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Japan’s top sakura cherry blossom viewing spots littered with trash after hanami picnics

Oona McGee Apr 5, 2018
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People in Japan are appalled at the piles of rubbish left behind by visitors this year.

Every year, the cherry blossoms unfurl their pretty petals in spring, and every year local and overseas visitors gather under the sakura trees to admire the beauty of the flowers with a hanami flower-viewing picnic.

However, with so many people laying out tarps and platters of food and alcoholic beverages for large groups of friends and coworkers, these picnics can turn into messy drunken parties by the end of the night, and by the time the sun comes up, it shines a light on the darker side of hanami: unsightly piles of left-behind trash.

https://twitter.com/HappySummer74/status/978055496610414593

Japanese netizens have been sharing images of the garbage situation at various sakura spots throughout Japan, saying they’re appalled at the amount of trash people leave behind after admiring the blossoms. In a country where people are taught not to litter from a very young age, and are used to taking their trash home with them when they can’t find a trash can, these photos showing leftovers strewn about some of the country’s prettiest sakura spots have angered people in Japan. And now they’re urging everyone to mind their manners and show more regard for other people wanting to share these popular public spaces.

This twitter user shared an image of a “trash mountain” at his local park. Though it might look like a neat pile, @arigatohappynes comments that uncovered trash like this attracts birds, who get into the plastic bags and throw their contents around, making a huge mess which annoys locals.

▼ “After enjoying yourselves, please take your trash home with you!”

おはようございます。朝から汚い写真出します。これは近所の公園に来た昨日の花見客が残したゴミの山。我々地元民は朝からこれに遭遇します。このゴミを鳥が漁り更に散らかします。ブルーシートまで捨てて行くとか信じられない。自分達が楽しんだ後のゴミは持って帰って‼️地元民からのお願いです。 pic.twitter.com/MEiw38idHs

— はぴなス (@Chansey_Blissey) March 25, 2018

Even if you think you’ve done a good job of placing your trash-filled bags in a neat pile, once the crows arrive, they’ll dig their beaks into the bags and throw a hanami party of their own.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yuta Shirahata (@shirahata.photo)

The Tokyo Parks Association sent out this tweet, asking people to be more careful about taking their garbage with them when they go home.

本日朝の園内の桜の木の下の様子です。
残念ながら一部このようなマナーのない方がいらっしゃいます。
皆様が気持ちよく公園をご利用できますようごみの持ち帰りにご協力くださいますようよろしくお願いいたします。 pic.twitter.com/neZaUMtsob

— 都立舎人公園 (@ParksToneri) March 26, 2018

At Nakameguro, trash was seen near the trees and on the bridges which spread across Meguro River. Not only are revellers polluting the streets here, they’re polluting the waterways as well.

今朝の目黒川🌸
目黒川は住宅街です…😰
お花見に来る方露天で飲み物食べ物を売っている方は自分の家の玄関の前に座り込んで飲み食いされたりゴミが置いてあったりしたら嫌じゃないですか？ゴミの片付けは結局住民がやってます😢
桜が綺麗な分余計に残念になる#目黒川 #さくら #花見 #桜 pic.twitter.com/X7isHukVmL

— ゆち子 (@perle6002) March 28, 2018

Park staff at Kokura Castle in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture shared images of broken sakura branches, abandoned barbecue grills and scattered trash. Although they say this is an improvement on conditions from last year’s hanami season, they are urging visitors to be more considerate in future.

Twitter user @rireki114514, who snapped a photo of the morning-after scene at Tsuruma Park in Nagoya city, Aichi Prefecture, didn’t hold back his disgust, saying that seeing homeless people clean up the mess in the park was heartbreaking and made him feel a deep sense of shame.

https://twitter.com/rireki114514/status/980763559733821441

While many might argue that it’s up to the city council to provide more trash receptacles and better systems to help prevent the problem, even at Ueno Park, where there are a large number of waste areas for groups to dispose trash, the piles of garbage are still overwhelming.

https://twitter.com/G3_1934/status/977830950653517824

Even when there are bins, like these ones at Tokyo’s Koganei Park, some people don’t seem to know how to use them.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhK-GM2jAmz/?hl=ja&tagged=ゴミ

People online were appalled to see the images appearing on social media, leaving comments like:

“It’s terrible that people don’t consider the next person who’ll be using the space. What if they were the ones who had to use the space after themselves? They’d be disgusted.”
“This is what happens when people get drunk and forget their manners.”
“Pictures like this make me feel sick.”
“I saw on the news that a fire broke out after someone flicked their lit cigarette into a pile of rubbish like this.”
“If this keeps happening, parks might ban hanami parties on their grounds in the future.”
“This happens year after year. Someone needs to come up with a better plan to prevent this from happening.”

While it might be feasible for individuals and small groups to take their garbage home with them, it’s less likely that those in larger groups, especially those dealing with the hierarchical kohai/senpai dynamics of a workplace hanami picnic, will be able to lug big bags of trash home with them on the train.

Which makes us hope that the mesh-covered garbage system seen at Tokyo’s Komazawa Olympic Park will become more widely used by other busy hanami spots in future.

ゴミの山と桜#花見 pic.twitter.com/NjrepPU8yv

— saimasa (@kp_31masa) March 25, 2018

When thousands of people in Japan come together to celebrate seasonal events like cherry blossom viewing or Halloween, it’s truly alarming to see just how much trash piles up in their wake. Personally, we’ll be carrying as much of our trash home with us in these 100-yen trash bags, to help keep the environment clean and ease the workload on these litter-fighting samurai warriors.

Source: Hachima Kikou
Featured image: Twitter/@ParksToneri