Why I Started This Project

Japan welcomes millions of visitors every year. Tourism brings life, culture and economic support to many cities – but it also leaves a very visible mark.

In the most popular areas, you often see trash left behind after a long day of sightseeing: plastic bottles, cans, food wrappers, cigarette butts and convenience store bags. This waste collects near stations, around temples and shrines, in back streets and near viewpoints.

My name is Jeff, and I live in Tokyo since 2020. I love seeing people from all over the world enjoy Japan, but I also see the hidden side of mass tourism: streets, parks and riverbanks slowly getting dirtier.

Instead of just complaining, I decided to act. This project exists to clean up the trash left by tourism and help keep our city beautiful and respectful for both residents and visitors.

What This Project Will Do

With the support from this campaign, a small local team (including myself) will:

• Regularly clean streets, parks and riverbanks in high-tourism areas

• Focus on hotspots where tourists usually gather and leave waste behind

• Collect and properly dispose of trash and recyclables

• Help restore the “clean Japan” that visitors expect and locals deserve

All field work will be done by our own team.
We are not asking people to come and volunteer – we are asking for financial support to buy the materials we use in these cleanups.

How Your Contribution Will Be Used

Every donation will be used only for cleanup materials and necessary costs, such as:

• 🧤 Protective gear: reusable gloves, masks and safety vests

• 🗑️ Tools: trash bags, trash pickers/tongs and simple hand tools

• 🚚 Local transportation and proper disposal fees when needed

• 📷 Basic documentation: simple tools to record what we collected and where

If we raise more than the initial goal, extra funds will allow us to:

• Cover more tourist areas and hidden back streets

• Buy more durable, reusable equipment

• Keep the cleanup work going for a longer period of time

No money will be used for salaries. This is a community-minded project carried out on a volunteer basis; donations pay only for the things we need to clean safely and effectively.

Why This Matters

Tourism is important, but so is respect for the places we visit.

By cleaning up the waste left behind by visitors, we:

• Reduce plastic and trash flowing into rivers and eventually the ocean

• Keep cultural spots, shrines and viewpoints clean and dignified

• Improve the daily life of residents who share these streets all year round

• Preserve the image of Japan as a clean and organized country

A few simple tools and a committed team can completely transform how an area looks and feels after a busy day of tourism.

How You Can Help

Even if you are far away, you can help keep Japan clean.

• Your donation turns directly into trash bags, gloves and tools used in real cleanups.

• Every small contribution becomes visible in the form of cleaner streets, cleaner parks and cleaner tourist spots.

Thank you for helping us clean up the mess left behind by tourism and for supporting a cleaner, more respectful Japan –
one busy street, one bag of trash at a time.