japan is well  known for being a tidy place

but at the same time japan is  struggling with reducing plastic waste

these days there is an issue especially in the  harajuku area with the amount of plastic waste  

caused by the recent boba tea trend

tokyo has been  trying out new solutions

in this video i'll show you what they are

and also share my favorite tips  to help you reduce plastic waste when in japan

we have arrived in front of the new type of  rubbish bin

first let me explain to you how it works

this new rubbish bin is called SMAGO

it's an acronym of sumato romibako which means smart rubbish bin that uses iot technology

also it is powered by a solar panel located on the top

it can hold up to six times the amount of rubbish  

it has a sensor in it so if the amount  of rubbish reaches more than 80 percent  

it automatically compacts it

also i like  the fact that they draw Kyoro-chan on them

the recent plastic waste problem has been  caused because of the plastic cups used for  

boba so i want to test something to see if i  also can help reduce this problem

i want to ask this Boba shop if it's possible for them to you  know let me use my own reusable bottle

i bought them from a hundred dollar shop a while ago

be  happy bottle and stainless straw okay let's check

turns out not every shop  allows us to use our you know  

reusable bottles so let's not give up i have  another bubble shop in mind so follow me

okay let's wait for our turn

that's so good i'm really happy

after  july 1st 2020 most of the stores in japan started to charge a fee for plastic  bags

to promote the use of reusable bags and help to reduce the amount of plastic  waste

the reusable bags are available in most stores

for example 100 yen shops, 3  coin shops,supermarkets and convenience stores

this is the bag i use for  shopping it's hello kitty  

have you ever forgotten to bring your reusable  bag when shopping

somehow it often happens to me

i tend to forget to put it back in my backpack

is it just me anyway i have a backup plan

we can always make a bug using cloth

so i  recommend you to always keep extra Furoshiki clothes in your bag that you mainly use

these  particular clothes are called furoshiki in japanese

Furosuki is a type of traditional  wrapping cloth

it can be used in multiple ways including using as Mybag

it started in nara  period but it became popular during the edo period

Furoshiki is not as popular as before but it's  still a valuable tool in our lives even now

if you ever want to buy one shop in  kamakura or kyoto sell authentic ones

to be honest i had no idea how to  use furosiki until recently though  

my mom is kind of an expert  with it so i learned it from her

i'll show you how to make a bag out  of it

at the very end of this video

so if you're interested let's practice  together

okay let's head over to the next spot

my favorite go-to item for reducing plastic bottle waste is from Muji.

follow me and i'll show you

as you can see on this photo from muji it has the  japanese kanji for water written on it

the bottle costs 190 yen and you are able to refill it in  some Muji store at their refill station

sadly this option is not available in all Muji stores yet but by using the Muji water app  

on our phones we are able to see what stores  have this service and where they are located

let's try it

well that's it for today's  video did you guys learn something new

although i'm still learning  how to reduce waste myself  

i hope the information i've shared with you guys  today will be helpful to you in the future

let's do our best to help reduce the plastic waste not  only in japan but in your country too

hiroko out