JapanLife100 comments

Jumpstar, you are simply wrong on this one and you show your hiking and outdoor inexperience with your comments. Adapting to Japan's lack of trash cans in general is a bit tough for people coming from other countries where trash cans are often budgeted for with your tax dollars. However, when you hike up a mountain you need to be prepared to bring your trash out with you, period, anywhere in the world. Whether or not someone is bringing stuff up to sell to you along the way or not, and whether or not you paid admission to gain access to the scenic spot, you have to accept responsibility for your garbage in such situations. It sounds like you did accept responsibility for your garbage (good job), but you didn't know how to prepare and didn't think ahead to keep or bring some bags to section your garbage off from the rest of your things and keep the inside of your gear bags and pockets clean. I have made some pretty bad mistakes myself in my first outings on my own into unfamiliar circumstances. Next time you have the chance to experience nature again in a place not accessible by cars, you will be wiser and learn from your past mistakes. The more you get out into the world, the easier it becomes. I promise.

The author of this story, Andrew Miller, is either a smoker with an agenda or someone woefully uninformed.

An independent review of the data commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of Health estimates the number of innocent non-smokers dying in Japan each year from second-hand smoke to be in the thousands.

This data is inline with the internationally respected conclusions of the World Health Organization after reviewing the abundant data concerning deaths from second-hand smoke throughout the world.

If the death of thousands of innocent people every year in Japan and the dramatic negative health consequences affecting millions here in Japan are not issues worthy of escalation and action by Japan, what is worthy of escalation and action?