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Well, as a Korean, I think that this is due to the difference of importance of how other people think me. I've heard that the western world is very individualis

Well, as a Korean, I think that this is due to the difference of importance of how other people think me. I've heard that the western world is very individualistic, and people in general don't care much about how other people acts. In Korea (and AFAIK Japan too), people very care of what other people think about them. They consider the consequences of every action carefully. One of the results is that people generally don't litter in front of other people, and that makes the city clean. The places without much people, they are dirtier than others because there aren't other people around them.

munmaek 7y ago
Having lived in 세종시, and Seoul, I strongly disagree with your statement. Sejong is a brand new city, made in 2014, yet there was litter everywhere, especially right near bus stops. I distinctly recall seeing empty coffee cups tossed in the planters/hedges nearby. There were almost zero trash cans so what do you expect. The bathrooms didn’t have tissue or anything either, you had to go to one of the nearby stores or cafes and get some. Seoul has plenty of dirty areas just like any other enormous city. People litter everywhere. Some Japanese people may be more conscious about not littering, but so are some Americans! This article reeks of orientalism.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  Japan has a lack of trash cans also. The idea is to get people to think about their waste and carry it home. It goes hand in hand with their hyper recycling culture, which I could never really figure out what bin to put stuff in on my last visit.
  - james_s_tayler 7y ago
    The idea is they got freaked out after the 1995 sarin gas attack and in a knee-jerk reaction took away all the rubbish bins.
- pcr910303 7y ago
  > Sejong is a brand new city, made in 2014, yet there was litter everywhere, especially right near bus stops. Mostly due to people who wait at the bus stops alone; I've never seen people littering at the bus stops at the rush hour, but I've definitely seen people leaving their empty coffee cups on the benches when (they think) nobody's looking. > There were almost zero trash cans so what do you expect. That's mostly because of the stupid decision of that trash cans 'look' dirty, which causes the broken window effect... but IMO that was a stupid decision. > The bathrooms didn’t have tissue or anything either, you had to go to one of the nearby stores or cafes and get some. Hmm, that's not what I experienced, I've rarely seen public bathrooms without any tissue.
viking1992 7y ago
My experience visiting small town Japan (1990s) is that there were several improvised garbage dumps, so Japanese are indeed pigs when nobody is watching.
piracyde25 7y ago
>They consider the consequences of every action carefully. I believe that is what Shintoism teaches.

munmaek 7y ago

Having lived in 세종시, and Seoul, I strongly disagree with your statement. Sejong is a brand new city, made in 2014, yet there was litter everywhere, especially right near bus stops. I distinctly recall seeing empty coffee cups tossed in the planters/hedges nearby. There were almost zero trash cans so what do you expect. The bathrooms didn’t have tissue or anything either, you had to go to one of the nearby stores or cafes and get some. Seoul has plenty of dirty areas just like any other enormous city. People litter everywhere. Some Japanese people may be more conscious about not littering, but so are some Americans! This article reeks of orientalism.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Japan has a lack of trash cans also. The idea is to get people to think about their waste and carry it home. It goes hand in hand with their hyper recycling culture, which I could never really figure out what bin to put stuff in on my last visit.
- james_s_tayler 7y ago
  The idea is they got freaked out after the 1995 sarin gas attack and in a knee-jerk reaction took away all the rubbish bins.
pcr910303 7y ago
> Sejong is a brand new city, made in 2014, yet there was litter everywhere, especially right near bus stops. Mostly due to people who wait at the bus stops alone; I've never seen people littering at the bus stops at the rush hour, but I've definitely seen people leaving their empty coffee cups on the benches when (they think) nobody's looking. > There were almost zero trash cans so what do you expect. That's mostly because of the stupid decision of that trash cans 'look' dirty, which causes the broken window effect... but IMO that was a stupid decision. > The bathrooms didn’t have tissue or anything either, you had to go to one of the nearby stores or cafes and get some. Hmm, that's not what I experienced, I've rarely seen public bathrooms without any tissue.

viking1992 7y ago

My experience visiting small town Japan (1990s) is that there were several improvised garbage dumps, so Japanese are indeed pigs when nobody is watching.

piracyde25 7y ago

>They consider the consequences of every action carefully. I believe that is what Shintoism teaches.