Dear Japanese Diary.....Productive or Counter-productive??

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Have you ever wondered how the streets of Japan manage to stay so clean? Where are the every day loiters? If you want to learn a real thing or two about keeping the streets in your city clean, you should try spending some time in Japan and see how things are done.

You will be walking down the street and see a Japanese stop to pick up an empty packaging that they didn't use. This packaging they will either take with them or dispose of it in the nearest trash bin. I have actually seen this happen. From a young age, Japanese are taught that they are responsible for the cleanliness of their surroundings. This is evident in the education system where instead of hiring janitors, students and teachers are responsible for the cleaning of the school and its environs.

You will also notice that there are hardly any trash bins around Japanese cities and wonder why. This is just their way of forcing you to take your garbage with you. You will mostly find bins at convenience stores or vending machines, and partly because of this, most Japanese will devour what they buy at the convenience store or at the vending machine right there and then. (Sidenote: Japanese also don't practice eating while walking.) These bins, however, are usually for recyclable garbage.

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Japan is very serious about recycling and reusing. This is so serious that the residents are all required and expected to sort their garbage (ゴミ, gomi) according to instructions given as well as put out the correct type of garbage on the specified days. The garbage is divided into three categories which are combustible garbage, non-combustible garbage and recyclable garbage.

It is important to note that every city across Japan has its own rules and schedules. As such, persons, foreigners especially, have to learn how things are done in their city. My city has these schedules available in both Japanese and English; I assume that other cities do too. Some cities also sell specific garbages bags to be used for disposal. I am happy that my area doesn't have that; that is an added expense that I can do without. I usually recycle the plastic bags that I get after shopping.

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The above picture depicts an example of a poster which tells how to separate garbage.

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The above picture depicts an example of a daily garbage collection schedule for a one month period.

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The image above depicts the symbols placed on the different packaging or items. This helps you to properly sort your garbage.

If one fails to put out the correct garbage on the correct day, then such incorrect garbage placement will be left for the crows to do with as they please, if your area is troubled by crows or until the correct day arrives. And especially as the foreigner, you don't want to be the one putting out garbage on a wrong day - your Japanese neighbours will know it is you and trust me, some Japanese can be very passive aggressive.

I read of an instance where a foreigner (belonging to an online group that I am apart of) came home to find her garbage all ripped and laying in front of her apartment, which is quite a distance from the disposal area. She wasn't sure why her garbage was taken and placed in front of her place, but you get the picture.

As you can tell, recycling is a big thing here in Japan but in the same breathe, I think that "extra garbage" is being produced unnecessarily. Take into account this small container of chips seen in the picture below.

I opened the carton expecting to get directly to the chips only to be met with an unnecessary packaging as seen above- like "really Japan, how about we play scavenger hunt with a container of chips???" I think a simple seal would have been easier and better if freshness was their concern.

I was also fearful of opening that packaging as knowing Japan, there is the possibility of the chips being in a clear plastic on the inside. Luckily, that wasn't the case. Oh boy.

Mind you, there are some things that are worthy of being packaged with the extra packaging. For example, these face masks and heating pads which are very useful.

The face masks being individually packaged makes it easy to carry around a few instead of the entire package. Plus with the extra layer of packaging, they are kept clean and free from dust. While, for the heating pads, once exposed to the air, they start heating up so it is good that they are individually packaged. So in those instances, I can deal with the extra packaging.

I understand that presentation is important but so is producing less garbage. Isn't that the whole point of recycling? This isn't the first time I've had these thoughts; they appear ever so often as everything is wrapped separately here in Japan.

Two other examples of Japanese wasteful packaging (according to my judgment) can be seen below:

Bought a pack of stockings which consisted of five stockings. Each stocking was packaged "heavily" with plastic and thin pieces of cardboard. So at the end of the day, I had 6 pieces of cardboard and 6 pieces of plastic to dispose of. I am sure there is something that can be done to curb the amount of waste created in this instance.

Bought a bottle of mayonnaise that is placed in a plastic that has ABSOLUTELY no use or purpose, and that will be disposed of the moment you decide to use the mayonnaise. I have seen where persons keep the bottle in the plastic even after opening the product. I guess so it is easy to identify what is in the bottle. But, ain't nobody got time for that.

I notice that other products such as sauces and ketchup are also packaged like this. A simple solution would be to just put a label on the bottle like everyone else but nooooo, Japan has to make unnecessary waste....that is the aim of their production, I assume.

Sometimes, the thought of having to go through so much packaging makes me not want to buy certain things. But, it is what it is. I can only hope that a chance will come sometime in the near future.

Recycle just to create more waste.........Japan's solution to world pollution???