Professor Chris McMoran teaches Japanese research at Singapore National University, where his work focuses on serious and important topics such as labor, gender and marginalized communities.
But when he takes his students to Japan, a major question appears invariably: Why are there no trash bins?
This is a common refrain, especially among Western travelers who flock to Japan with an increasing number every year: how can the country be so clean and organized when there seems to be no way to throw garbage in public places?
McMoran students are not the only ones with this issue. Earlier this year, the Japanese National Tourism Organization (JNTO) conducted a survey of passengers leaving Japan and asked what logistical challenges they face during their trip.
The number one answer? Lack of garbage bins. Twenty-two percent of tourists cited the difficulty of finding a place to throw away garbage as the biggest problem they dealt with during their journey before the lack of English speakers (15%) and overpopulation of popular attractions (13%).
There are several different ways to deal with the issue of garbage disposal, but they usually include the unique cadans of the Japanese label.
“This (lack of trash bins) can be an inconvenience, especially for young travelers aware of the budget,” says McMoran. “Instead of sitting at a restaurant, they are more likely to catch onigirs at a convenience or Instagrammable Desert store on a stall. Once they are finished, they are looking for a vain place to throw waste.”
He notes that while local Japanese also buy food and beverages from vending machines or combines (comfortable stores), the difference is that they do not have to consume these products on the street.
It is believed that bad eating manners while walking – until some cities in Japan have revealed the practice directly. Instead, it is more often to take these foods for picking up to their home or office, eat it there and then throw away the garbage. If they eat while on the move, most people hold a small bag with them where they can pick up the garbage while they get home.
The effect of tourism growth
Mass tourism creates problems with Japan’s public garbage situation.
For example, travelers come from all over the world to visit the UNESCO Nara’s list, a 45-minute bullet tour, traveling east of Osaka. While the city is home to historical temples and Buddhist artifacts, its most famous inhabitants are wild deer, who are known for taking crackers from visitors and “worshiping” to thank you.
However, the bin became a problem with life or death for the deer: nine died in 2019 after eating plastic waste left on Earth by tourists.
Tourist foods food one of the famous reindeer of Nara. – Buddhika Werasinghe/Getty Images
New garbage cans with solar energy on street in Nara. – Buddhika Werasinghe/Getty Images
The garbage boxes were removed from Nara’s parks in 1985 to prevent deer from being eaten by them. The signs throughout the city warn people not to get stuck, as eating garbage or food outside their diet can be harmful to deer.
With the increase in the number of travelers, it became clear that the published signs were not enough and people did not follow the local custom of taking away their garbage with them. Since then, the city has reviewed its policy and install several trash bins near the most busy tourist areas.
Sunny energy trash bins are printed with “Save the Deer” in English.
The Shibuya box in Tokyo also struggles to deal with the tourists and the garbage they leave behind. Local politicians fell into the notorious Halloween celebrations and illegally made alcohol consumption on the street – partly to reduce noise complaints, but also to limit the amount of waste.
Police officers are trying to control the crowds that gather to celebrate Halloween in Shibuya in 2022 – Kim Kyung -Hung/Reuters
In Tiktok, videos for the Japanese label for tourists are full, with some passengers comparing Japan with Canada and the United States in its approach to public hygiene or offering tips where to find a trash bin when you really need one (many machines have a few to them).
For some tourists, the lack of easily located trash bins is another charming strangeness of Japanese culture.
For other visitors, this is an inconvenience that reduces the pleasure of their vacation.
Hong Kong resident Rubin Verebes is in the last camp. He visited Japan for the first time in September 2024 and said he was annoyed by the difficulty of finding a place to waste waste.
“It is angry to walk through Tokyo throughout the day, to dial 20,000 steps on your feet and not find a single bin to throw away your plastic package from your sandwich,” he says.
“Some 7-eleven, Family Mart or Lawson stores have no bins to use, so you have to keep these dirty packs or bottles all day until you go back to your hotel.
Paul Christie, CEO of Travel Company Walk Japan, says he focuses on the values of respect and the community when he flights clients’ questions about the lack of trash bins.
“Japanese purity of awards and cooperation as a society to do so, the result is that their country is highly appreciated in clean and tidy bets,” he told CNN.
“In the end,” says McMoran, Japanese research professor, “Japanese communities have decided to avoid the inconvenience and cost of public trash cans, and Japanese users have accepted the weight to have a disposal plan when they buy something.”
Japan made a huge impetus to its citizens to recycle, which is another reason for the small size of the trash bins. McMoran says some municipalities have up to 20 different categories of recyclable objects, and even some locals can find a challenge to sort them and throw everything right.
“The impeccable public transport system is an excellent example where all passengers treat stations, trains, buses and colleagues with respect and act accordingly.”
Dotten submarine
Beyond the topics of cleanliness and hygiene, there is a worse reason for the lack of trash bins in the public zones.
On March 20, 1995, the members of the Aum Shinrikyo Doomsday cult of Sarin attack in several trains in Tokyo, killing 14 people and injured at least 5500 more.
The members of the cults brought plastic packages from Sarin to the subway cars, put them on the floor, and then drilled the bags with umbrella tips as they left the train. Several metro workers who tried to clean the spill and help passengers escape were among the dead.
Soldiers clean in the Tokyo subway after the 1995 Sarin attack – Noboru Hashimoto/Corbis via Getty Images
The incident shocked Japan and changed the country forever.
One after the effect was the removal of metro trash bins and railway stations. Although some still exist, they have transparent plastic bags that allow police officers to easily see what is inside, not dark metal cylinders used in the past.
And this phenomenon is not isolated in Japan.
Many garbage boxes were removed from underground stations in London and large intersections throughout the capital of the United Kingdom after several attacks by the paramilitary Irish Republican army in the 1970s.
The Japanese authorities also followed incidents with terror abroad. Two Japanese railways stopped maintaining trash bins after the Madrid train bombing in 2004, citing fears about terrorism.
There is a creative solution for travelers, worried about how to carry their waste during the day.
Furoshiki are square pieces of fabric used to wrap objects, and almost any souvenir shop in Japan will have some. They can work in the short term to carry garbage until you find a bin, after which they can serve decorative goals at home after the vacation.
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