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The story
A thread on 5ch’s Newsoku VIP board reported a dispute over demolition work starting next door that escalated to calling the police. Officers showed up but only issued a warning, and posters quickly noted that neither the demolition company’s name nor a required permit notice was posted anywhere on site. The thread grew into a discussion of legal requirements, with users pointing out that removal of asbestos-containing materials requires advance notification, and others suggesting a report to the Labor Standards Office.
What people said
They're using one
Some kind of CAT (Caterpillar) machine
I remember you writing something like that back in the sensor-light drama thread
Sensor light?
What happened?
They're getting a warning right now
Unless the other guy's yakuza-affiliated or actually breaking a law, nothing's gonna happen, right?
Huh?
They ARE breaking the law
Demolition of asbestos-containing material requires wetting it down first
and advance notification is mandatory
Is it actually required to post one?
They're all the same person
Right?
Are they doing something illegal?
Nope
Everyone hiding their ID here is you
Not me lol
Are they filming a movie or something lol
Don't they sort it by material type?
Not sure if it's day one of demolition, but you normally don't use a bulldozer for this lol
Going straight to the bulldozer is either Showa-era yakuza business or a movie shoot lol
It's yellow and black? and it says CAT on it
They're smashing through the demolition without spraying any water at all
The dust is insane, my laundry's covered in it
And of course there was zero advance notice
No demolition permit posted either, it's a company that clearly doesn't care about the neighbors and won't even give their name
Calling the police was completely pointless
What do you mean calling the police was pointless?
Isn't that a mini excavator? It's got an arm (the hand-like attachment on heavy equipment)
Anyway if you want to know the company name, there's a sign posted — just look at that, it's got the demolition permit info on it too
That's exactly it!
No sign, no demolition permit
Apparently depending on the size of the demolition site they're supposed to post a permit notice, but not doing it isn't actually a crime, so nobody will do anything about it
Since I don't even know the demolition company's name, I can't even file a complaint about the noise, dust, or vibration
That's a city hall matter
Civil, not criminal
By the way, I once had a guy pretend to apologize and then try to headbutt me point-blank
I barely dodged it, so be careful
Then a report to the Labor Standards Office, maybe?
You really know your stuff
That's exactly right
Are the police actually coming? How many people are on site right now anyway? If this goes badly the crew might get hauled in lol
They're already here
It's two buildings
And not posting one is a violation of the ordinance
Normally it has to be posted somewhere visible to ordinary passersby too — maybe it's just hidden because the site's so cramped?
Though in this case it sounds like there's just nothing there lol
Background and Key Points
Neighborhood demolition in Japan runs on a layered set of rules that this thread only partly gets right. Under the Construction Recycling Act, contractors demolishing buildings above a certain size must post a notice board at the site listing the company name, the registered demolition permit number, and the site supervisor — a requirement several posters correctly cited, and the site’s silence on both company name and permit is what triggered the “call the police” escalation. Separately, the Air Pollution Control Act and related asbestos ordinances require pre-work surveys and advance notification to authorities before disturbing asbestos-containing material, plus dust suppression (commonly wetting debris down) during removal — the “no water spraying” complaint posters raised. Police involvement here is a red herring: officers can only respond to an active crime (trespassing, assault, obstruction), not to a paperwork violation, which is why they issued a warning and left.
Where the thread actually splits is on consequence: some posters treat the missing notice board as proof of an outright illegal operation worth fearing, while others (correctly) point out that failing to post the sign is a municipal/administrative violation, not a criminal one — meaning the appropriate next step is a complaint to city hall or the Labor Standards Office, not the police.
What the thread never spells out for outside readers is jurisdictional: enforcement of these demolition and asbestos rules doesn’t sit with the police at all but with municipal building-safety divisions and labor bureaus, agencies most residents rarely interact with. That gap explains both the poster’s frustration (“calling the police was pointless”) and why identifying the contractor — normally trivial via the legally required signage — becomes the actual bottleneck once that signage is simply absent.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Newsoku VIP) thread “Demolition Next Door Is Causing Me Trouble WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.”
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