324 fines issued in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward in first month of anti-litter campaign

I wonder how this compares to the number of fines issued to errant, and much more dangerous, cyclists?

Great approach. Get in the faces of the lazy anti-social littering persons. Cost / benefit? I will leave that one well alone. Well done Shibuya, and the plain clothes fine collector... scan here!

Since the media outlets are not reporting it, most likely most if not all of these fines were issued to Japanese citizens.

so this is a huge cost issue. If they aren’t bringing in more than their salaries etc then we need to stop it immediately. Frankly that’s nothing and probably targeted to kids with tattoos.

if they split up, they could cover three times the area.... catch three times as many 'criminals', make three times the money.... help defray the overhead for "24-hour rounds".

Hey hold on a sec, there was some Japanese guy collecting trash after a World Cup game who was quoted on here as saying that all Japanese are brought up to respect the places they go to and leave them as clean as they found them. So it must be foreigners dropping all the trash.

Who cares who was littering? This is good news!

oldman_13Today  04:51 pm JST

Since the media outlets are not reporting it, most likely most if not all of these fines were issued to Japanese citizens.

Civilians hired by the Shibuya ward do not have the authority to demand proof of immigration status so that is totally irrelevant. Anyone citizen, foreign resident, foreign tourist can get fined.

Just a thought… if the desired end state is cleaner streets, wouldn’t the money being use to hire “litter fine patrols” be better used hiring cleaning crews and increasing public awareness?

How about taking some of that money and investing it in some bins? Then double the fine for anyone who litters.

Because with only a few hundred fines a month, there is no way the fines are returning the investment for the patrols.

Since the media outlets are not reporting it, most likely most if not all of these fines were issued to Japanese citizens.

Great comment.

I wonder how this compares to the number of fines issued to errant, and much more dangerous, cyclists?

Littering is so much more dangerous to the environment than a few cyclists. You don't see many bicycles choking up the oceans and beaches of the world.

I used to be a smoker years ago and I never dropped my butts. I can see why lazy people in Japan do that due to the lack of bins but it's no excuse. I was not surprised to see some here turning it into Japan v Foreigner thing. Those miscreants always attempt to do that. Surprised not to see any comment by the well known PLA sympathiser though. Maybe they are out having smoke.

What every city in Japan needs including Shibuya is FAR more garbage cans, the good one which separate burnable trash and other items for recycle.