Take Out The Trash

Many people who spend a long time in a foreign country receive a question that goes something along the lines of “what was the most difficult thing for you to get used to?” People will usually respond by saying something about how hard it was to get used to the language, or to cultural differences, or making new friends, and I can say from personal experience that these are all true. But many ryuugakusei will tell you that when living in Japan as a foreigner, these pale in comparison to the horrors of the Japanese garbage system.

The way garbage works in America is pretty straightforward: when you have trash, you throw it in a trash can (although even this is a bit too complicated for some people). The Japanese garbage system, in comparison, is mind-numbingly complex. For one thing, you have to take out different kinds of trash on different days of the week; Tuesday is recycling day, for example. And you have to divide each category of trash for each day into several sub-categories that have different bags, for example plastic and paper. But wait, you might be saying. This isn’t that different from recycling in America. Oh, but it is. For one thing, recycling is your only option for certain kinds of trash, and you can only take it out on Tuesday. So if I decide to have a bottled drink on Wednesday, unless I can find one of the rare public trash-cans outside, I have to wait a week to throw it out. And that’s another thing: trash cans are hard to find. If you’re in an area with lots of convenience stores, or near the cafeteria at college, for example, then it’s not a problem, but it’s nothing like America where there’s a trash can on every corner. And even when you manage to find a trash can, you can only put certain kinds of trash in it. Some kinds of trash can’t even be taken out at all; for example, paper cartons have to be opened up, dried out, and taken to supermarkets. Certain kinds of bottles have to be crushed with their caps removed before you can throw them out. I don’t even know where you’re supposed to put the caps.

Now you might be saying, “but can’t I just throw whatever trash I want in a trash can and let the garbagemen deal with it?” Well, yes you can, and I’ve done it a few times, but it’s very very frowned upon. If someone sees you doing it, they will immediately think badly of you. And if a cop catches you, for example, putting a non-dried-out paper carton in a garbage bag with other paper trash in it, it’s a huge fine. Even if you put a recyclable metal can in with plastic recyclables, you can get fined. Your only options in Japan are to go crazy trying to sort out your trash, or to pay a huge sum of money for doing it wrong.

Now, of course, it’s hard to actually get caught by the cops for sorting your garbage wrong, and it’s really inconvenient to carry your trash with you until you find a trash can, so you may think that people disobey the law and litter all the time. Especially since in order to obey the law, you have to put a huge effort into taking out the trash. But this actually isn’t the case. When I first got here and was completely confused by the garbage system, I searched online for some straightforward instructions. The first hit I found said that the garbage system “takes some time to get used to but will make your life easier in the long run.” I didn’t believe it at first, and I still kind of don’t, but I do see the advantages to the Japanese garbage system now, and the advantages are actually huge. It hasn’t made my life easier at all, but I now realize that it’s a far superior system to what we have in America. The website for my study abroad program says that “your culture is a part of your identity at such a deep level that it is largely unconscious.” And the Japanese garbage system is definitely a deeply ingrained part of Japanese culture. In Japan, garbage is a BIG deal, as it should be. Because everyone is raised being taught that you have to always be careful when you deal with your garbage, everyone is careful with their garbage all the time. Even though there are hardly any trash cans outside, no one ever litters, because garbage is something you have to be careful with. When I was in Osaka, I came across a man-made lake that was, by Japanese standards, overflowing with trash, but after seeing it I realized that I had seen less trash than I would on any beach in LA. And that was one of the only times I’ve ever seen litter here.

Not only does the Japanese trash system force people to be considerate with their trash, it also forces them to recycle, which is great. In America, lots of people don’t recycle because it takes more effort. But in Japan, people put effort into sorting their garbage anyway, and recycling is their only option for some types of garbage. And what about the garbage that’s not recycled? Well, a lot of it is burned; one of the other daily categories for trash is “burnable trash.” Burning trash is illegal in America because it’s bad for the environment, but the only reason that’s true is because the average American would have no idea what they were doing if they were burning trash. In Japan, people know what can and can’t be burnt, and they put burnable trash into special bags for professionals to burn in a safe way. It’s way better than sticking it in a landfill.

So… yeah. That was a fairly long post. Hope you enjoyed reading about garbage.

On an unrelated note, I keep realizing how cool my neighborhood is. I just found an awesome record store near my building that has tons of rare LPs. I went in there today and bought a David Bowie LP and a rare album by Adam and the Ants for 500 yen each ($5). I also spotted albums by Curtis Mayfield, the Ramones, and Bob Marley, and the guy who works there (who is totally awesome) was blasting T. Rex on an LP player while I was in there. I had to get out of there as soon as possible, because I knew that the longer I spent in there the more money I’d spend. Ironically, I don’t have anything to play these LPs on, but that will probably change soon.