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.
Low Trash Tourist Spot Ranking – All Gommyuran ★1
[1st Place] Oishi Forest in Okinawa Prefecture (renamed “ASMUI Spiritual Hikes” from December 2024)
“This is actually my first ‘Zero Stars.’ I walked for over an hour, but couldn’t find a single piece of trash. It’s not that there were no tourists, but I’m sure the rangers are working really hard to clean the area.”
[2nd Place] Mount Daisetsu in Hokkaido
“I went to Asahi-dake, and after walking for about an hour and a half, I found only one piece of trash. I always make sure to keep a sharp eye out for trash when I post on Instagram or my blog, but even so, finding just one piece was amazing. Moreover, unlike Oishi Forest, there were quite a few foreign visitors here. Foreigners tend to be a bit more lenient with trash habits compared to Japanese people, but there was absolutely none here.”
[3rd Place] Kamigōchi in Nagano Prefecture
“Compared to the first two places, Kamigōchi had a significantly higher number of tourists. But even after walking for about 20-30 minutes from the starting point, I couldn’t find any trash. Finally, when I did find some, it was just one bottle that had fallen in a place by the river where it couldn’t be retrieved. However, near the shops by the Kappa Bridge, there was some trash. Still, the amount of trash from tourists was surprisingly low.”
[Most Trash-Filled Tourist Destinations Ranking – All Rated ★5]
[1st Place] Shinjuku Kabukicho, Tokyo
“This is really Japan’s representative garbage spot. A distinctive feature is the trash that seems to have been scattered by crows pecking at food scraps from restaurants. When I tried to check into my hotel, right in front of it, there were hundreds of pieces of trash scattered like vomit from garbage. Kabukicho has places like this everywhere. Even I, a garbageman, was at the point where I didn’t want to pick it up anymore.”
[2nd Place] Nishinari, Osaka
“There are a lot of people smoking here, and they casually throw their cigarette butts on the street, so there’s a lot of that trash. When I picked up trash from a bush, it was endless – from garbage caught in trees to trash on the ground. It was shocking. However, there wasn’t the same vomit from garbage situation like in Kabukicho.”
[3rd Place] Around Shin-Osaka Station, Osaka
“I visited here before the COVID-19 pandemic, so I’m not sure what it’s like now. There was so much trash that it took me an hour and a half to get to a hotel 8 minutes on foot from the station. This was during a time when inbound tourism was already an issue, and the amount of garbage was overwhelming. I want to check how it is after COVID when I visit Osaka next.”
[Least Trash Prefecture Ranking – All Gomyran ★1]
【1st place】Nara Prefecture
“While picking up trash, I realized that the amount of trash is higher in the west and lower in the east. The western areas tend to have more trash. Osaka, Hyogo, and Kyoto also have a lot of trash. Nara, of course, is part of the west.
However, when I entered Nara, it felt like a different world. For about 450 meters from Nara Station, not a single piece of trash was found. It’s a miracle for a prefectural capital to have no trash. When I asked a business acquaintance about it, they said, ‘People from the Tenrikyo faith are very active in picking up trash, so there’s very little.'”
【2nd place】Ishikawa Prefecture
【3rd place】Toyama Prefecture
“Kanazawa City has a population of 450,000, and Toyama City has about 400,000, which is about twice the size of my hometown, Ota City in Gunma Prefecture, so I thought there would be quite a bit of trash. However, when I visited, there was less trash than I expected. But if you look carefully, you’ll see some.
It’s just my impression, but I feel that people in Hokuriku tend to dispose of their trash modestly. They seem to throw it away in places that are not visible. Coin parking lots are one of the places where there’s often a lot of trash, with it usually scattered on the asphalt. But in Hokuriku, the trash tends to accumulate behind pillars or in the corners of coin parking lots. It’s like there’s a sense of modesty.”
【Most Trash-Filled Prefecture Ranking – All Rated Michelin★5】
[Most Littered Prefectures Ranking – All gomi ★5]
1st place: Osaka Prefecture
“Tokyo also has areas like Shinjuku Kabukicho, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro where there’s a lot of trash. However, when you walk through office districts, regular residential neighborhoods, or suburban areas, there isn’t much litter. In contrast, Osaka has trash spread out evenly throughout the city.”
2nd place: Hyogo Prefecture
“When I first went to Sannomiya Station in Kobe, I was shocked by the amount of trash. However, when you visit at night, there’s a lot of litter, but since there’s so much, city workers go around to collect it in the morning. That’s why it’s not as bad during the day.”
3rd place: Okinawa Prefecture
“Despite Okinawa having the relatively clean tourist spot of Oishi Forest (ASMUI Spiritual Hikes), litter is widely found across the area. I imagine it’s due to a nankuru naisa mentality, where locals aren’t too concerned about littering. While it’s against the law to dispose of trash in the sea and you could be fined, locals often casually throw things away. The shopping districts and mangrove forests near river mouths were also full of trash. Mangrove forests, where freshwater and seawater mix, are hotspots for both marine debris and household waste.”
Mr. Yoshikawa, who currently travels overseas about 200 days a year, aims to clean up trash across all seven continents. I look forward to seeing the world’s waste situation revealed in the “gomi World Edition.”
