British citizen arrested for dumping bento trash in mailbox

Anyone claiming not to know the difference between a trash can and a mail box either doesn't have brains or is a liar.

This idiot deserves the punishment coming to him!!!!

"...because if the rest of the people in Japan eat without leaving their trash on the ground..."

The writer has never walked through Yoyogi Park early on a Monday morning during the warm seasons. It's a disgusting mess, although the staff do collect the piles of strewn bento boxes, shochu cans and plastic bags by before noon.

... would suggest that Tanaka has been in the country for several months

Or the fact he has a Japanese surname could suggest several years, if not decades.

Put him on the next flight out of Japan.

The bloke's a complete and utter Muppet, but to see some of the comments above you'd think he mugged a helpless old lady and stole her life savings. Make him do community service and fine him. Maybe a couple of days in the nick to scare him.

perhaps the waste disposal law should be applied to tipping low level toxic waste(trash)into the sea too!

What a dope. When I was last in London a couple of years ago, when the trash bins on the street got full, people just started throwing trash on the ground, so maybe it's a culture thing.

Still, take a hike, Anthony. The rest of us live here and follow the social norms.

WTF another website show glimpse of all the private mail, and business mail that got damaged by this selfish degenerate.

I am guessing that Tanaka might be ethnically half Japanese even if he chose British nationality. Why does everyone blame the British half? I live near the sea, and it is the Japanese, not the foreigners, who leave litter on the beach, and it is not just the beach that they leave litter.

Dece 24 and Mach 17

Haven't seen those abbreviations before; interesting.

Also,

Japanese people not being all that keen on eating or drinking in public spaces

With Cherry blossom viewing just around the corner, I suggest Casey step outside and observe.

Very poor form this, Anthony. Why didn't you just throw it in the sea like everyone else?

everybody knows that there's a trash can I'm the convenience store.

don't be shy, use it!

Pretty disrespectful thing to do. I dunno how British he is with the surname Tanaka though.

He must be a British passport holder. "How British" he is is not really an issue, neither is "part Japanese". Disrespectful action no matter where you are, or who you are. Like, I say, a fine and some community payback should suffice in correcting this disrespectful behaviour.

Tanaka claims that he thought the mailbox was a trashcan, but the excuse is a little hard to believe. 

Unless that was a very unusual mailbox, that is indeed hard to believe. What a complete moron.

On my daily one hour exercise walks, I notice these bagged discarded bento meals disposed of willy-nilly, so much so the local communities have to trice monthly venture out to pick them up and discard them appropriately.

Whatever the nationality there has to be examples made however harsh the penalties.

The officer was correct, zero  tolerance

Trash everywhere in my neighborhood in East Osaka. Rivers, ponds, streets, carparks, the park, trash everywhere.

I would post photos here if I could.

You can’t blame him that post box looks just like a UK rubbish bin (not).

He is a slovenly ill mannered boor.

"He is a slovenly ill mannered boor."

Careless dimwits like that could be helping the spread of the "variant"

There used to be trash cans in public places, but then, after 9/11, they took them away, worried that "terrorists" would plant bombs in them. That's not a joke. Conbinis didn't suffer from the same neurosis and they generally, still have trash cans. It's about time the public trash cans returned. There is a need.

While what the guy did is pretty stupid, the majority of the article is also complete drivel: "Much of that is due to Japanese people not being all that keen on eating or drinking in public spaces" Yeah... not at all during HANAMI season. Nope... didn't see a bunch of blue tarps just this morning, families on them, eating and drinking away. They all seemed to take home their garbage, true, but only a quick walk around proves that untrue as well -- river just behind the park is full of trash, including electronics people didn't want to have to pay to have recycled, an abandoned bike with it's basket full of trash, the recycling bins next to vending machines nearby overflowing with garbage like the man's in this article, as well as convenience store coffee cups, etc.

Japanese litter just like everyone else.

Every stream, creek and river in Japan has at least one old tire in it.

