Recycling!

Back to a lifestyle post. I touched upon this briefly with in my post about safety way back in February, but I think it deserves a post of it's own. I love recycling, I think it's a great idea as for both environmental sustainability and progeny's sake...and it makes me feel very virtuous for doing a very simple thing. When I realized that Japan also promotes recycling, I was very excited. Japan doesn't just recycle though, Japan recycles like crazy.

Let's start with the basics: You're going to need to start with three different colored bags which unfortunately change from city to city. Here in Kariya the colors are as follows. Green for combustibles, yellow for papers, and red for plastic. Green is your normal trash - banana peels, tea leaves, egg shells, etc. Then comes the exciting part. 

The two basic levels of recycling categorization are plastics and paper, pink and yellow respectively in Kariya. Every bottle of juice, every tray of vegetables, every carton of takeout has a symbol on it showing which category it falls into. Be careful though sometimes the tray might be a paper, while the lid might be a plastic. Give it a quick rinse and into the bag it goes. In Kariya, combustibles are picked up twice a week, plastics once a week, and papers bi-weekly.

Recycling Labels!
graphic from webbdevlam.com

The more advanced level of the bagged recycling collection system is the return bag. For some of recycling categories the waste collection company needs to take the sack back to their sort facility and then they return them to you. As such, each family has their name and apartment building written on the sack so they get their own bag back.

PET bottles are particularly tricky. PET bottles don't go into the normal plastic recycling, which is caution number one. You're either going to need a collection sack or just drop them off one by one at the nearest convi or vending machine garbage bin. Many convis discourage disposal of household recycling at their facilities so you have to be a bit discreet about that one. There is a thin perforation line to take the wrapper off of the bottles which goes into the normal plastics bag.

There are some recyclable items which are solely collected at third party facilities, like some convis or grocery stores. One example of these is milk cartons. I usually take the cartons that have accumulated over the past month to the Apita grocery store to dispose of them. Make note of the proper unfolding procedure! 

So there you have it, basic recycling etiquette in Japan. It takes a few weeks to get into the groove of it, but once you've got it down, it's such an effective system that you have a tough time not following it! 

Gamagori

Cue customary apologies for another very belated update. Instead of making excuses for myself though, this time I'm going to offer reparations. Starting this week, I promise to have one new update by Monday morning of every week. They might not be the most interesting of posts, they might not even be completely coherent, but there will be one. I realized that it has been rather inconsiderate of me to not update this regularly when you, the brave souls who are still checking this blog, have been taking time out of your day, to read about my life in Japan. The least I can do is offer an coordinated flow of information and I apologize that it has taken me six months to come to this realization, but better late than never, eh?

On to the post, I suppose. Without sounding too ostensibly British, Gamagori is a quaint little coastal town in Aichi prefecture. The most popular tourist spot is Gamagori Takeshima, a large shrine set on a small island a few hundred meters from the mainland. To get the secluded shrine there is a long bridge for the daintier tourist, or for more intrepid folks (and excitable children) there is always the water route. The level of the clear ocean water is actually rather low all the way to the edge of the island, perhaps peeking at half a meter, so it is very easy to walk across on foot, though your jeans are might get a bit wet.

 





Walking around the shrine is very calm and relaxing as such places are inclined to be. The vast wooded areas and the proximity to the ocean gives off a tone of reflection and spiritual isolation. The occasional tour group led by enthusiastic microphoned tour guides can sometimes take away from the overall effect though. The shrine encompasses the whole island with various alcoves and pathways to ruminate and meditate through.   

After exploring the island shrine, we walked through the mainland in search of a famous statue. Resting on the hill top of the village is a bronze statue at the top of Mt. Kobo overlooking the little city. He is distantly visible from the main road but there is a very steep trek to actually get near the statue. Like the shrine, this path also leads through quiet woodlands so the whole experience was very much worth the extra effort and exercise. 

Overall, a nice little day trip. The fact that everything is accessible by foot is nice for those of us who enjoy walking and exploring. Given the accessibility, there were a lot of fish, squid and other marine critters for sale in the local shops, which will be a nice treat if you enjoy fresh seafood. :)