Garbage.

So, I'm currently preparing to leave Japan. It's quite the endeavour, I must say. Speaking to all the sensei's that I know, cleaning my apartment (that hasn't been thoroughly cleaned in 10 years or so), saying my goodbye's, using as much Japanese as possible, and above all, trying to get rid of stuff.

Japan is a small, relatively isolated country. There are also a lot of people. Therefore, they're super strict about what one can throw away and when. Every first and second Wednesday of the month is cans and bottles, every Monday and Thursday is burnable garbage, the last Friday of the month is non-burnable garbage, and so on. I've been approached a few times about putting the wrong garbage in the wrong bins because, well, all the other Japanese people living here have had to deal with this their whole lives, while I and the other gaijin here have only dealt with it for a few months. I'm a likely suspect. In fact, they sent out a letter to everyone in the building saying that "one person has been putting bottles in their burnable garbage. This is incorrect, and as there is a garbage can in the lobby for plastic bottles, we politely request that blah blah blah...." The exchange faculty from Evergreen, Helena Meyer-Knapp, experienced residents from her building, not the garbage collectors, rummaging through her garbage and telling her that she was mixing things up.

One part of me says, "Jesus Christ! Can't I just throw some shit away without being hassled?" while the other part thinks that this system is absolutely necessary in Japan for reasons I've already listed. But, they don't even really recycle here. They use incinerators for everything possible.

On a semi-related note, a while ago, I went to the most beautiful incinerator I've ever been to in Japan.


Notice how there's no smoke coming out of the building. That's because the facility takes all the energy from the burned trash and recirculates the energy throughout the building and the city of Osaka. It was designed by... I forgot his name, but rest assured he's famous. The idea was to bring trash, nature, and the modern together in the design, thus the random lines and windows. The most postmodern building I've seen in my short lifetime. It was built to help with their bid for the Olympics, but failed, and so a lot of people got really angry because it cost a lot of money. What they fail to see is that the building will pay for itself within 20 or 30 years, and was thus a sound investment.

But, enough of tangents. As much as I criticize Japan in these posts, I am going to miss this country. It may be one of the most socially strict countries in the world, but a natural offshoot of this is that it's one of the most polite and helpful societies in the world (on a strictly 1 on 1 basis). Some of the most hospitable people I've ever met have put me up for a few weeks at a time and asked for nothing in return, providing me meals, transportation, presents, and straight up cash. This exists everywhere, but Japan truly embraces friendships, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends. Japan has always had to work together, and this shows through strong even today. If only America and Japan could meet somewhere in between and create a new country it might be a utopia...