What an idiot....worse than the Brit swimming the moat naked.

f the rest of the people in Japan eat without leaving their trash on the ground, 

Along the countryside roads in Chiba, there is a lot of plastic, pet bottles, empty bento boxes, etc

In a country where you are rarely ever a couple of kilometres from a conbini and a trash can it still amazes me that so many people choose to throw their crap out of the window for someone else to deal with.

Last November I saw a local nature guide tour bus driver throw his bento box out of his window on the forest road that I also frequent. He probably felt better for it because he had neatly tied it up in the bag that it came in.

I took the gomi to the hostel where he works, and when he returned his boss gave him 3 x 75 litre bags and told him to fill them with trash from along the same road.

There was no point telling the cops because they would have done absolutely nothing apart from try and find holes in my life.

Alternative headline,

”Man arrested for dumping bento trash in mailbox”.

The citizenship is relevant?

Tony confused a post box with a trash bin? That explains why my letters are never answered.

That's pretty gross. Imagine receiving one of those mail with some soy sauce or mayonnaise stains on it from his discarded bento.

Bertie....This is true. I know JR got rid of the trash bins on the platforms at this time. All the trash from the Tokyo area used to go to a sorting facility in Oifuto. They saved millions a month by stopping this.

What an absolute tool. It’s never acceptable to do this. But at 2:20pm?!? Did he think no one would see him?? He’s clearly a few cards short of a full deck. What an embarrassment to the the rest of us law-abiding, rule-obeying foreigners.

His name is "Tanaka"? Not exactly a common Brit surname!!

But on behalf of all truly British people who love Japan, I apologise for his transgression, especially if he did it in such a wonderful place as Kamakura.

Now let's see a Red box with a slot in it.

What does that remind anyone that has been to the UK of?

Oh right a British post box.

Often with the words "Post office" in white, black or gold letters.

(Yes I know some say Royal mail, Letter box, )

But seriously maybe if this guy was from the USA I might believe his story because their post boxes are Blue ( not that I think anyone from the USA would actually be that confused). But the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand all their post boxes are red like Japan many even similar in look.

Bring back trash bins!

Since 1995, and the Aum Shinrikyo chemical terrorism attack,

trash bins are scarce.

I remember the first day I got to Japan, it was Osaka and a dingy hotel next to the river. I woke up in the morning to the sound of noisy ravens and looked out the window. They were across the river, perched on a building's backdoor escape, tearing apart some plastic railing. In the water below was floating trash, including a woman's hygenic pad, like a white boat sailing downriver to the sea.

Alternative headline,

”Man arrested for dumping bento trash in mailbox”.

The citizenship is relevant?

Exactly; by using "British" in the headline they're implying he's an indigenous British person, not one of Japanese descent who's back in Japan no less.

A lot of drivel about litter, the latter being an ugly habit, but stuffing one's food trash in a public mailbox is especially nasty.

As a Brit I am ashamed that this moron has Americanized us.

Trashy Brit tourists on holiday in Spain would like a word with you.

So damn sick and tired of litterbugs.

I hope he gets what's coming.

And while the authorities are at it, they might want to check whether he realyy is just British and not a dual national. If the latter, he should be asked to renounce one. He's not a famous tennis player.

@Itson:

Totally rad the agreement. It is like so disgusting.

I feel so sorry for the people that have to go out and volunteer to clean, it is like so wrong all this trashing.

I saw a man toss out his convenient store trash today and tried to run after him but his car was much too fast.

It's interesting to see that this makes the national news coverage here - Japan prides itself on being a clean and considerate place, which we always respect.

It's a good job this guy's not posting his trash in Malaysia or Singapore, or he'd be facing their horrendously vicious corporal punishments for sure.

If you drive in Japan, you'll see that the grass verges at the sides of the road, and in between dual carriageways have a very large number of small, neatly tied plastic bags full of used food and empty drinks containers that have been discarded. It's also common to see items just thrown out of car windows into the road.

