MIYOCO / Mrs. Noisy
About
Miyoco, also known as Hikkoshibaba (騒音おばさん or 引越しおばさん , lit. “Mrs. Noisy”), refers to a Japanese woman named Miyoko Kawahara (河原美代子). In 2006, she was sentenced to 20 months in prison for spending two and a half years blasting music to annoy her neighbor until she moved out. The neighbor recorded Miyoko’s antics and sent them to Japanese television stations. After they aired, many people created audio and video remixes based on the clips.
Origin
In 1989, a 64-year old woman moved in to a house 6 meters (20 feet) away from Miyoko’s home in the Heguri, Nara Prefecture in Japan. Miyoko became angry when her neighbor did not officially greet her after moving in. Starting in November 2002, she spent over 2 years playing music as loud as possible nearly 24 hours a day through a portable stereo aimed at her neighbor’s house. She also set out to annoy the neighbor in other ways. She would honk her car horn, shine bright lights in the other house’s direction and would pat a rug on her balcony while yelling things like “Hikkoshi! Hikkoshi! Sassa to Hikkoshi! Shibaku zo!” (引越ーし！引越ーし！ さっさと引越ーし！ しばくぞ！！ (lit. “Move away! Move away! Move away immediately! (I’ll) slap you!”)), and “Kougi Simāsu!” (抗議しまーす！ (lit. “I make a protest (against you)!”)).
Miyoko’s neighbor was able to capture video footage of her actions and sent them to news reporters and law enforcement. In April 2005, Miyoko was arrested for making excessively loud noise and inflicting injuries upon her neighbor a year later. Her arrest was covered in a blurb on Fox News on April 13, 2005. On June 28th, 2005, The Japan Times reported that she was pleading not guilty to the charges, claiming her music was “not too loud,” despite the news report stating it was over 70 decibels during the day, when the environmental standard is 55. On October 8th, 2005, Miyoko was ordered to compensate her former neighbor 2 million yen in damages. At the time, the fine would have been the equivalent of $17,418.57 in the US.
In April 2006, Judge Tetsuya Okuda ruled that Miyoko “had not shown any remorse and could commit similar crimes again,” according to Japundit.com, and was sentenced to a year in prison. See also USA Today’s coverage.
Spread
The videos quickly spread around Japanese news programs. On one program, the former finance minister of Japan, Masajuro Shiokawa (塩川正十郎 , his nickname: 塩爺 Shio Jī), appeared as a guest commentator. He said such things as: "She is mad. Please look at her face. (…) “Kichigai” is the only word for her expression. (狂うてますわこの人。顔見てご覧なさい … 気違いの顔ですわ (kuruute masuwa kono hito. kao mite goran nasai … kichigai no kao desu wa)) "Kichigai (気違い or キチガイ)” is a discriminatory term for “mental retardation” or “mental disorder” in Japan. This word is not allowed to be used on the air in Japan, so the announcer apologized about that right after Shio Jī’s remark.
The videos below are the neighbor’s recordings that aired on the news channels in Spring 2005. This first one is a video compilation (uploaded on YouTube on March 24, 2007) was first created and uploaded by the staff of conbinibento.com. Shortly after it was created and uploaded there, it was also uploaded on Google Video 3 years ago.
This other video compilation shows the neighbor’s many other recordings that were also aired on the news channels. Originally uploaded on Nico Nico Douga on November 29, 2009, this one on YouTube was uploaded on March 17, 2010.
This other video compilation contains some of the neighbor’s recordings of Miyoco’s boombox playing a few songs that were played out loud against her neighbor.
Derivatives – Remixes
The extensive news coverage combined with how bizarre the situation was led to its popularity. Since there was no major video hosting service available in Japan at the time of the news coverage, many of the early remixes are solely audio. A selection of these audio clips can be found at the site Miyoco Music.
Video remix, June 2007:
This remix, uploaded June 2007 on NND, is the most popular remix on the site with over 240,000 views. It was re-uploaded to YouTube in February 2008:
Mashup between the Miyoco video above, Yuki Nagato of The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya and the Keyboard Crasher (known outside of Japan as the Angry German Kid. April 2010:
Audio remix, February 2008:
Phonetic Translation Remixes
Sometimes, her “Hikkoshi!” quotes are interpreted as “Hip Hop Sh*t!” or “Hick on Sh*t!”, which are phonetic translations. There are also two live videos of a DJ spinning “Hip Hop Shit” remixes in 2006. Due to embedding the videos being disabled, view them by clicking here and here.
Derivatives – Mashups
Puyo Puyo Fever (PC version) mashup – MIYOCO vs. Colonel Muska (a character from the anime Laputa: Castle in the Sky), October 2006:
Night of Knights mashup with several other Japanese Internet memes, such as Passion Yara, I’ll Go to Tokyo, Ran Ran Ru, Haruhi Suzumiya (known for the the Hare Hare Yukai Dance), Ichiro Laser Beam, and Shuzo Matsuoka. March 2009:
Baccano! opening parody, featuring Masami Hisamoto and Fusako Saito (both from the Hissu Amoto San meme), Miyuki Hatoyma, Rune Nerune (from the NeruNeruNeruNeruNe commercials that’s also a meme), Kazuko Hosoki, Akiko Wada and High Performance Granny. First uploaded on Nico Nico Douga on May 4th, 2010 as 【音MAD】Baban’s＆Rojins(バッバーノOP). This one on YouTube was uploaded on June 18th, 2010:
Mashup with Kirby’s Gourmet Race, May 2010. First uploaded on Nico Nico Douga on July 9th, 2008:
Other Derivatives
M.U.G.E.N contributor 616 used the Pop’n Music-style artwork of Miyoco to create a M.U.G.E.N character based on her. This video mostly showing her performing combos was uploaded in July 2007 has over 1 million views:
In January 2008, another M.U.G.E.N user uploaded a video in which Miyoco fights Ran Ran Ru commercial star Donald McDonald as well as two other Japanese television characters. The clip has over 1.7 million views:
Other sources
English sources:
- YouTube videos tagged Miyoco
- YouTube videos tagged 騒音おばさん
- YouTube videos tagged 引越しおばさん
- YouTube videos tagged 騒音ババア
Japanese sources:
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