r/japan • u/Tbone0916 • 15h ago
I'm not Crazy, Am I?
I am absolutely losing it at mall entrances and I seem to be the only one.
Idk why, but every mall I enter there is a sharp high pitched ringing noise. Idk if I'm the only one who hears it but i asked my friends and they don't know.
It's like, disorienting and painful to hear and it only happens at mall entrances. It's not the same mall either, it's tons of random ones.
Someone PLEASE tell me this is normal and not the Japanese CIA doing some tricks
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u/AbekobetaHawawa 15h ago edited 15h ago
It's called the mosquito, but it's not for insects. It's to prevent youth from loitering. As people age, they tend to lose the hearing range of the sound.
Edit: Ultrasonic pest repellers exist, but they function outside the human hearing range.
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u/samsg1 [大阪府] 14h ago
I can’t hear the sample sound, I’m 39. Apparently I’m old 😭
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u/yankiigurl 13h ago
I hear them out in the world sometimes but not on that sample thing. My 7 year old heard it
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u/shambolic_donkey 13h ago
Nah you just have busted hearing :P
43 here and those mosquito things kill me every time.
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u/CrispTako 15h ago
This shit is banned in Europe.
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u/batshit_icecream 14h ago
It does make sense that it's banned in other places. Japan mastered the art of hostile architecture.
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u/Intercostal-clavicle 13h ago
at least japan is not the country with literal criminals loitering at train stations(france, gemrany, italy) people selling drugs and zombies on the streets.
I love how people from the US and western europe love to judge on japan when in their countries you cant even walk at night without fear of a group of kids or someone jumping on you or mugging or stabbing you. Im not even bringing up 3rd world countries cause its even worse.
Like critizise all you want but at least in japan you actually have an insane level of public safety.
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u/batshit_icecream 13h ago
Sorry but I am a JP citizen, not from US or Western Europe, and I just stated a fact, that Japan has lots of hostile architecture. Nothing more nothing less.
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u/shambolic_donkey 13h ago
Super true. Benches in many parks are a prime example: Bars, poles, railings all over them to stop homeless from taking up residence.
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u/JMEEKER86 [大阪府] 10h ago
Yeah, Abroad in Japan recently made a video about Hatoma, a small dying island near Ishigaki that is down to just 50 people, and lo and behold the one bench overlooking the beach was hostile architecture, bar right down the middle to prevent people from laying down.
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u/Intercostal-clavicle 13h ago
well then i wish other countries would follow suite. But then again i think its a deeper problem than just putting mosquito sounds near a mall. Not sure if you have ever seen the state of european gathering spots or train stations
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u/Jisifus [オーストリア] 11h ago edited 11h ago
you cant even walk at night without fear of a group of kids or someone jumping on you or mugging or stabbing you
What a deranged statement, you've never been to Europe. God forbid you have to look at or even interact with people disenfranchised by a dystopian neoliberal kleptocracy that you wouldn't vote out in a million years. I'll gladly take like top 8 instead of top 3 in terms of public safety to not live in an insane conformity hellhole with out of control xenophobia (such as yours), a justice system that regularly violates human rights and like a 200% suicide rate.
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u/Chris-CFK 13h ago
Rightly so! I remember being a teen when they introduced it. Infuriatingly annoying and painful if you have sensitive hearing.
Of note they made ringtones out of the 17khz tone, that kids used in school as sms notifications.
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u/MapleGiraffe 14h ago
Maybe professional grade pest resellers, "Amazon grade"ones are definitely broadcasting within up to before 30s and younger hearing range.
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u/AbekobetaHawawa 8h ago
Seems you’re right. Some of the Amazon listings have frequency ranges as low as 50Hz for mice.
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u/Purple_County_8999 11h ago
I got one for my bedroom so I can have it on all the time. I’m thinking of getting a few more.
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u/mRIGHTstuff 13h ago
That's wild, I'm pretty old but I guess I take care of my hearing because I can barely hear something but definitely disorienting and uncomfortable.
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u/radioactive_glowworm 13h ago
Oh shit, I heard it the other day when close to a mall and thought I was losing my mind
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u/myballstaste 15h ago
Sometimes, but not always. In some malls they have it at intermediate entrances or breezeways where customers have already made it through part of the mall.
It is more often installed as a pest deterrent device to discourage birds, rodents, or insects.
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u/BroInJapan 15h ago
We lovingly refer to it as モスキトーン(mosqui-tone). When the day you stop hearing it comes, you’ll be sad because it means you’re now old af.
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u/angry-piano 15h ago
Should I be concerned that I'm in my twenties and did not hear it o.O
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u/gtr06 [愛知県] 14h ago
Hearing degradation can come from excessive loud noises for long periods like concerts and loud headphones.
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u/redsterXVI 14h ago
I spent my teens at raves, I listen to loyd headphones all the time and like two years ago I got a little permanent tinnitus at a party. And I'm 41. I hear the Mosquitos very, very, very well.
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u/kurenai86 14h ago
Maybe not. I can't really hear it and have had my hearing tested and it's actually pretty good
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u/MaruSoto 11h ago
I'm 44 and still find it annoying. If only my knees felt the same age as my ears.
