Walk around any city in Japan and you’ll notice a lack of garbage bins on the streets as you are encouraged to take your trash home with you. However, you might sometimes find a rare bin in busy neighbourhoods such as Omotesando and Harajuku as well as inside train stations – but that’s about to change.
As reported by Japan Today, the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation will remove rubbish bins from train stations by Monday May 9 as a safety measure. This includes bins currently available at Asakusa, Mita, Oedo and Shinjuku subway line stations as well as Nippori-Toneri Liner stations.
According to The Asahi Shimbun, stations on the Tokyo Metro network have started removing their rubbish bins since January this year. While all 239 trash bins were removed, the recycling bins beside vending machines remained in place.
Tokyo's railway companies also started implementing similar moves last year. The Asahi Shimbun report also states that Seibu Railway removed rubbish bins from all its stations in March 2021 while Tobu is considering doing the same. J-Cast News further confirms that Odakyu has started removing trash cans from its stations since March 1 this year.
So far, JR East has no plans to remove garbage bins from its stations. However, a recent metro update is informing commuters that the trash cans at the ticket gates of Nippori Station (including the Toneri Liner section) and Nishi-Nippori Station will be removed.
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