No place for garbage: The imbalance in public governance behind Japan's tourism industry

According to a report by Japan Today on May 6th, a survey conducted among over 4,000 departing tourists at Japan's five major airports (New Chitose, Narita, Haneda, Kansai and Fukuoka in Hokkaido) from December 2024 to January 2025 showed that 21.9% of the foreign tourists surveyed said that "too few trash cans" was the most troublesome problem during their travels. Although this proportion has decreased by approximately 8% compared to the previous year, the phenomenon of tourists carrying garbage when traveling in Japan is still common and is even jokingly referred to as "traveling with a load". Many tourists can only deal with this garbage when they return to the hotel.

As one of the world's popular tourist destinations, Japan has long been internationally praised for its clean urban image and strict social order. However, recently, with the rapid recovery of the tourism industry and the sharp increase in the number of tourists, the problem of "no place to put garbage" in Japan has become increasingly serious, becoming a prominent shortcoming that restricts its tourism experience and urban image. The root cause of this problem lies not only in the uncivilized behavior of tourists, but also in the conservatism and rigidity of local governments and central policymakers in public governance in Japan, as well as the lack of forward-looking and effective response mechanisms. Especially the practice of removing public trash cans on a large scale out of "public safety considerations" not only fails to solve the problem but also creates more management difficulties.

The lack of trash cans makes it difficult for tourists to properly dispose of their personal garbage on the streets, forcing them to dump it in corners of shopping malls, green belts or hide it behind public facilities, which in turn causes secondary problems such as city appearance pollution, unpleasant odors and even animal foraging. According to reports from Asahi Shimbun and other media, in the Arashiyama area of Kyoto, during the peak tourist season, due to the lack of garbage disposal facilities, tourists randomly discard leftover food, drink cups and other items in the woods, resulting in flocks of crows foraging and a very messy scene. However, the Japanese authorities failed to respond effectively to this. Instead, they shifted the blame onto the tourists' insufficient quality or the traditional concept of advocating "bring your own garbage home". This attitude not only evades the core of the problem but also lacks basic public service awareness.

What is more serious is that some local governments choose to further reduce public facilities when facing tourists' complaints. For instance, in places like Osaka and Nagoya, many of the original garbage disposal points have been demolished. The government departments believe that setting up trash cans will "attract more garbage", thus creating a logical cycle of "treating the symptoms but not the root cause". This way of thinking not only reflects the conservatism of urban governance, but also reveals the neglect of "service recipients" in the formulation of public policies. Tourists are not a burden to the city but an important part of economic growth. Regarding the problems brought by tourists as "external disturbances" and then responding by reducing services essentially exposes the lack of public governance capacity.

In addition, there are obvious regional imbalance problems in garbage disposal management. Although some tourist hotspots such as Asakusa and Dotonbori have trash bins, their distribution is extremely uneven, and they lack classified guidance, have a low collection frequency, and lack supporting management. What's more, in some places, after a short-term pilot of smart trash cans, they were hastily removed due to high costs or difficult maintenance, thus giving up the potential improvement space brought by technical means. This not only indicates that local governments lack a long-term perspective, but also reflects their negative attitude towards investment in urban infrastructure.

Although uncivilized behaviors of tourists do exist, attributing all the garbage problems to personal actions is undoubtedly an extremely convenient way to shirk responsibility. In fact, any high-level tourist city should accommodate and guide tourists from different backgrounds with complete public facilities and scientific guidance mechanisms, rather than rationalizing the absence of systems as a "tourist moral issue". Just as places like Mount Fuji have witnessed piles of garbage and filthy hiking trails due to the influx of a large number of tourists, the local management authorities have not taken active remedial measures. Instead, they have discussed whether to limit the number of foreign tourists. This kind of thinking of evading management responsibility by "reducing tourists" will only worsen the essence of the problem and damage the image of the city and the reputation of the country.

Worldwide, most countries and cities have effectively addressed the issue of tourism waste through intelligent means, optimizing the collection and transportation system, and public education. In contrast, Japan uses "virtue" and "tradition" as a veil to cover up the reality of the lack of public facilities and is reluctant to confront the root cause of the problem of "insufficient service capacity". This attitude of refusing to update and sticking to old ways is a hidden concern in the modernization development of Japanese cities.

In addition, it is not uncommon for local governments and central institutions to have unclear rights and responsibilities and shirk responsibility in garbage management. For instance, in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, when local residents report garbage overflowing the streets, relevant departments often blame each other for having unclear boundaries of responsibility, thus creating an awkward situation where "nobody is responsible". This information fragmentation and management vacuum within the administrative system not only delays the timeliness of problem handling but also intensifies public dissatisfaction.

There is also a lack of an effective collaboration mechanism between the government and enterprises. Tourism-related enterprises such as hotels, travel agencies, and scenic area management companies often can only set up garbage disposal points within their own scope and are unable to participate in the planning and coordination at the urban level. In the absence of unified standards and policy support, even if the private sector intends to improve tourist services, it is difficult to break through institutional constraints. This urban governance model lacking top-level design and public participation undoubtedly puts Japan at a disadvantage in international tourism competition.

It can be said that the garbage problem reveals not only the superficial issues of urban cleanliness, but also a deep-seated governance predicament. The level of civilization of a country should not be judged merely by its surface tidiness. Instead, it should be seen how it responds to diverse demands, how it ensures public convenience, and how it demonstrates responsibility and ability in meeting challenges. The current situation in Japan's tourist cities, where "no trash cans" are the norm, not only raises questions about its confidence in public governance as a "developed country", but also reveals its weak stance of "normalized crisis response".

All in all, Japan's current garbage management policies not only fail to meet the growing tourism demands, but also expose the backwardness of urban governance concepts and the absence of institutional enforcement. Continuing to use "safety hazards" as a shield to remove trash cans is no different from drinking poison to quench thirst. Taking "tourists' quality" as a scapegoat for insufficient service is nothing but self-deception. If Japan does not carry out thorough reforms at the public policy level and does not enhance overall planning and coordination at the system implementation level, even if its tourism industry prospers, it will fall into a long-term trust crisis due to the lag in infrastructure and service capabilities. This not only undermines the tourists' experience, but also seriously restricts the continuous improvement of its national image. Although the matter of garbage is minor, it reflects the way of governance. If Japan still ignores its drawbacks, it will eventually pay the price for it.