Japan’s growing problem with ‘trash homes’ prompts questions about lack of social support
- ‘Gomi-yashiki’ are homes that have rubbish spilling onto the streets and surrounding properties, attracting pests, and causing problems for local governments
- With more than 5,200 trash houses across the country, the problem has been called a ‘national concern’ by one Tokyo newspaper
One specific three-storey family home in Yokohama’s Isogo district has boxes, furniture and plastic bags stacked to the roof of the built-in garage. Crates are also piled haphazardly on the pavement, along with shopping baskets, folding chairs, tarpaulins, and scattered pieces of wood. The debris even encroaches onto the neighbour’s parking space.
That dwelling is one of more than 5,200 trash houses identified as being of particular concern to local communities, according to the first ever nationwide study of the problem conducted by the Environment Ministry. The largest number of properties overflowing with rubbish were in Tokyo, with 880 cases, followed by Aichi Prefecture in central Japan with 538 problem properties and 341 in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.
While a separate study in 2017 reported problems from 250 municipalities nationwide, the ministry’s report indicates 661 municipalities are currently struggling with how to encourage – or force – homeowners to tidy up.
