WB027: A Mexican Standoff

According to Wikipedia, a Mexican Standoff is "a confrontation where no strategy exists that allows any party to achieve victory. Anyone initiating aggression might trigger their own demise."

Based on my observations, there is a passive Mexican Standoff in the district I live in between the owner of a mattress that has been incorrectly disposed and the garbage collection service provider.

Before delving into the details, a background on rubbish disposal norms in Japan.

Garbage disposal 101

Districts designate a specific day of the week to collect rubbish, which residents are to place by the kerbside (by a certain time).

A rubbish collection schedule like the one below is commonly found on community and apartment notice boards. It is also in the "Life in Setagaya" guidebook I received when I became a resident.

To dispose bulky rubbish, such as a broken microwave or a mattress, residents need to purchase Oversized Garbage stickers from the district.

Nothing in life is free, and a fee is needed to cover the labour costs associated with disposal. The disposal price varies by the type rubbish, and information is easily found on Setagaya (Japanese: 世田谷) District's portal.

Residents are expected to play their part and strictly follow the district's garbage collection schedule, with no exceptions.

If you miss a collection time, you must bring your garbage back home and wait for the next pickup. If you leave bulky garbage by the kerbside, it will be left there in all its glory until someone A) Pays for it to be picked up or B) Picks it up because one man's garbage is another man's treasure.

This is why you see little to no garbage being left by the kerbside.

Missing garbage collection day during the hot Japanese summer is not a pleasant experience, as perishables and organic matter rot quicker.

By and large, I observe a culture of residents responsibly following the rubbish disposal rules. There's also no sense of ill-will or complaining when a drop-off time is missed. In some sense, everyone plays their part.

Now, back to the Mexican Standoff.

Who will blink first?

In all communities, there are always bad apples. In this case, the mattress has been left by the kerbside as its owner did not buy an Oversized Garbage sticker. As far as I recall, the mattress has been abandoned since I moved to Tokyo six months ago.

Every time I walk past this street, a part of me hopes the mattress has been properly disposed. This looks like the case sometimes, but in actual fact the mattress has been moved a few meters to a nearby spot.

I think this Mexican Standoff is here to stay, as both parties are unlikely to concede. Why so?

Well, the mattress' owner, who is quite likely a penny pincher, will be out of pocket by a few hundred yen if he/she throws in the towel. Meanwhile, the district can't (and shouldn't) concede as it risks condoning or encouraging copycat culprits to break the rules.

Either way, the community loses.

To be clear, this amusing yet unfortunate standoff is an outlier. There is a strong culture here of abiding by the invisible social contract that ensures good, law-abiding behaviour. It is what makes Japan a very liveable country, despite its high cost of living and taxes.

--Ends