What's with the trash!?

"Why is there trash here? The train is not a garbage can."

I was out of the country at the beginning of the month when the posters changed. (I'm squeaking it in here under the wire for the Tokyo Metro manners posters completists out there!) You do see the occasional bottle or wrapper on the trains in Tokyo. On the whole, though, Japanese public spaces have a few orders of magnitude less litter and grime than comparable public spaces in US cities. It's weird, getting back to the states; until your eyes adjust, you see little problems everywhere that seem easily fixed. "Why don't they repave those dangerous potholes!?" you think. "Why hasn't this paint been touched up in the last 20 years!? Who let the shelves at the grocery store get so untidy!?" And, "Oh my god you have got to be kidding me, why is the cashier waving around the wine chiller she's ringing up for me and shouting at the woman at the next register that she would like one of these for her birthday which is in three weeks and none of y'all better forget!?"
After a few days, though, questions like "Why is there trash here!?" start to seem pointless, and you stop noticing the blemishes. Until, that is, you get back to Tokyo and a piece of garbage out of place seems noteworthy again.
If history is any guide, December's poster will be about public drunkenness. Check back soon!