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Why Are There No Trash Cans in Japan? Japanese Viewers Say the Terrorism Story Is the Cover — "Sarin Was Just the Excuse for a Cost Cut"

「サリンは口実、実際はコスト削減」——駅からゴミ箱が消えた理由と、日本人が実際にどうしているか

TokyoOsakaNagoya
Why Are There No Trash Cans in Japan? Japanese Viewers Say the Terrorism Story Is the Cover — "Sarin Was Just the Excuse for a Cost Cut"

Across 155 comments on a Japanese explainer about why station bins vanished, the crowd rejects the official story: the most-liked answer on the cause (47 likes) points out that the 1995 sarin attack was carried out inside the trains, not in the bins, and calls terrorism "just the excuse" for a cut in money and labour. From there the thread splits into why the bins can't come back — commuters dumping household rubbish, nappies and food waste (17 likes) — and the contradiction locals keep raising: a vending machine on every corner and nowhere to put the empty bottle (18 likes). The top comment overall (83 likes) asks, only half joking, whether loud enough complaints could bring the bins back. It closes with what Japanese people actually do instead.

“The sarin attack being the reason they were removed is purely the official line. The subway sarin attack was carried out inside the trains — the bins had nothing to do with it. Sarin was just the excuse for a plain cut in money and labour.”

撤去の理由がサリンってのは完全に表向きの理由 地下鉄サリン事件は列車内の犯行であってゴミ箱は利用されてない サリンを口実とした単なる金銭的労力的コストの削減

— @YS-oj6sw
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（YouTube · ずんだ鉄道）

What locals said (excerpted from 155)

  • "There's been a terror attack, so let's seal off the bins for now." "Just for now, right." — a few months later — "Our waste-disposal costs have collapsed! And barely anyone leaves rubbish on the platform either!" "And we don't have to collect it." "Right, let's just take them out for good."

    「テロ事件もあったし一時的にゴミ箱を封鎖しましょう」「一時的にね」 ～数か月後～ 「ゴミ処理にかかってたコストが激減です！ホームへのゴミ放置も意外と少ない！」「ゴミ回収しなくていいしね」 「ゴミ箱撤去していいだろ」

    — @OpenChannelcode435 likes

  • In the end the stated reasons are counter-terrorism and infection control, but the honest reason is cost cutting. Whatever risk comes from removing them should be carried by the operator.

    結局、表向きテロ対策や感染症対策で本音はコストカットだからな。撤去したリスクはその事業者が背負うべき

    — @TokyoMetra14 likes

  • The trains have no toilets, commuter rapid services get scrapped, station toilets get closed because of upkeep costs — and then the city ends up building a public toilet outside the station with tax money. Japan's railways just aren't making money, so scrapping the bins is one more piece of the cost cutting.

    車両にはトイレが無いのに通勤快速は廃止して、快速が停車しない駅のトイレは維持費がかかると廃止して、困った自治体は税金で駅前にトイレを設置したりしているから、日本の鉄道業界は儲からないからコミ箱撤去も人件費削減の一環なのでしょうね。

    — @蛯沢真冬-h4j26 likes

  • Railway operators have been cutting costs hard lately and the bins are part of it. Back when fares were cheap but the trains were packed, fare revenue was huge and maintaining bins was no problem; now falling ridership, inflation, higher labour costs and waste-disposal fees all weigh on the books, and with the push for counter-terrorism on top, removing bins is one of the results. You barely see them on the Toei subway now either.

    近年の鉄道事業者は経費削減が激しく、ごみ箱廃止もその一環ですね。今までは安い運賃でも大混雑で運賃収入がデカくゴミ箱の維持費も問題ありませんでしたが、近年の利用客減と物価高・人件費増・ごみ処理費が経営に少なからず影響し、テロ対策強化もありゴミ箱撤去はそのひとつですね。都営地下鉄もゴミ箱見かけなくなりましたね。

    — @Gohda_Games14 likes

  • There really are people who dump their household rubbish on the way to work, on the self-serving grounds that food waste attracts bugs if they leave it at home. If there's a bin on the street they show no mercy. …Isn't carrying bug-infested rubbish out of your house the worse option?

    家に生ごみを置いとくと虫が湧くから…という手前勝手な理由で 出勤時に家庭ごみを捨てる習慣のある人は実在する 街中にゴミ箱があると容赦しない …虫が湧くようなゴミを持って家を出る方が不快では…？

    — @OpenChannelcode417 likes

  • For a while loads of people were stuffing household rubbish into convenience store bins, so the stores stopped putting bins outside. The usual pattern — a few idiots ruin it for everyone who was using them properly. You see it everywhere, and life just keeps getting less convenient 😢

    一時期コンビニのゴミ箱に家ゴミ入れる奴が多くて。結局コンビニでもゴミ箱を外に置かなくなった。結局、一部のどアホのせいで真面目に使ってる人が困る構図。この構図枚挙にいとまがねぇ。どこもそんな感じで。どんどん不便になっていくねぃ😢

    — @牛若丸-k6z1 likes

  • Stations used to have bins everywhere and it was convenient, but lately even the vending-machine bins are gone, so at my local station the fashion is to chug your drink before boarding and leave the bottle against the wall or around the machine. And dozens of them line up in the station toilet. Then again, when there is a bin, people put nappies and food waste in it. The staff have it rough.

