Sonia Romero de Hara was surprised years ago when she was woken by a phone call late at night from a Peruvian-Japanese friend living in Fussa, western Tokyo.
The friend said that police officers had visited her after the local police station received a complaint from a neighbor that music being played at her house was too loud. The friend spoke little Japanese and was unable to clearly explain the situation to the officers.
Romero de Hara rushed to her friend's place by car from her house in Hachioji and helped explain, in Japanese, to the police that the volume of music was at a level believed to be OK in Peru. She also explained that the friend did not have enough money to go to a karaoke studio — which the police suggested she should do.