B. to invite us to the holiday block party
C. to let us know about the monthly neighborhood meeting
D. to explain the garbage collection schedule
I walked out of our house only to trip over the bag of garbage that I had thrown out the morning before. Somehow it had magically returned. Then the door bell rang. Our concerned, but cordial neighbors stopped by to explain that I had put the wrong kind of garbage out the day before. "Did I know and understand the garbage schedlule?" It seemed I didn't and the "garbage patrol" was here to help. (If you answered "D" you were right!!)
I was so embarrassed and felt bad that we hadn't done the right thing the right way; too often a feeling and occurrence here as missionaries in Japan. Even though we try to figure out the how, what, and when's of life; we still "mess up" and don't do what we are suppossed to do. Yes, even after 11 years of living in this land we can still feel lost, confused and frustrated.
Since conformity and "blending in" is a valued here in Japan, we feel it extra when we stick out and do the wrong thing. I think especially since we are the only foreigners in our neighborhood, we are on display. We work hard at being good neighbors, not wanting to ruffle any feathers, so that we can build trust and friendships.
The garbage system here in Tokyo is much more complex (and the neighbors more strict) than in Sapporo where we used to live. First, you separate your garbage: burnable, non-burnable, plastic, cans, and plastic drink bottles. Then bag it and put it out on the designated day. Our garbage station for about 10 houses is just across the street where we pile our clear plastic bags (so the gargabe man can see if it's sorted correctly). I finally wrote which garbage day was which on my calendar since it's different each week.
Here is the detailed explanation of how to seperate garbage.
For large furniture that you want to toss you buy a little sticker at the convenience store and call the "big garbage" company to come. You then place the sticker on the item and set it out in front of your house for pick up on an assigned day. The price is based on the size of what you are throwing out.
