Why are there few trash cans in Japan?

BarcelonaWalking through the streets of Japan, one can notice that there are generally few trash cans. This is something that surprises tourists given the cleanliness of most streets. Among foreigners, a question often arises: where do they throw away their trash? SoraNews24 journalist Seiji Nakazawa read tourists' complaints about the lack of trash cans on the streets on internet forums. He answered: "It doesn't just bother tourists, it also bothers the Japanese themselves." The question we must ask, then, is another: why are there so few trash cans in Japan?

On the morning of March 20, 1995, several Tokyo subway stations were attacked by a Japanese cult then called Aum Shinrikyo, which translated from Japanese means "supreme truth." Five members of the cult spread out across three different Tokyo subway lines during the morning rush hour. They all carried a plastic bag containing sarin, a toxic, odorless, colorless, and neurotic gas primarily used as a chemical weapon in warfare. This compound can cause headaches, shortness of breath, and, in the most extreme cases, death from inhalation of the gas, as it is toxic. The attackers punctured the bags to allow the gas to spread into the atmosphere. Some of the plastic bags were strategically placed in trash cans. The attack, which shocked the country, left 13 dead and 5,800 injured to varying degrees.

This event marked a turning point in the Japanese government's security policies. One of the measures they decreed was the elimination of trash cans, urging the population to try to dispose of all trash in their homes or other buildings, even if that meant carrying it along the street.

In recent years, however, Japan has begun to cautiously return trash cans to public places like parks and train stations. However, the government has taken some measures on special occasions, such as in the spring of 2019, during a visit by US President Donald Trump to the country's capital. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the closure and sealing of all waste paper mills in Japan, a drastic measure given the huge impact the terrorist incident had on the country's psyche.

It was in 1997 when the first wastebaskets appeared in public spaces after the terrorist attack. They maintained the opaque nature of the old wastebaskets, meaning their contents could not be seen. In March 2004, the terrorist attacks in Madrid at Atocha station took place, and the government gave instructions to eliminate these receptacles again. At that time, during May 2004, the JR East Line, the Keisei Electric Railway Company, and the Tokyo Metro already began to reintroduce transparent wastebaskets on their respective lines. Later, the government ordered the installation of wastebaskets again in 2006.

One of the other factors that have contributed to their return is the tourist boom that Japan is experiencing, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the JNTO, nearly 37 million tourists visited Japan in 2024, a figure that exceeds pre-pandemic figures.

The attack that turned Japan upside down

The cult responsible for the attack became known worldwide. Led and founded by Shoko Asahara, although his real name was Chizuo Matsumoto, the group was made up of elite university students tired of the demands of high academic standards and family pressure to have successful careers in the future. The cult, which was founded in 1984, combined Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and also introduced elements of apocalyptic Christian prophecies. They were convinced, for example, that there would be a Third World War and that they would be the only survivors.

The leader and founder, Shoko Asahara, was considered the "mastermind" of the operation in Tokyo and, along with the perpetrators of the attack, was sentenced to death. In 2018, capital sentences were carried outIn 1995, the year of the attack, the estimated number of members of the sect was 9,000 in Japan and 40,000 followers abroad.