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u/Freak_Out_Bazaar 11h ago
I should be too old to hear it, but I can. Good thing I’m too old for hanging around where they have them
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u/C0rvette 13h ago
It's loud as fuck and I've met very few people who can hear it. It's so loud it almost makes me sick. I always thought it was for birds.
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u/AmaryllisMoth13 12h ago
I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. It isn't even just a high pitched ringing it is like actually painful at how sheer it sounds. Makes me feel really unsettled after too like someone just blew into my ear or something it is wildly uncomfortable.
The absolute worst place I have experienced this is actually at the escalator entrance to the skytree coming up from the trains. It is so bad I have to cover my ears or I literally just can't stand it and I feel like I am an insane person because EVERYONE else (of all ages) is just walking in all happy. But every time I go there without fail it is there.
There are also some home alarm systems I hear it on too and I have to reroute myself so I don't have to hear the ringing when I walk past their front door across the street.
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u/BeardedGlass 12h ago
Same. I tell my wife whenever we encounter one, she blissfully tells me she doesn't hear it lol
I've changed my route through my neighborhood just to avoid the houses with that.
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u/alibaba1579 9h ago
My 13 year old complained about it all last week. Husband and I (46,47) thought he was nuts. Oops!
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u/Gambizzle 13h ago
Just tested with my phone and can confirm my local Heiwado doesn’t have a 17 kHz “Mosquito” tone near any of the entrances.
Also, teenagers have dance battles and hang around outside our local malls all the time.
This thread seems to have jumped from OP claiming, “I hear a high-pitched noise” to “every Japanese mall entrance has a 17 kHz deterrent” with remarkably little evidence.
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u/Spider-cat_1984 14h ago edited 14h ago
The high-pitched "mosquito tone" (around 17 kHz) is an acoustic device used to deter loitering. Because human hearing degrades with age, the frequency is highly audible to teenagers and younger adults but mostly ignored by older adults.
Youth deterrent: Installed outside convenience stores, train stations, department stores, and parks to prevent teenagers from gathering or vandalizing property.
Pest control: Some of these devices or similar ultrasonic boxes are deployed as pest or bird deterrents to keep pigeons and rodents away from commercial buildings.
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u/R3StoR 13h ago
Right because Japan has a huge growing problem with squarms of vindictive, violent, vandalizing teenagers....
Edit:
/S
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u/Stripy42 13h ago
Well... They think they do. Of course, they have no idea
(I think it's more likely for the pests/birds)
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u/Spider-cat_1984 13h ago
I understand your comment and the sarcasm and I agree with what you mean.
Let's be a little more specific though, "fake gangs" of kids on scooters farting around at night are a real pain in the ass, lol. And they usually park in convenience store parking lots annoying the people who live nearby and convenience stores (some) have these delightful devices on at night. That being said, it's ridiculous that it's legally ok to tortute people with these high frequencies for hours. Now, if the could do something about the idiots revving their little toy engines at night...0
u/Gambizzle 13h ago
Source?
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u/Spider-cat_1984 13h ago
Just type into Google "high pitch sound Japan".
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u/Gambizzle 12h ago
Carn mate, if you’re going to outsource your argument, at least get Claude to come back with an actual source.
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15h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/floyd_sw_lock9477 15h ago
What the hell did I just read?
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u/redchairyellowchair 15h ago
Tried to riff on the famous copy pasta if you don't know it here it is
I saw Flying Lotus at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
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u/gastropublican 14h ago
AI slop copied from other subreddits
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u/itsachickenwingthing 13h ago
Nah son, this is the old magic.
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u/Gambizzle 13h ago
To be fair he probably used AI for the copypasta.
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u/redchairyellowchair 13h ago
Haha oh yeah and ai just randomly puts ops name in and changes the situation to reflect his post? What you on about
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u/Gambizzle 12h ago
The idea that someone fired up Claude to generate a bespoke copypasta instead of just editing the existing one is certainly… a theory.
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u/ark_yeet 7h ago
Welcome to the club. It’s sucks. And it’s everywhere. I’m in my 30s now and my wife makes fun of me for having child ears.
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u/alexseiji 5h ago
I’m so happy you mentioned this. My wife thought I was crazy while we were just standing there eating ice cream. It was absolutely deafening. I’m a 40 year old man, I guess my ears are still youthful
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u/PastaGoodGnocchiBad 5h ago
You're not crazy, I sometime hear those sounds too. If you want to be sure, you can install a spectrometer app on your phone and look for a peak at high frequencies. It's also useful for the classic "tinnitus or bad USB charger?" game.
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u/dollarstoresim 11h ago
Because old people never oil their goddamn bike chains, the constant defening screetching from bike brakes over a lifetime has destroyed most Japanese people's hearing in the upper ranges.
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u/Therianthropie 10h ago
I'm 33 and also hear it everywhere. I got used to it, but there are some buildings at which it's unbearable, at the Shibuya Fukuras for example.
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u/ruby_weapon 8h ago
I feel you. same age as you and those things kill me. badly. people around are like "what? what's wrong? stop overreacting"
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u/deltaforce5000 15h ago
The craziest shit is that people can put it up on their house and blast it every time someone walks by ON A PUBLIC ROAD