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One recurring chore which comes along with living in a Japanese house or apartment is taking out the trash.  In the case of Yokosuka City, the disposal of household garbage is carefully managed, with recycling in mind.  In each neighborhood there are designated spots where the trash must be placed.  Some of these household garbage drop off spots have cage-like containers, while others use green-colored nets to cover things up and prevent crows from eating & scattering and making a mess.  A key policy is: ゴミ分別 (Gomi Bunbetsu) -- "Gomi" = trash and "Bunbetsu" = separation/division.  In Yokosuka, household garbage must be separated into four categories: (1) Raw & burnable, (2) Soft plastics, (3) Cans & bottles, and (4) Non-inflammable.  A calendar is published and distributed which shows the dates on which the different types of trash will be collected.  For example, a typical schedule is: Monday/Cans & bottles, Tuesday/Raw & burnable, Wednesday/Non-inflammable, Thursday/Soft plastics, and Friday/Raw & Burnable.  One thing you will notice while living in Japan is that there are very few public trash bins/boxes.  Those usually can only be found inside shopping centers or convenience stores.  The way of thinking is that, for example, if you are outdoors and buy a paper cup of coffee, and if no trash bin is available, you are expected to take the cup back to your place and dispose it as household trash.  It is a kind of Japanese philosophy that if you produce trash, you are responsible for it and must throw it away properly.  If you have any questions about "Gomi" please ask us!  (More information at the link below.)

Written by Goodfield

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LINK:

Pamphlet of Garbage Disposal in Yokosuka

https://www.city.yokosuka.kanagawa.jp/4105/bunbetsu/documents/english2019.pdf