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G7 Summit Shuts Down Garbage Cans Across Japan
Ahead of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, train users discovered garbage cans and coin lockers shut down even hundreds of kilometers away.
By Jay Allen

In the aftermath of a high-profile political assassination attempt, it’s understandable Japan would increase security. It makes even more sense to clamp down on security with several prominent world leaders visiting Hiroshima for the G7 Summit.
But reports say that police are implementing security measures hundreds of miles away from the event. And it made it harder than ever this weekend for people to toss their trash and stow their luggage.
Japan’s rapidly disappearing garbage cans
If you live in a large city in Japan, you’re likely to notice there aren’t a lot of places to dump your trash. In Tokyo in particular, public garbage cans are a rare sighting. It’s easiest to find one in a convenience store. Otherwise, your best bet when buying something from a combini for consumption on the go is to ask for a plastic bag to hold the waste.
You’re a lot more likely to find garbage bins dedicated to plastic bottle and can waste. You’ll find these mostly next to vending machines, naturally. (You’ll also see many people who’ve ignored the posted signs and used these bins as general rubbish buckets.)
This isn’t an accident. Authorities in Tokyo and other large cities began removing many public trash cans after the Aum Shinrikyo sarin subway attack in 1995. They did another round of removal shortly after the 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001.
You can still find garbage cans in train stations and select other locations. But if you were anywhere near 1,000 miles of Hiroshima this past weekend, odds are you couldn’t use them…
Security in the wake of assassinations

This weekend in Japan saw the summit of G7 leaders in Hiroshima. Leaders from the United States, Great…