First, a disclaimer of sorts... this might not be a fun story to read, but i wanted to write about some problems here...
So not everything in Japan has been amazing & fun on this trip...
Every day at the beach i was reminded of a problem which i was not expecting in this country - too much rubbish. Sure, its not on the scale i saw in India, but for a developed country with a reputation for culturally ingrained politeness & respect for others, i have been disappointed.
Many people who visited the beaches left their rubbish behind at the end of the day - plastic, cans, bottles and thousands of cigarette butts. Sometimes unwanted umbrellas and plastic sheets too.
More rubbish washed up daily with the passing tides. Some from ships, some from the land. All poisoning the beach.
This pissed me off for a few reasons. The most direct effect on me was that us lifeguards spent many hours each week picking up all this rubbish. The potential environmental damage was another sore point for me. The environment here seems to be already stressed by the high human population, without the added burden of plastic & polystyrene crap scarring the coastline.
It seems to defy the impression of Japanese as a people being considerate to others...
The attitude/policy of the local goverment officials doesnt seem to help either. They dont want to provide rubbish bins at the beach (or most other public places) because people are supposed to take their rubbish home with them, to then be collected by the regular trucks.
From my observatations, this doesnt work.
I hope that somehow things will change here soon...???
