47 Prefectures One Trash Ranking: Which Has the Most?

“Someone who can’t even pick up a single piece of paper at their feet, what can they possibly do?”

“The concept of ‘Gommyuran’ actually comes from Michelin. The definition of a Michelin three-star restaurant is a restaurant worth traveling to for the experience of the food. As I continued picking up trash, I started to feel happy when I went to places with a lot of trash, thinking, ‘This is my place to shine.’ I jokingly call myself a ‘Gomilover’ or a trash lover. The five-star places in ‘Gommyuran’ are the spots that every trash lover dreams of.”

This is spoken by Mitsuhide Yoshikawa (51), the founder of Primavera Co., Ltd., a company specializing in reuse projects mainly in the Kanto region. He is also known as the Gomi Pick-Up Hermit. Yoshikawa, who has authored books such as “Picking Up Trash May Cast a Spell on Your Life♪” (Asa Publishing), is currently continuing his trash-picking activities while traveling, after stepping down as the representative of his company to focus on writing.

In December of last year, Yoshikawa completed trash-picking activities across all 47 prefectures of Japan. To commemorate this, he released the Gommyuran 5-Star Ranking Japan Edition, based on the amount of trash he has independently data-logged up until now.

The reason Yoshikawa started picking up trash was actually due to muscle training. Initially, he began by doing squats every time he found trash as part of his routine. However, he soon began enjoying the act of picking up trash itself.

He was also deeply moved by the words of renowned educator Shinzo Mori: “What can someone do if they can’t even pick up a piece of paper at their feet?” As he traveled for business, he began picking up trash during his trips, and now he often picks up trash and engages in “Gomi Communication” with readers of his books during his travels.

“I’ve estimated that I’ve picked up trash at around 2,000 locations over the past 10 years. The ranking released this time is based on data from 451 locations I visited after August 2023, excluding about 100–150 overseas locations,” said Yoshikawa.

Yoshikawa evaluates his trash-picking based on “how many pieces of trash he can pick up in one minute.” If he picks up 2 pieces, it’s ★1; 4 pieces is ★2; and so on, with 20 pieces or more being ★5. The more stars, the more trash there is. Of course, the evaluations are based on Yoshikawa’s personal experiences, so they may not apply to every location.

“Finding trash → using tongs to pick it up → putting it in a trash bag, takes about 3 seconds for each action. So, for ★5, 20 pieces in one minute means repeating that 3-second action 20 times. You’re constantly picking up trash.”

Now, let’s hear more about the locations that ranked high on the Gommyuran rankings.