Pride and cleanliness indeed, but not in my backyard!

This bloke is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he? All mailboxes around the world look roughly the same. You can't definitely mistake them for something else. Stuffing a bento box inside? He could have figured. And even after one day in Japan, he could have figured what are those red boxes for.

His last name is Tanaka. He should know better...

As I said above, I do not condone what this idiot has done, and like other Brits here I feel embarrassed - but to correct some rather disparaging comments, the UK is not swimming in filth. Like every country there are run down areas where filth and litter accumulate... it is NOT widespread.

So just because some moron decides to dump his litter in a post box please don't tar us Brits with the same brush - people in glass houses and all that... I mean I'm sure there are Americans who don't run around like cowboys, chewing backy and shooting everyone in sight... _^

So wait, you can get 5 years in prison for putting trash in a mailbox? That’s only two years less than that one guy got for killing his toddler. Methinks priorities are misaligned.

It is the most aged in my community that preen, taking care of the local environment, all the discarded plastics bottles, the litter, the “bento bags”.

It is the minority that are the nuisance, the simple solution is they are put to task, let the crime fit the punishment or vice versa, the offenders in their personal time pick up all the trash.

The name seems Japanese not British.

There no excuses for littering in Kochi, none

With the name Tanaka he is either at least half Japanese or has taken his wife's family name over his own. Something no self respecting Brit would ever do. Marrying a foreigner she could keep her name.

ulyssesMar. 24  03:45 pm JST

Anyone claiming not to know the difference between a trash can and a mail box either doesn't have brains or is a liar.

This idiot deserves the punishment coming to him!!!!

This guy is BS-ing and not doing very well at that. In 2019 before the pandemic I visited places in Canada where the signs are in English, French, Iroquoian and Huron. And if that's not enough, there is the universal 'pitch in' symbol. And Canada does not have a major rubbish problem either because most people there know better.

Living in Japan, japanese name but let's point out, right in the title, that he has a british passeport.

"Clearly he inherited these filthy, backwards habits abroad!"

Seriously though, British cities are not overly full of litter. There are certainly countries with a bigger litter problem. Even HK is worse.

Kyakusenbi_Arimasu, there are bins in supermarkets, convenience stores.

What is so iterating, is the plastics thrown outside convenience stores, when there is rubbish disposal within the store. Also for some inexplicable reason at railway stations.

Nappies!!,

" It is essential to ensure the final disposal and safe handling of food waste to protect the environment and human health."

ref:

https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-during-emergencies/food-safety-and-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19

I don’t condone his pitiful behavior. I recently visited there within the last year and you can’t find anywhere to dispose of anything that (dozens, hundreds) food shops are dispensing out to the 1000’s of visitors walking through the streets. I ended up carrying it around for hours and was finally able to dispose of it at the train station. Since these shops are profiting from the customers then maybe they should try to help them dispose of their trash properly. Speaking of litter in Japan, truck drivers are notorious for tossing their bags of bento and bottles out the window near traffic lights underneath elevated expressways.

BertieWoosterMar. 24  07:49 pm JST

There used to be trash cans in public places, but then, after 9/11, they took them away, worried that "terrorists" would plant bombs in them. That's not a joke. Conbinis didn't suffer from the same neurosis and they generally, still have trash cans. It's about time the public trash cans returned. There is a need.

Not true here in Osaka: There were bins everywhere up until about 2008, funnily enough the time of the global financial crisis.

I wonder, could there be a possible link between the two?

BertieWooster

There used to be trash cans in public places, but then, after 9/11, they took them away, worried that "terrorists" would plant bombs in them. That's not a joke. Conbinis didn't suffer from the same neurosis and they generally, still have trash cans. It's about time the public trash cans returned. There is a need.

Not true. There has always been a lack of public trash cans. The only places to find trash cans tend to be outside convenience stores or vending machines (and those mase so that only the cans from the machine can fit).

Exactly; by using "British" in the headline they're implying he's an indigenous British person

So they're implying he's pre-Roman?

