No Trash Cans In Japan?

Above, a clean street in the Shibuya section of Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan is one of the cleanest countries in the world.

One can visit anywhere in the country and find the streets in the cities and small towns to be immaculate. This is remarkable considering there are no (or very few) public trash cans to be found.

I first noticed this during my first trip to Japan in 2001. Since then, I have gotten used to it or know where a trash can be found. 

This is the topic of an article in USA Today.

They begin it with:

TOKYO and GIFU, Japan — The mileage my sneakers earned on my first full day in Tokyo was 12.4 miles, and impressively, some of my gum wrappers logged just as much.

As one of the world's largest cities, Tokyo requires travelers to be out for hours at a time, and I carried each day's garbage with me until I returned to my hotel at night.

Back at my hotel every night, I'd flip my tote bag upside down, and out came a flurry of konbini snacks, souvenirs, omamori (good luck charms from temples), along with empty gum wrappers, random receipts, crumpled tissues and perhaps an empty water bottle. This wasn't by choice; there are so few public trash cans in Japan.

To read more, go here.