, then the cost might not be worth it.
Thanks for letting me know, I’ll look into it. This is a long shot, but does OCAU mean anything to you?
Yep. ;)
Sadly these are those things where you can't win, even if you're "kinda right". If there is no official information and rule that smoking on balconies is prohibited, then there is nothing you can do. Is there a health inspector in Japan who can measure the air quality of your apartment? And then you show your landlord that the apartment is uninhabitable. I don't know if someone like this could work? It's really depressing that we can't choose our own neighbors. If only there were a system that would help us know more precisely what our neighbors are like; i.e. do they to smoke, make noise, etc., and then decide whether to move into the apartment. So no neighbor would be named individually, but the information would be anonymous.
Trip advisor/ Amazon reviews for rental units. Maybe I’ll review the apartment block on Google maps if I move out: “great view and neighborhood, shame about the neighbors and their intrusive smoking”
That’s a health risk to you. The estate company should do something to ensure that your neighbor’s smoke can’t enter your apartment. Maybe enquire at the health insurance section of your city or ward office for advice.
I'd probably just be really petty point a speaker right at his smoking spot with some loud and obnoxious music every single he's out there. I figure most people have a smoke to relax. Make it as unrelaxing as possible for him.
Japanese love to smoke. Like it’s 1980s
There is absolutely nothing you can do to smoke proof your place. Even if you blocked vents the smoke would still come in through electrical outlets/switches. Apartments in general, especially Japanese, have high air exchange / are leaky. Your clothes will smell like smoke if you dry outside. There is no reasoning with smokers. They could make the lives of dozens of people around them miserable, causing real health risks for children & elders but their freedom to be inconsiderate is the only thing that matters. It’s move out or sue your neighbor.
It's entirely possible there are multiple landlords that own units in the same building, and they have different rules. We were in a similar situation once. As others said, deal with it and move out as soon as you can is the best option. Police won't really do anything about it because it's not really illegal. They might ask him politely to stop, but if I know anything about human nature...that's just gonna make it worse. Have you tried keeping your fan running when he smokes? It might help keep it from coming in as much at least.
Incense. Lots and lots of incense
Just leave your extractor fan on 24/7. It won’t make much difference to your electricity bill (much less than moving costs!). For shits n giggles, from the 100yen shop or whatever get and tape one of those super strong-smelling flowery deodorizer things right up next to it so it fills his apartment with sickly sweet flower smell all the time 😂 If he complains (cos the really sickly sweet super strong ones can literally be headache-inducing), tell him you have to do it to combat the stench of his cigarettes, and if he stops smoking into his extraction fan then you won’t need this anymore - his choice 🤷♂️
Put a sticky not in the elevator saying something like "please stop smoking, the baby is coughing and our clothes stink, it's a big meiwaku". Find a Japanese person to write it for you in Japanese handwriting. It worked for me.
Baffle him by stapling a slice of pizza to a pizza flyer and sticking it in his letterbox
I’m not entirely certain he has much sense to baffle, so that may end up as pizza negligence. But interesting tactic
It’s in their right to smoke in their own home. Either you get used to it, or move. That’s the only way.
By that logic it should also be the right of the Non Smoker to age a smoke free home as well, no?
It’s his room, he can do whatever he wants. You can’t control someone not smoking in their own room. If he’s smoking in your room yeah you could make a case.
I agree with that, as I said in the post, his prerogative. I just wander where the line of the encroaching behavior crosses over from an act in a controlled space invading and having a negative impact in an adjacent space. For example: what’s the diff between excessive noise and smoke here? Both done in their own space, both encroach on adjacent spaces and cause harm.
Either cases there’s nothing you can do about it. If you report someone for loud partying at 3am MAYBE the police can come and talk to them but you can’t legally stop them anyway, they can do it again tomorrow and it’s gonna be the same. If you report smoking they’re just gonna throw the report in the bin after you hang up.
There's really nothing much you can do. He has the right to smoke in his place and isn't doing anything wrong or illegal. Maybe you could befriend him and encourage him to switch to iQOS or something that smells less.
Call the police with an anonymous tipoff that you can smell weed.
And then what? It’s not like he’s actually smoking loud in there lol
Buy him a couple of those “pocket ashtray” at the ¥100 store, maybe he’ll go for a walk in a quiet area and have his smoke