Every day while working in Japan, I immediately know when noon has rolled around because a siren located in the center of town goes off. It's not just any siren -- it's essentially the same type of air-raid siren that sounded half a century ago when Japan was being bombed by Allied B-29's. The siren sounds every day at noon to let people know that it's lunch time, but it serves some other purposes as well. It's used to let people know when there's a local disaster such as a fire, and hearing the siren at night means everyone should check their neighbors to make sure everything is okay. (Once we heard the siren and were surprised to see a house three doors down from us being engulfed in flame.) In this way, it provides a "community glue" for the people living in our city, unconsciously making everyone feel a part of the same happy group unit.
Our city's "noon" siren is an actual siren. This city's is a cute song.
