Taking out the trash

In every person’s domestic life, there are unpleasant realities that must be faced every now and again. While overall, things may be quite decent, we are forced to come to terms with something that is distasteful, perhaps even disgusting. For me, this is more than a constant annoyance; it’s a fact of life. I am talking, of course, about what to do with my garbage.

I must confess, the Japanese system for dealing with one’s household waste is one of the areas of the country that truly mystifies me. While I do empty my trash regularly and take it out to be collected, those who have encountered me along the way have always told me that I’m doing it wrong (while, in typical Japanese fashion, neglecting to give me anything more specific to go on). I don’t think I could possibly be alone in this.

For one thing, there are very specific rules about how you are supposed to divide up your garbage. Ideally, you ought to have a bag (translucent) for burnables, abag (translucent) for non-burnables, a bag (translucent) for recyclable bottles (washed, de-labeled, and de-capped), a bag (translucent) for cans, bundled newspapers, and a somewhat-less-than-helpful category indicated by “other”. While I have tried to hold to this ideal, I have to admit that there are times when I maybe didn’t completely adhere to these rules completely, or occasionally, at all. I don’t think I should be blamed for this, though: Japanese laws on the subject of trash are complex, draconian, and above all else, somewhat arbitrary with regards to what fits in what category. Back when I did my homestay in 2006, I was constantly being hounded for putting something in the wrong receptacle, even if (to me, at least) it looked like it belonged there. I mean, where’s the harm, right?

The other thing that earns my constant ire is figuring out which day is supposed to be trash day. Apparently, there are several: one – or possibly two – day(s) for burnables, one (maybe more) for non-burnables, one for recyclables, etc. The only problem is, no one I know can explain to me which day is which. There is a sign outside my apartment (as well as many others) that threatens fines towards individuals who violate the proper trash day to leave articles sitting outside in plain view until the day they’re supposed to be picked up, but the chart which gives those days is either blank or faded to the point of invisibility. Someone I talked to told me it was somewhere on the city’s website, but I haven’t been able to find the schedule there, either. Maybe Japanese people just communicate this information by chemical signals or something, like some tree species. Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder.

One of my fellow ALTs, the Welshman, seems to have taken to the sorting and disposal of rubbish here in Japan a bit better than me, but even he is at a loss to try and explain what I have to do. Maybe he’s started picking up the chemical signals too. At the very least, we can both be slightly amused at an odd Japanese trend we’ve both noticed: while the US and the UK cannot agree on standard terminology for waste (we Americans prefer “trash” or “garbage”, while the British insist on “rubbish”), most Japanese trash cans we’ve seen use neither, opting instead for the (perhaps Japan-only) term “dust box”. Very odd.

At any rate, the supposed fines threatened by the sign have thus far failed to materialize, so I mostly just try to take stuff out with some semblance of regularity. After all, my apartment is by no means large, and small amounts of trash can quickly accumulate to a level I just can’t keep lying around. Against regulations or not, it ain’t staying in here. Just don’t tell the city government I said that – as a public employee, I should at least maintain appearances as a law-abiding citizen. One cannot always play the role of the oblivious foreigner…