Why aren’t Tokyo in Tokyo in Japan jagged baskets on the street?

Tokyoin Japanis one of the Clean and ordered cities in the worldfamous for his efficiency and care for the environment. However, an aspect that always surprises visitors is theabsence of public bins and baskets Along the streets of the capital: at first glance, this might seem like a paradox in a city with such a high population density. Yet the choice not to position public baskets is the result of a long cultural tradition and practical reasons related to the Safety of the population. Japanese buildings have spaces dedicated to garbage collection and each municipality has very rigorous regulations for waste management.

A culture based on personal responsibility

In Japan, the culture of cleaning and respect for the environment surrounding is deeply rooted in society, the population is educated from an early age to take care of its waste and not to leave them in public places. This translates intodaily habit of bringing your waste with it until you get home or in spaces where it is possible to dispose of them correctly. Japanese schools, for example, teach children to clean the spaces and collect waste, do not delegate cleaning to external personnel, the responsibility is totally entrusted to the individualeven at an early age. The lack of baskets on the street therefore, is an extension of this teaching, which encourages the individual to be more aware of its impact on the environment and to be responsible for not leaving a trace of his movement.

Safety reasons: the Tokyo attack of 1995

Not having baskets in the city is a decision that has developed over time. In a recent past, in fact, the city was actually equipped with public baskets, and the decision to drastically reduce their number is linked to a tragic event in the recent history of Japan: theAttack on the 1995 Tokyo Metro organized by the religious sect Increase Shinrikyofounded by Shoko Asahara in 1984with the aim of overturn the government and establish an dictatorial regime.

The dramatic attack took place in the Tokyo Metrothrough the spread of Liquid state gascontained in plastic bags wrapped in newspapers and left on the floor of some stations and wagons. In Kasumigaseki station, Two employees of the Tokyo MetroTsuneo Hishinuma and Kazumasa Takahashi, they made a heroic gesture that avoided an even greater tragedy: they managed to recover some wraps from which the gas came out and brought them to a closed space to prevent the poison from spreading further. This brave gesture, unfortunately, cost them life, but allowed to save many other people. The attack caused the death of 13 people and poisoned as well as 6000 individualsleaving an indelible mark in the history of Tokyo.

In the following years All the members of the sect were arrested and the leader, Shoko Asahara, he was sentenced to death By hanging in 2004, the same fate that touched the other material executors of the attack. Following this event, the Japanese government decided to limit the presence of the baskets to the maximum, To prevent someone from emulating the 1995 attack, hiding orders, gas or other dangerous materials inside.

Separate collection in Japan

In addition to the cultural and safety reasons, the lack of baskets for the garbage is also linked to Very rigorous waste management system which characterizes Japan. In Tokyo, citizens have the obligation to separate waste into different categories: combustible, non -combustible, recyclable and hazardous waste waste. Each municipality has very rigorous regulations for waste management and, if someone does not correctly separate the garbage, it can run into Fines or warnings. In many areas, the waste that is not correctly separate is not even collected, and therefore the person must take charge of disposing of them correctly within a New collection cycle.