CLEAN AND LEAN JAPAN

A strong civic sense and social norms ingrained as part of cultural identity set apart the nation

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During my visit to Japan on a family holiday, I was astounded by two features. The first was the pristine cleanliness across the country. As we travelled through big cities and rural areas, public spaces such as parks, markets and train stations and along the seashores, river fronts, ponds and even roadside canals, nowhere did we find any litter; not even a bottle, can, or piece of paper. Surprisingly, when we wanted to dispose of some coffee cups, we just could not locate a trash can. We had no option other than to shove the paper cups in our backpacks.

How does the whole of Japan stay squeaky clean? As we travelled further, we realised that cleanliness has been achieved through a strong civic sense in every individual and social norms ingrained as part of the cultural identity. No one eats or drinks while walking on the road or using public transport. Shops that sell snacks request their customers to take the food away and not eat on their premises. In only very few places did we find trash cans that were labelled: plastics, PET bottles, bottles and cans, and combustible garbage. Such segregation is practised in houses, shops and everywhere.