TOKYO (TR) – The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is gearing up to slap litterbugs with fines as a post-pandemic surge in inbound tourists and local revelers leaves popular nightlife districts and sightseeing spots buried in garbage, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Oct. 20).
Following an aggressive debate over street cleanliness, Tokyo is planning a new ordinance to impose administrative fines on violators. If enforcement begins, it will be the first initiative of its kind implemented at the prefectural level in Japan.
The situation has reached a breaking point in Shinjuku Ward’s notorious Kabukicho red-light district. In the early hours of September 24, following a five-day weekend, the deserted entertainment hub looked like a city of trash.
Beer cans, liquor bottles, and empty food containers were piled recklessly on top of commercial waste outside restaurants, attracting swarms of crows. Broken umbrellas and unsegregated garbage were jammed into the narrow alleys between buildings.
Shinjuku recently collected a staggering 164 tons of street trash from its nightlife zones over a single year — a 26-ton spike compared to 2019.
“At night, the garbage just seems to multiply,” lamented Motoshige Sugiyama, 73, head of a local business association, noting that foreign tourists can frequently be seen tossing their trash on the streets alongside Japanese revelers.
Countryside, too
The mess extends far beyond the neon-lit streets of the capital. In Okutama, a mountainous town bordering Saitama and Yamanashi prefectures, the riverbanks have been plagued by barbecue waste left behind by visitors.
Local officials believe the spots went viral on social media among foreign nationals seeking to avoid crowded areas during the pandemic, leaving the small town struggling to handle the cleanup alone.
In September, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike announced plans to draft an ordinance banning littering, aiming to enforce the new rules by fiscal 2028. While 11 other prefectures technically have penalty ordinances on the books, none actually collect fines due to a lack of specialized patrol personnel.
Shibuya as model
Tokyo is looking to Shibuya Ward as its model for a crackdown. In June, Shibuya began strictly enforcing a 2,000-yen fine for street drinking and littering.
“You dropped your cigarette, didn’t you?” a ward patrol officer told a 24-year-old Nepalese man near the bustling Shibuya Scramble Crossing on Sept. 15.
After paying the penalty via a cashless smartphone app, the man shrugged. “I didn’t know. Other people were doing it too,” he said.
Shibuya currently deploys up to 60 patrol officers who monitor the streets 24 hours a day. Between June and September, roughly 1,500 people were slapped with fines—one-quarter of whom were foreign nationals.
However, foreign tourists frequently cite a lack of public trash cans as their top grievance when visiting Japan. Street bins largely vanished across the country following the deadly 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system. The removal was meant to deter terrorism, but high waste-processing costs have kept the bins off the streets ever since.
Overtourism
Now, facing the brunt of overtourism, some areas are reversing the trend. Last year, the Arashiyama tourist district in Kyoto installed high-tech, solar-powered “smart bins” that automatically compress trash, resulting in a dramatic drop in street litter.
Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward is following suit. Next month, authorities will deploy 22 smart bins in the anime and gaming mecca of Akihabara, citing the severe impact that abandoned garbage is having on local residents.
Tokyo’s upcoming ordinance is expected to urge businesses to share the responsibility, paving the way for a return of trash cans to stations and public spaces as the capital battles to clean up its streets.