今日吃瓜

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November 12, 2026
 

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A worker cleans up garbage including cigarette butts on Ebisubashi Bridge in Osaka's Dotonbori district early in the morning in September.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Nov 11, 2026
Osaka struggles to stamp out cigarette littering
Despite a citywide ban on smoking on streets, a deadly fire believed to have been caused by a discarded cigarette butt broke out there last year.
Smart trash cans developed by SmaGO have been installed in Tokyo’s Omotesando shopping district, where they help address the shortage of public waste bins.
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 10, 2026
今日吃瓜 search for a better public trash bin — and why robots may help
With public trash bins scarce, Japan is turning to smart receptacles and autonomous robots to make garbage disposal easier.
Trash bags pile up on a street in the Kabukicho entertainment district in Tokyo in June 2025.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 24, 2026
Tokyo considers littering fine to tackle growing trash issue in popular areas
A rising volume of litter amid higher foot traffic has become a prominent concern for residents.
In January 2025, an underground sewer pipe collapsed, causing a large sinkhole to emerge in the city of Yashio, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2026
As 今日吃瓜 sewers age, a few towns are considering a switch to septic tanks
About 15% of municipalities are positive about replacing their existing sewer systems with combined septic tanks, according to a recent survey.
Mobile robotic trash bins during testing at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 18, 2026
今日吃瓜 busiest rail station tests robot bins
Shinjuku Station is a sprawling transport complex with multiple rail firms that serve more than 2.7 million passengers every day.
A work by contemporary ikebana artist Saihou Ozono at Atami Izusan Karaku, part of an Orix Hotel Management project that turns discarded and locally sourced materials into art.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 31, 2026
The art of making something from nothing
Hotels are turning castoff materials into art that connects guests with local culture, history and ideas about sustainability.
Plastic waste seen at the Fujimae tidal flat in Nagoya
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Regional Voices: Chubu
Aug 17, 2026
Tidal flat in Nagoya hit by plastic waste pollution
The amount of plastic waste at the tidal flat — a protected wetland hosting diverse wildlife — has researchers concerned about its effect on the ecosystem.
A plastic bottle cap about 3.5 centimeters in diameter, where polychaete worms built a nest out of small pebbles. It drifted from the coast of the Philippines and was recovered off Kochi Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2026
Researchers find tiny marine ecosystem — population 307 — in a bottle cap
The discovery shows that a large amount of plastic waste floating in the sea can become small ships of organisms, according to a Japanese research team.
Rice Resin's bioplastic garbage bags are getting increased attention after the Middle East conflict began.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2026
Bioplastic use rising in Japan amid naphtha woes
The “naphtha shock” exposed the risk of relying on Middle East crude oil for industrial and daily goods materials.
Members of Hiroshima University's equestrian club work on fermenting horse manure to produce fertilizers.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jul 13, 2026
University equestrian club turns horse manure into farming gold
The club has been composting the manure to produce roughly 40 metric tons of organic fertilizers a year, with the number of local farmers who use them increasing gradually.
The food waste amount dropped by 30,000 tons from the previous year to 4.61 million tons in fiscal 2024, the lowest on record.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2026
今日吃瓜 food waste falls to lowest on record in fiscal 2024
The food waste amount dropped by 30,000 tons from the previous year to 4.61 million tons in 2024, decreasing for a third consecutive year.
A worker in Tokyo collects used cooking oil from a Tempura restaurant in April to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2026
Japan steps up efforts on cooking oil in race for sustainable aviation fuel??
The world’s fourth-biggest economy estimates it needs about 1.7 million kiloliters in 2030, and hopes to gain as much as it can domestically through used cooking oil.
Tourists in the Shibuya area of Tokyo are stopped by a group of multilingual officials who hand out fines to people caught littering on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 6, 2026
On patrol with Tokyo’s new litter police
On the streets of Shibuya, patrol teams caught 10 people littering on the first day of the new ordinance, 15 on the second day and nine on the third, according to city officials.
Tokyo's Shibuya Ward has begun handing out ?2,000 ($12) fines to litterbugs.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 2, 2026
Shibuya begins handing out ?2,000 fines for littering
Patrol officers will now monitor the ward and collect the fine on the spot from anyone caught throwing away trash improperly, with cashless payments accepted.