    以前はゴミ箱が駅の至るところにあって便利だったのに最近では自販機のゴミ箱も撤去されたので、うちの近所の駅は電車に乗る前に一気飲みして壁際や自販機の周りに置いていくのが流行ってますよ。 あとは駅のトイレに何十本も並んでいますね。 ゴミ箱があるとおむつや生ゴミ捨てる人もいますしね。 駅員さんが大変そうです。

    — @PP-qt1rl3 likes

  • So they pulled the bins because the "get rid of the bins" complaints were loud enough — does that mean if the "put the bins back" complaints get loud enough, they'll put them back?

    「ゴミ箱を撤去しろ」というクレームがうるさかったからゴミ箱を撤去したということは、「ゴミ箱を設置しろ」というクレームがうるさければゴミ箱を設置するということなのかな?

    — @ukb092783 likes

  • A vending machine with no bin next to it is a real problem… They'll happily sell you the drink and then act like the rest is none of their business.

    自販機の横にゴミ箱が無いのは考えものですよね… 無責任に売るだけ売って、 後は知らん顔ですかって思ってしまう。

    — @霧島あつを18 likes

  • It isn't just the stations — bins are disappearing from the streets too. Even the ones beside vending machines are going.

    駅だけではなく街中からもゴミ箱減ってますよね 自販機の横からゴミ箱が無くなってますもん

    — @putiputiikura15 likes

  • Right — it's not as if Japanese people were always tidy. Apparently we were still better off than the West, but if manners slide along with the economy, this place could end up covered in rubbish again.

    そうだよね。 日本人だって、昔からキレイだった訳じゃないんだよね。それでも、欧米に比べたらマシではあったらしいけど。 また、不景気と共に民度が下がれば、ゴミだらけになる可能性もあるかも知れないね。

    — @あほたん-aho7 likes

  • It's also the result of passengers making the effort not to leave their rubbish behind.

    乗客がゴミを捨てないように努力した結果でもあるのだ。

    — @ゆっくりフラン姉より優れた妹7 likes

  • JR Nagoya Station and Nagoya Station on the Aonami Line both have bins — very handy!

    JR名古屋駅、あおなみ線名古屋駅にはごみ箱があって便利！

    — @takuma_airvehicle1 likes

  • Stations in Osaka do have bins, you know.

    大阪の駅はゴミ箱あるぞ。

    — @MK-ky8dq1 likes

Where locals go instead

  • At the big convenience store chains like 7-Eleven, the bins are now mainly inside the store rather than outside.

    セブンイレブン等大手コンビニでは、店の外ではなく中に設置してあるのが主流になりましたね。

    — @senju-kamikoya_hakkaitei41 likes

  • Keikyu was one of the first to pull its bins. And some railways still keep a bin — not on the platform, but at one spot by the ticket gates. Next to the vending machines there are still recycling boxes for cans and PET bottles.

    京急では、いち早く“ゴミ箱”を撤去しましたね。 あと、“ゴミ箱”はホームではなく改札口一カ所に設置している鉄道会社があります。 又、自販機の脇には空き缶やペットボトルの“リサイクルボックス”がありますよ。

    — @senju-kamikoya_hakkaitei1 likes

  • JR Kyushu still has bins on board the trains.

    JR九州は車内にゴミ箱がある。

    — @ハイメアルカラス5 likes

  • I eat while I'm out, so I carry a little rubbish pouch.

    買い食いするからダストポーチを持っている

    — @おでこほくろ7 likes

  • I keep one of those roll-up plastic bags for dog walks from the 100-yen shop in my bag. I take my rubbish home and sort it there.

    私は百均の犬の散歩時に使うクルクルと巻かれた携帯ビニール袋をバックに入れてます。ゴミは自宅に持ち帰って分別してます。

    — @ブリジット-r9p4 likes

FAQ

Why are there no trash cans in Japan?
Japanese commenters give two reasons, and they rank them in this order: cost, then security. Bins mean collection rounds, staff and disposal fees, and one detailed reply (14 likes) ties their removal to falling ridership, inflation and higher labour costs. The 1995 subway sarin attack is the official line, but the top reply on the cause (47 likes) notes the attack happened inside the trains, not in the bins.
Where do you throw away trash in Japan?
Inside convenience stores, first — the chains moved their bins from the pavement to indoors (41 likes), so buy something and use the bin by the counter. Recycling boxes for cans and PET bottles still sit beside most vending machines (1 like), and some railways keep a single bin near the ticket gates rather than on the platform. Otherwise you carry it.
What do Japanese people do with their rubbish while out?
They carry it. Commenters describe a small "dust pouch" for street food (7 likes) and roll-up plastic bags from the 100-yen shop kept in a bag, with everything sorted at home (4 likes). Buying a couple of those bags on your first day is the single most repeated practical fix in the thread.
Are there trash cans in Japanese train stations?
Some, but do not count on it. Tokyo Metro removed the bins from every station in January 2022 for security reasons, and JR East has been pulling them station by station since around 2024, describing it as an area-by-area review rather than a nationwide policy. Commenters still report bins at JR Nagoya, on the Aonami Line and at Osaka stations, and JR Kyushu keeps them on board its trains (as of mid-2026).
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