Spring Cleaning

Today, in a generous display of neighborly harmony, we joined with members of the local resident's association to pick up the rubbish that had accumulated over the winter. One of the many interesting facets of life over here is the dynamism of the local resident's association. Known as chounaikai, they are responsible for organizing a year round series of various events - everything from monthly recycle day when all the plastic and glass bottles are collected, to the summer mikoshi festival, when a small potable shrine is carried around and the local blackmailers, sorry, kids hit you up for a couple of thousand yen or reign curses and rotten eggs on your house.

The other thing to note about the chonaikai is that the organizers are predominantly retired, older people and joining any of their activities makes me feel positively spring-chicken like. They refer to me as 'young fella' and admire my youthful vigour as I snag another plastic bag full of empty beer cans from the bushes.

And there were a lot of them. It would seem that some of the less environmentally enlightened citizens of Muroran prefer to do their drinking al fresco and hope that the local wildlife will clean up after them.