Rubbish

The first few weeks I was in Tokyo, I was homesick but also terribly nauseous.  So one day, when general unpleasantness turned into my-goodness-I'm-really-going-to-throw-up in the middle of Tameike -Sanno station, I looked around for a trash can and realized there wasn't one in sight and, come to think of it, I had never seen a public trash can anywhere in this new city of mine.  Happily, the waive of nausea passed and I didn't have to decide between puking on the station floor or the train tracks.

(For the record, I have since observed many a drunkard choose the station floor.)

Ironically, this city with no trash cans is so, so clean.  I accumulate so much more trash in Tokyo than I did in LA.  If you go into a convenience store to buy something as simple as a juice in a glass bottle and a bento, you will exit with the glass bottle in a polyurethane mesh sleeve, small packet of dry ice to keep your drink cold, bento box (top and bottom) and plastic grass decoration wrapped in a lightweight plastic bag, chopsticks in a paper sleeve, and wet napkin.  If you dare to eat your lunch on the go (and you shouldn't), you will end up carrying all this garbage around for some time--in fact, when on the subway, I often spy small piles of trash, mostly empty energy drink cans, in the bottom of purses that cost a small fortune.

That's right, the rule-abiding citizens of Tokyo will carry their trash (including cigarette butts) home or to their office, where they will sort it: burnable, non-burnable and PET.  Come to think of it, my apartment complex has even more categories.  Minato-ku, the ward within Tokyo where I live, gave me a  30+ page text-heavy manual detailing how to arrange my trash for pick up.

This seems to be a common thread in the Japanese experience.  Exacting, precise textual explanations for lengthy processes are everywhere.  Rules are abundant.  Don't get me wrong, I love rules and I love that Tokyo feels so clean and safe because Japanese people are orderly by nature, but even I find it a bit tedious after a while.

For those who are wondering, I've been told that trashcans were removed as an anti-terrorism measure.

[For the record, all-nighters at the office last week: 2.  I am exhausted.]