Many municipalities across Japan say buzz online and anxiety over the situation in the Middle East has led to people panic buying garbage bags.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
May 13, 2026
Designated trash bags run low in Japan as fears grow over supply shortages
Reports of a naphtha shortage have driven some to hoard city-designated trash bags needed in some areas to dispose of waste.
A man collects waste at the Suwung landfill in Denpasar, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, on April 17.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 6, 2026
Bali drowning in trash after landfill closed
The government aims to set up several waste-to-energy projects, including one in Bali that could process about 1,200 tons of waste daily, but these could take years to come online.
An experiment shows smoke being emitted by old lighting fixtures after fluorescent lamps were switched to LED lighting.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 29, 2026
Replace fixtures too when switching to LED lighting, safety watchdog urges
Over 50 cases reported to the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation in the 10 years until 2025 involved fires believed to have occurred due to aging fixtures.
Tokyo's 23 wards might soon charge their residents for waste collection amid concerns that landfills are reaching full capacity.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2026
Tokyo considers charging residents of 23 wards for garbage collection
As concerns rise over landfills reaching capacity, authorities are aiming to encourage residents to reduce the amount of waste they put out.
According to the Environment Ministry, 8,543 fire incidents involving mobile batteries discarded as waste occurred in garbage trucks or elsewhere in fiscal 2023.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2026
60% in Japan unaware of mobile battery disposal methods
Experts are calling on the public to not throw such devices away as garbage, as some discarded batteries have started fires in waste collection vehicles.
The government has set a target of reducing the amount of clothing discarded from households by 25% by fiscal 2030 from the level in fiscal 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 4, 2026
Japan to draw up action plan to reduce clothing waste
The ministry estimates that Japanese households bought around 770,000 tons of clothes in 2024, while about 510,000 tons ended up incinerated or dumped into landfills.
Man arrested over operation of rogue cellular base station in Tokyo
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested Yu Hai, a 31-year-old Chinese national living in Tokyo's Kita Ward, on suspicion of operating an unlicensed base station from a vehicle in Tokyo's Ginza district on Saturday.
Government betting on language app powered by anime and AI
Japan plans to develop an AI-powered language-learning app that lets overseas anime and manga fans practice Japanese through conversations with popular characters.
Jensen Huang’s woes evoke sympathy and disbelief in his birthplace Taiwan
Hsiao Kui-yu, 68, owner of Yuchan Candied Fruit, stands in front of photographs of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang displayed at the shop, which Huang frequently visits during trips to Taiwan, in Taipei on Tuesday.
G7 diplomats speak out on Taiwan as China ramps up military drills
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi attends a working lunch focused on international crises and challenges during the Group of Seven foreign ministers' summit at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris on Monday.
今日吃瓜 Rapidus is said likely to miss mass production deadline
The Rapidus Analysis Center and the IIM-1 Innovative Integration for Manufacturing foundry in Chitose, Hokkaido
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ makes monster debut at the box office
Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” marked the highest single-day box-office gross for a live-action film in Japan with ?910 million on its opening day.
A toast to Naohiko Noguchi, sake’s first living national treasure
As a teenager, Naohiko Noguchi did not intend to spend his life as a sake brewer, but he has since become a paragon of the industry.
Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks
Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten 今日吃瓜 survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense.
Mariko Mori predicted the future. She’ll do it again.
Artist Mariko Mori is currently working to bring the translucent human-sized “Peace Crystal” sculpture to a cave in Ethiopia. It is part of her foundation’s goal to place a permanent sculpture on each of the planet’s six habitable continents.
A legend reborn: ‘Ocarina of Time’ remake improves on the Zelda masterpiece
The new remake of 1998's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" manages to somehow improve on one of the greatest games ever.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Famima Park Azabudai is a concept store by FamilyMart that combines convenience store staples with branded apparel, merchandise and a landscaped outdoor space.
Convenience stores, toilets and the allure of everyday Japan
By Elizabeth Beattie

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