Tokyo children raise a cheer as noise pollution law is dropped

thetimes.co.uk - Japan’s families won a historic victory yesterday when the city of Tokyo dropped a notorious regulation that classified the voices of young children as noise pollution.

The change will allow much-needed nurseries and kindergartens to open in a city where thousands of families struggle to find day care.

It will also boost efforts by Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, to bring women into the workplace to offset a growing labour shortage.

For years local governments in Japan have struggled with a regulation that bans noises higher than 45 decibels in residential areas — roughly equivalent to the humming of a dishwasher