01 FL 054 Rubbish | Lami Japan

gomibako ごみばこ　rubbish bin

Rubbish has become such a huge problem for the Japanese. Their love of wrapping and making things presentable and renewing things and having things looking fresh and clean and cheerful means that there is an awful lot of wastage and rubbish. Once upon a time the rubbish tips were gigantic. Now as space is more at a premium and seepage is a problem in landfills, governments and councils have to move to solve enormous problems.

Almost all rubbish gets sorted these days and it has to be said that Japanese citizens are most conscientious about sorting household rubbish into neat piles and bags for disposal.

Still, there is much work to be done and recycling is becoming more organised and essential. Japanese people are also beginning to change their attitude as well. Once upon a time second-hand was inferior, dirty and untouchable. Now young people lead the charge with “cheap”, “working perfectly fine”, “usable” and “readily available and cheap”.

Public places are also being cleaned up; beaches, parks, forests etc. Although Japanese public places are usually quite clean, particularly if you consider the number of people that are there. One particular problem which has haunted Japanese and hounded them was smoking. Cigarette butts everywhere. Those days have been numbered and smoking in public places is now more a thing of the past. Where once upon a time staffrooms were filled with smoke and fans were working overtime to suck the stench out, these days staffrooms are relatively clean and fresh as no one smokes there anymore.