Woe betide any who are foolish enough to have garbage upon their person in Japan. For it shall stay upon their person forever and ever. Not a garbage can, a dust bin, or a refuse pot will be found in the fair streets of her sparkling cities. And thus it shall ever be, amen.
The lack of garbage cans is one of the most vexing things an American can face in this country. It doesn't make sense. I have garbage, and am far from my domicile, but the garbage cannot be put anywhere! Who is responsible for this outrage?

     Perhaps it is the dangerous times we live in. This red-alert world has made people concerned enough to hide garbage cans lest they be used as bomb receptacles. Well, that's one theory I've heard about the scarcity of garbage cans anyways. Oddly, Japan has never experienced attacks that had anything to do with garbage cans as far as I know. But still, can't be too careful.

     Or maybe it's because all garbage has to be separated in Japan. I think they still burn it all (don't quote me on that), but they need to burn different materials at different temperatures. Anyways, if there is a garbage receptacle, that means someone is going to get the onerous job of separating what has gone into it. So most places aren't inclined to let you give them your waste.

     Many people use the country's numerous conbini's cans to pass off their garbage. The conbini's are starting to retaliate though; often they keep their cans inside the store and post big signs about their sadness in refusing "house garbage".

     This desperation leads to littering all to often. Often a person sits down at a train station bench and gets up "forgetting" their garbage. And if there is a fence somewhere in Japan, you can be sure people have plopped their garbage over it. The worst is when people use other people's bike baskets to throw away their refuse, as in the picture above. Somehow, people's instincts seem to be telling them it is okay to pollute in a bike, a nook, or under a bench. Anywhere but the street.

     Americans I have no excuse for. We pollute everywhere in America. I know this fact intimately, as I was a boy scout all the way through my teens and did many a roadside cleanup. So my fellow Americans, I say this to you: value your garbage cans and use them instead of the ground. For if you don't, they may one day be gone, and then you will have to carry your garbage everywhere with you until you find a bike with a basket. That's how the logic of these things works.