14 DAY TRIAL // It would appear that the teenagers roaming the landscape around Tokyo's Kitashikahama Park district are so poised to destroy the benches and toilets on the public premises, that city authorities have found no other solution to fight this phenomenon except for installing high-frequency sound emitters on various poles and trees. The initiative, which has been received with mixed feelings by the general population, is strikingly resemblant to that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society reported the country's whalers used against them, in their recent encounters in the Antarctic, earlier this year.
It seems that Japanese officials have taken a liking to the new system. They say that police patrols are ineffective at curbing the wave of vandalism on park toilettes and some other facilities. As a result, park managers have installed a number of high-tech sound generators throughout the area, which emit an extremely high-pitched sound, in the 17 kilohertz range. “We were having trouble improving the situation and trying to decide what to do, when we found out about The Mosquito and decided to give it a try,” Reuters quotes Tokyo's Adachi district Park Manager Official Haruyuki Masuda as saying.
The city representative also added that the sound waves emitted by the dreaded “Mosquito” were unbearable to those who were able to hear them. The catch is that only people in a certain age range can perceive these sounds, as the system is based on the natural decay of the human ear. That is to say, as we age, our ears become insensitive to certain high-pitched frequencies, which means that certain sounds, which can cause discomfort to adolescents and teens, have no effect on those over 30, for example.
Last year, the “vandals” created an estimated 700,000-yen ($7,400) gap in the city budget, devastating benches and toilettes, as well as other pieces of urban furniture. “We could not do anything about it from just patrolling. We were a little worried about whether the local government should be using such a device to exclude certain people, even if these are young people that are causing problems. But we have been unable to resolve the issue and many people said we should try it,” Masuda shared.