Tourists in Japan wonder: where did the trash cans go?

For decades, Japan has enjoyed a reputation as one of the cleanest places in the world, and all this when it has almost no public trash cans. But an influx of tourists, a record 42.7 million last year, is undermining the “equilibrium” of waste management. In areas crowded with tourists, littering is overflowing, and some local authorities are beginning to rethink waste management. According to a new survey by the Japan Tourism Agency, before language difficulties or overcrowding, the lack of bins is the main problem tourists cite. For some it is even a “phenomenon” that deserves to be documented.

Sally Sexton, 44, noticed the absence of the bins on her first day in Tokyo last fall, when she was looking to dispose of empty potato chip bags on the way from Saban Elven to her Airbnb apartment. “At home we would pass by 20 trash cans. There – not even one,” said the air traffic controller from Riverside, California. When her husband, Jerome Sexton, finally saw trash cans outside a Nike store on the fourth day, he shot a video as if he had seen an endangered animal. “It was a complete culture shock,” said the 46-year-old artist.

 

@romewithles Finally found a trash can in Japan. #japan #trash #litter #holdit #trashcan ♬ original sound – Rome with Les

 

Garbage cans disappeared from many parts of Japan in 1995, after the Doomsday sect spread poisonous gas in the Tokyo subway. They mostly stayed off the streets due to the fear that bins could be used in terrorist attacks and also due to maintenance costs, and strict rules regarding the installation of facilities in the public space. Japanese people usually carry their trash with them until they return home. In Japan, tourists were expected to adapt to the local “trash culture”. But as the number of visitors increased, this proved unrealistic. The few bins that do exist fill up quickly and slide out.

Adding “smart bins”

Some tourists started hiding trash in the bushes or leaving plastic bottles and glasses on the windowsill. At first, cities and neighborhoods tried to solve the problem by raising awareness. Politely worded signs in Japanese and English ask people to take their trash home. “It doesn’t work,” said Noburo Yoshida, a systems engineering professor at Wakayama University, of Japan’s current waste management.

In the Shibuya district of Tokyo where there are major hubs such as the crossing of the Shibuya and Rajoku intersections, the authorities are now starting to implement a new regulation that requires convenience stores and cafes to place trash cans, otherwise they may receive a fine worth about $325. Nara Park, famous for its roaming deer, installed trash cans last year for the first time in four decades. The bins, which run on solar energy and sensors that push the waste in when it’s full, bear the words “Save the Deer” in English, in large green letters. More cities and neighborhoods have also added “smart bins”, and the Japanese government has offered subsidies for their installation.

Kawagoe, a city on the outskirts of Tokyo, turned to the “low-tech” initiative: it started handing out waterproof trash bags to tourists. There are also Japanese who take matters into their own hands. A group of students from Seikai University in Tokyo started walking around Shibuya last year with trash cans on their backs, like school bags. What started as a voluntary activity turned into a business that sells advertisements on the cans. “A lot of people throw their trash in our bins,” said co-founder Junsei Kido, 20, who wants to bring the business to other cities like Kyoto, as well as festivals and concerts.

“The need to get rid of the garbage is too great”

Sometimes the students wear black outfits with helmets, but not for protection. Kido says they’ve never come across any strange or repulsive trash and haven’t even “worked on it.” The need to get rid of the garbage is too great. And as for mocking? “Usually we just hear people looking at us and saying: ‘That looks so cool’ or ‘I want to try it too.'”

 

@veggietravelgirl How long does it REALLY take to dispose of trash in Japan? TBH my pockets are always full of trash here 🤣 I don’t get the type of cup shown unless I’m going to my hotel where I have a trash can because I know it’s hard to find on the street!! But bottles which can be recycled you can easily find a place to dispose especially around vending machine areas! #japantrash #japantravel #japanreality #japansidewalk ♬ Elevator Music – Bohoman

 

On TikTok and Instagram, travelers give tips: bring a plastic bag to carry the trash, or go to convenience stores and large train stations where there are usually trash cans. Some take pictures of themselves kneeling with their mouths open in front of a rare trash can. “It became a meme,” said Kat Day, a 31-year-old nurse from Atlanta who has visited Japan four times. Day carries a small backpack or purse for the corks, wrappers and handkerchiefs she collects along the way.

Ryo Nishikawa, a professor of tourism at Rikyu University in Tokyo, said that while foreign tourists may be surprised by the lack of trash cans, in other places like the US they suffer from a lack of public toilets, which in Japan are plentiful and almost always free. “Just to use the toilets, you have to go into a cafe and buy a coffee,” he said. “I would probably tolerate the trash cans thing much more easily.”

For Castleberry, the engineer from Atlanta, the visit to Japan highlighted how “messy” the U.S. is. “Americans just throw trash everywhere,” she said. “I don’t think they need to change who they are,” she said of Japan’s trash management. “It’s the cleanest country I’ve ever been to.”