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The Anecdotal Yokel Gets Trashy
I’ve been fortunate to travel all around the Far East. I probably miss a lot of profound truths that come from travel, but I am quite skilled in noticing trivial things. In my experience, the countries I’ve visited with public trash cans had MORE trash on the ground.
About 7-8 years ago, I lived in Hirakata, Japan for one year. Early on in that stay, I took an overnight bus to Tokyo and booked a city tour, including all the hot spots.
On the morning of the tour, having just finished a banana, I noticed something about Japan: there were NO public trash cans. (And Japan is spotless, mostly.) I was thinking I was going to spend the entire day carrying a banana peel around. Eventually, I left it on the sink in a public bathroom.
When I moved to Korea, it was one of the first things I noticed. There are no public trash cans. (Korea is not spotless, but reasonably clean. You do see public littering.) But things are changing, almost overnight, as they tend to do here. (And it’s election season.) Look at these babies:
(Note how the curb is paved with smooth stone. It’s slicker than ice any time there’s moisture.)
Published in General
Somebody wondered about that later, I am sure.
A good anecdote and a smart micro-travelogue!
But nothing like what they did in “9 to 5.”
I even felt a little guilty for doing it.
Thanks for reading. More coming.
I also noticed that Japan was remarkably litter free, and, even more so had zero graffiti.
I am amused by your observation that there were few trash cans.
My perspective is that this is rooted in thier culture embued with deep respect; for others, for nature, for property. Generally it is unthinkable to consider littering. Tagging property would be a heinous act.
Ironically, this doesn’t seem to translate to respect for females.
Allegedly, females face a perpetual threat of sexual assault, and second class treatment overall.
In Korea, there is very little graffiti too.
And in Korea, the judicial system is VERY lenient when it comes to heinous crimes, if the perp was drunk.
In Neuromancer, Case is describing a street scene in Tokyo (this is a hundred years in the future). He describes the people passing by, and includes “a group of Sararyman wives, with their traditional face tattoos of bruises, a very conservative style”.
Last year, I finally checked off an item on my bucket-list: month long visit to Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, a couple of short side-visits to Mt. Fuji and Kanazawa). Having spent the prior few months intensively learning about what to expect, how to behave, etc., I was well prepared for the aforementioned near complete absence (convenience stores, e.g. 7Eleven, almost always have a couple just outside their entrance) of public trash cans. I even brought my own makeshift ashtray (small screw top jar) that I made sure to have with me at all times in my over-the-shoulder tote.
Loved the impeccable cleanliness everywhere, and appreciated deeply the degree of civic consciousness that underlies it.
This was the first observation my niece shared when she visited both countries 2 years ago.
Japan is legendary for having no public trash cans; this regularly pops up as one of top complaints tourists have about it.
Supposedly, there used to be more public trash cans, but almost all of them were removed after the Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack in 1995. But yes, Japanese cultural values are such that they tend to keep public spaces clean and well maintained regardless. For one thing, in general Japanese people don’t eat and drink while walking around. But there’s also a cultural expectation that if you generate trash, you take it with you and throw it away when you get home.
Certainly less than in the US, but far from zero. Especially in the grittier areas. This is a photo I took along a public walkway in Tokyo, adjacent to the Golden Gai bar district:
But I wonder if maybe the authorities deliberately leave some graffiti alone because it adds to the atmosphere. Certainly you’re never going to see graffiti on the grounds of a Shinto shrine or on a Ginza department store.
I loved spending time in Kyoto.
well yes, that is indeed heavy graffiti. We spent our two weeks primarily up North in small towns and rural Japan. We saw nothing like that. Unfortunately, Tokyo seems to be much more Westernized…
I usually think of trash cans as a symptom, rather than a cause.
When I was in the UK ~1990, there were no public trash cans, nor much trash. None of the restaurants served food in disposable containers.
Then McDonald’s came to Ipswich. Suddenly there were wrappers and paper detritus for a 2 block radius. A couple trash cans near McD were stuffed to overflowing.
That is a very good point. I would be shocked to see anything like that in a small town. The big cities like Tokyo and Osaka have areas with that gritty Blade Runner vibe, where the graffiti almost seems like a deliberate aesthetic choice. But I can’t imagine that sort of thing being tolerated in most of the country.
Isn’t it the most beautiful city? The story I read is that Kyoto was dropped from the list of potential Abomb targets because of its beauty.
Maybe a dumb question, but is there any significance to Kyoto being an anagram of Tokyo?
Not really, no. But the two names are related.
Kyoto used to be the capital. The name is more accurately rendered as kyou-to, which literally means “capital city.”
But late in the 19th century, the capital was moved east to Tokyo. That name is more accurately tou-kyou, which literally means “Eastern capital.” In either name, kyou means “capital.”
Kyoto is the older capital, and means “capital city.” Tokyo was known as Edo before the capital was moved there and it was renamed, Eastern Capital,” or Tokyo.
Edo was made capital sometime between 1600 and 1603 with the Tokugawa Shogunate, also known as the Edo period, since that was the original name.
Sort of, yes. When it came time for selecting a target, they wanted a legitimate military target, but they also wanted a city that had not previously been bombed significantly. That was so they could get a better assessment of the effect of the A-bomb. Kyoto was at the top of that list. But Secretary of War Henry Stimson insisted that Kyoto be spared. He had visited the city and was aware of its cultural and historical significance (as the former Imperial Capital).
The country was run from Edo, but formally the Emperor (whose palace was in Kyoto) was still the head of state. He was just a figurehead, of course. But officially, Kyoto was the capital until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
Alright, real vs. official. I’m still hoping the US capital can be moved to North Dakota.
Washington, ND. Has a nice ring to it.
We’ll name it Trump. It will be the best capital city ever. And the dome on the new legislative building? Pure gold, let me tell you.
It certainly can be done, if you could get ND to cooperate. Not sure why they would, though.
Capital cities are babe magnets.
Have you ever been to Bismarck ND?
As of 2020 census . . . The gender makeup of the city was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. More females than males.
It’s beautiful, has tradition, and monkeys. Very walkable too.