Must be getting on a bit, so.

lucky the words "bento trash" made it into the headline.

Living in Japan, japanese name but let's point out, right in the title, that he has a british passeport.

The realistic question in this case is: What is better, to throw the plastic bento-box in the street or hide it somewhere?

This otherwise excellent Anglo-Japanese citizen chose the crypto-route. Unfortunately for him, a pair of police eyes witnessed the cryptocrime.

Jacobo

Its not uncommon in Japan to see people put their garbage in the recycling bins where the pet bottles go because there simply is a lack of garbage bins in this country.

What this guy did was wrong, but had he just left his bento trash to blow into some river and end up in some dolphin's throat, well thats worse.

On the Japanese surname...

Something no self respecting Brit would ever do

but littering's fine? My heart always sank when, after driving trips on the Continent, I'd get off the ferry and see so much rubbish thrown nilly willy. Japan's not much better, mind you: uchi/soto applies to geography, too.

The name seems Japanese not British.

Is this the 19th century?

It's just laziness and lack of manners.

I lived in Australia until recently, where this sort of behaviour is more common than in Japan. People generally dump their lunch trash almost anywhere; they even leave it on the seats in trains. 

It's just too much like hard work for them to carry it to a trash can, even if there is one right next to the bench they are sitting on!

Agreed on the train part. Usually Japanese trains are spotless, compared to ones here in Australia.

The reverse applies to beaches however. Been to a popular beach in Japan in your travels yet? They make a pretty good impersonation of rubbish tips. Old bentos, cans, chopsticks, ciggie butts, you name it!

FWIW I lived in the UK for 2 years and found it to be mostly clean too, so not sure what some posters are implying about it being a centre of filth or something. Perhaps it has decayed rapidly in the last 15 years? There are sadly grubs everywhere like this Tanaka-san.

The lack of public garbage cans is really annoying..and you see garbage on the street from Japanese people as well...but the guy's an idiot///probably will lose his job..

Pretty disrespectful thing to do. I dunno how British he is with the surname Tanaka though.

@Peeps:

Nice posting. I like. Makes sense

Put him to work in a field where he belongs -preferably in the middle...,

If not for the pandemic, I could see that excuse actually passing mustard. There's enough tourists that MAYBE you could make that excuse sound reasonable. Any foreigner here now is pretty much guaranteed to be a resident though, who should know better (and should also probably speak Japanese).

Not that I'd believe it even in that case, it is just another case of somebody trying to "gaijin smash" and give us all a bad name. It would just be moderately more believeable. Purely speculation, but I would not be surprised if this guy has a track record of this kind of thing and is only now being called on it. He probably pushes past the train gates on a regularly basis too.

It's just laziness and lack of manners.

I lived in Australia until recently, where this sort of behaviour is more common than in Japan. People generally dump their lunch trash almost anywhere; they even leave it on the seats in trains.

It's just too much like hard work for them to carry it to a trash can, even if there is one right next to the bench they are sitting on!

Since he likes to dirty thing, make him sweep the streets for a couple of weeks picking up litter, and put the rubbish in a bin linner not another post box.

I am sure the Japanese are a very proud nation and they are taught from an early age not to throw litter on the ground, and make the place look untidy, may be we Brits need to teach young children to clean up after them selfs from an early age, especially at school.

Brits!

@Reynardfox

"jail time is reserved for commercial/industrial-scale offenses or those involving harmful materials, which wouldn’t apply to Tanaka"

So they're implying he's pre-Roman?

Post-Roman whites are still indigenous to the British isles, as are whites to the rest of Europe an indigenous people.

I enjoy my well paid job picking up dog poo and litter for the local council here in the UK after having spent many years involved with education in Japan for which I have not prospered. Others litter provides a livelihood, but I wouldn't want to do that in Japan - far too many people over there!

The first "Bento Hooligan."

Lock him up.

Pretty disrespectful thing to do. I dunno how British he is with the surname Tanaka though.

