I find it weird how in Japan there is such an emphasis on quiet and yet so many tings are noisy. Traffic is really loud and often there are scooters that have no or badly working mufflers that ride through residential areas after ten. Yet, we exchange students are expected to be quiet in our talking and such.
The sports teams also have a big emphasis on noise. Kendo is very loud with kiyais and slapping feet and every day I hear the tennis practice with their odd almost howling calls.
Perhaps it is the dichomy between the the extreme noise and silence that calls attention to these things, but I thiink that it was not this loud at my home school, generally.