During a typical Penn State tailgate with delicious food, music, laughter, and what not I was having a conversation with someone who had been to Tokyo recently. He was impressed by how clean the bustling streets of Tokyo were. I thought to myself, “huh, you’re right, I had never thought how clean Tokyo and overall Japan was.” I hadn’t even realized how clean Japan was, but more importantly how in the world is it so clean when literally there are so many people in one area!
First, there are no public trash cans. When I was a little kid in Japan I always gave my trash to my mom and she would keep it until we found a trash can at a restaurant, mall, or we got home. It had never come to mind, that she kept the trash because there are no trash cans! She still does this today in the US without even thinking and I have somewhat acquired this habit too. Constantly, I keep my granola bar wrappers or gum wrappers in my pockets of jackets and empty them when I get home, even when there are public trash cans.
Second, there are methods to keeping areas clean. Convenience stores tend to provide tiny plastic bags fo customers to put their empty yogurt cups or drinks in. This makes it more convenient and more likely for people to hold on to their trash rather than litter. I also notice how in the U.S. there are generally two big trash bins: one for waste and one for recycling (with the exception of Penn State that has like 8 bins that confuse the crap out of me even though they have pictures of what to throw away in each bin lol.) In Japan, they have like 5 different plastics waste bins in a typical household. It is crazy how they differentiate hard plastics and soft plastics and so on. I am not sure if this aspect is also in every Japanese household, but my aunt also tends to clean all her yogurt plastic containers and other plastic containers before she puts them in the correct bin.
Third, the level of awareness of keeping their individual area clean is drastically different between American and Japanese people. Generally, Japanese people make an effort to keep their area clean. They even have volunteer little cleaning organizations to help keep awareness, and neighborhood clean ups.
Lastly, the transportation is VERY clean. Honestly, I could probably eat a meal off the bus floor. That sounds gross and I still wouldn’t do it though lol, but thats how clean it is! I mean seriously, the busses and the trains are ridiculously clean. Even constructions sites are clean. Construction workers’ vehicles and even taxi driver’s vehicles are kept immaculately clean inside and out!
I never thought about how clean Japan is until the recent Penn State tailgate, and I think the U.S. is making strides in becoming a more cleanly and eco-friendly country. As I mentioned before, with just starting in local communities such as the Penn State community, there is progress being made in creating a cleaner country and globe!
(here’s a site that gave me an explanation of why Japan is hella fresh: https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/8-reasons-japan-is-so-clean)
This is so cool! I know so little to nothing about Japan and the culture there’s just about every sentence in this passion blog allowed me to learn something new. It is also kind of concerning to realize how dirty and trash- ridden America can become in contrast to other countries. Trash is becoming a huge problem in our country today, and this is really affecting our atmosphere. Hopefully, we will learn to take better care of our country soon!