Not every British person is called Smith.

That's just plain rude and filthy.

Most trasbins have been removed from key public areas in Japan for safety concerns. It has something to do with the Aum Sinrikyo Cult attacks on the Tokyo subway systems (on 20 of March, 1995; last Saturday marked the 26th anniversary).

What Mr. "Tanaka" should have said was he was out drinking with some friends and he thought the mail box was a trash can. I am sure that would have been his get out of jail card free excuse.

This doesn't surprise me. The UK is strewn with litter, dog poop, dumped takeaways, half empty drinks, and the occasional pile of vomit. My 'green and pleasant land' is filthy - an absolute tip, because so many Britons are lazy and have such low standards, dropping their litter at will. It's not all of us though. I'm careful with my rubbish at home or abroad.

Visit Japan and you soon realise that you need a bit of space in your bag/pocket for wrappers. Most areas where street food is served (shrines, festivals etc) do provide bins. Although eating and drinking whilst walking anywhere is a faux pas, it is OK to eat or drink whilst stationary. As long as you take your litter home.

In general, Japanese staff will go out in smart uniforms in the morning and pick up every speck of litter near their shops, as will some residents around their homes. But this is not universal. In some of the 'entertainment districts', quite a bit of litter can accumulate until the pick up squad appears. In more industrial, non-tourist areas, rubbish and litter also stacks up. And the acceptance of visual clutter with endless signs and street furniture, seems to lead to some properties having all manner of junk piled up around them on the outside. There may be a different aesthetic at work, but it always strikes me as odd in such a tidy country.

In cases such as these, community service is in order, picking up litter.

This was foul. Rude and disrespectful. It angers me to no end too. Its like people sitting in designated seats on trains and buses for expecting Moms or the injured or disabled. And I am vocal about it too. I am an American. But I love tis country so much I have naturalized and now a Japanese citizen. Please do not come here and exercise your bad habits from your own country. Throw your rubbish where it belongs. What ever punishment this British citizen is facing. Its well deserved. I have seen lots of British tourists come to Fukuoka and be stellar on mannerisms here. And for the record I would even go out and say most citizens from the U.K. or Europe are really polite and clean up after themselves and welcomed here in my city.

Try this none sense in Fukuoka and your going to nailed big time. The FPD don't play man.

Especially with butt flinging and smoking out in public. Bento in the mail box. Come on man. Get a life.

It is because of such idiots (however few) that some Japanese have prejudices against dealing with foreigners in daily life. Has he though about people whose mail was smeared by his rubbish. Absolutely abominable!

The trash I see on my daily runs in every country is appalling. Oh my, so dirty.

I am afraid to wear flops with newly manicured nails due to the dirt and filth. Yuckers.

This boy needs to be boxed up and shipped home to his territory through the post with a stamp of disapproval.

"Tanaka might be ethnically half Japanese even if he chose British nationality."

In cases like this everyone suddenly "remembers" the offender's Japanese "parts"!

For all I care Tanaka is British and a pr..k. Even is "partly" only.

How do we know is not a full Doncasterian who has adopted his Japanese wife's surname?

With that name he most probably can even read both labels, in English and in Japanese, that’s really most probable, or he can only read ‘Post’, only read the Japanese label, or he is completely stupid or disabled and can’t read either languages used by his parents at home. Remains a very little probability that they for example moved from Peru or Brazil to here and the British father also can’t speak no English being an immigrant from elsewhere for example, and the mother speaks no Japanese, so that he would only understand Spanish or Portuguese, something like ‘correos’ ,’enviendos’ or so. Only in that last two very improbable cases he could get through it without a penalty, but still a remaining image damage.

That is fine, they actually look like a trash bin. Plus, there are no public trash bins despite the high tax, who can blame some trash here and there

As a Brit I am ashamed that this moron has Americanized us.

Give him the full prison sentence and the full fine and then kick him out - pikey!

Tanaka deserves to be severely punished.

Is this a cultural thing in Britain?