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Last time I was in Shinjuku (2009) there were actual cigarette police in special uniforms who followed smokers around and publicly chastised or fined them if th

Last time I was in Shinjuku (2009) there were actual cigarette police in special uniforms who followed smokers around and publicly chastised or fined them if they littered. I saw 3 salarymen get busted within about 15 minutes. The fact that this system even exists indicates that the Japanese do litter. On the flipside, all the fast food joints had wastebins sorted by garbage type, and I did get death stares when I accidentally put some rubbish in the wrong one. Eating while walking also got dirty looks, but conversely you could buy beer and snacks on some of the trains and drinking alcohol in public is allowed. Site has been hugged to death, cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oIkNRIMkh-IJ:japantravelcafe.com/japanese-culture-2/why-the-japanese-dont-litter+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oIkNRIM...

ekianjo 12y ago
> Last time I was in Shinjuku (2009) there were actual cigarette police in special uniforms who followed smokers around and publicly chastised or fined them if they littered. It's probably not working very well, because Shinjuku in the morning (at least Kabukicho, if that's what you were referring to) looks like a warzone filled with trash. They do an amazing job to clean it up everyday, however.
- nikatwork 12y ago
  It was the South-West end during the daytime, the crowd seemed mostly business people. I get the feeling that Kabukicho and Golden Gai are treated as their own little walled gardens of sin :) I was also surprised by the number and condition of the homeless. I had expected a communal minded society would look after such people.
minikomi 12y ago
This is more to harass people (walking and) smoking away from the designated zones in general. Serves two purposes - enforces a pretty big change in habit, and creates jobs for older people.
boobsbr 12y ago
Paris would benefit from a cigarette police. Smokers there throw cigarette butts anywhere. Street sweepers deal mostly with cigarettes, and they use a ton of water to sweep it all into the sewers.

ekianjo 12y ago

> Last time I was in Shinjuku (2009) there were actual cigarette police in special uniforms who followed smokers around and publicly chastised or fined them if they littered. It's probably not working very well, because Shinjuku in the morning (at least Kabukicho, if that's what you were referring to) looks like a warzone filled with trash. They do an amazing job to clean it up everyday, however.

nikatwork 12y ago
It was the South-West end during the daytime, the crowd seemed mostly business people. I get the feeling that Kabukicho and Golden Gai are treated as their own little walled gardens of sin :) I was also surprised by the number and condition of the homeless. I had expected a communal minded society would look after such people.

minikomi 12y ago

This is more to harass people (walking and) smoking away from the designated zones in general. Serves two purposes - enforces a pretty big change in habit, and creates jobs for older people.

boobsbr 12y ago

Paris would benefit from a cigarette police. Smokers there throw cigarette butts anywhere. Street sweepers deal mostly with cigarettes, and they use a ton of water to sweep it all into the sewers.