Nation-wide loudspeaker system

Earlier this week I was chatting with a friend in Australia on a video call. She's never been to Japan and was surprised when she suddenly heard an announcement from our local government broadcast over a nearby loudspeaker system. Now we've been here so long, it is just a normal part of life, I guess we've forgotten about some of the different things we find in Japan to Australia.

The loudspeaker system covers most of Japan and is primarily a disaster warning system. Though many believe that it's mostly to remind kids to come home for dinner, because, at least in our area, it plays a short tune at around that time of day: earlier in winter than summer. 

I found this article with some very useful information about the whole system. It explains that the daily music played over the loudspeakers is actually primarily a test that the system is working. The idea that it can also be used to remind children to go home is a secondary benefit.

Amazingly:

They are linked to a national system that can transmit warnings to local governments throughout the country in as little as seven seconds. The nationwide disaster-warning network was launched about 50 years ago, following a major earthquake in Niigata Prefecture in 1964. (from here)

They are also used by local governments to make announcements, ranging from warning people not to give their bank account details out to people on the phone (fraudsters pretending to be relatives) to calls for help for someone who's gone missing. After the 2011 earthquake we received announcements about when electricity was scheduled to be cut off (due to a shortage because all the nuclear power plants had gone off-line).

Then yesterday another announcement was broadcast around 11am and I caught just the end of it on my phone. Here's a tiny taste:

But I can't tell you what they said. It's often a little distorted and my poor Japanese usually doesn't catch it.

What do you think? Would this kind of broadcasting annoy you? 

Japan has a different level of tolerance about "noise pollution" than Australia. We have several different vehicles that drive around and blast us with noise: 

• sweet potato truck which dispenses baked sweet potatoes in winter
• kerosene truck which will sell you kerosene in the winter for your heaters
• second-hand truck which will buy your hard-to-dispose-of items, like bikes, large white goods, TVs etc.
• political trucks, leading up to an election, will drive around and often stop in one strategic spot and deliver a speech

But, alas, no ice cream trucks!