Plastic bags in Japan
At the end of 2017, I took some days off to several gorgeous cities in Japan, including Fukuoka, Okayama, Kurashiki, Hiroshima, and Kobe. The traveling experience was absolutely enjoyable with great weather and authentic Japanese cuisine, yet there was something that kept bothering us for the whole time. Japan is well-known for its extremely detailed consideration for customers, and somehow "notorious"(no offense :/) for not speaking up or express one's true opinion to maintain the perfect integrity of the society in harmony. For years, environmental awareness of the detrimental effect of plastic bags has significantly risen and been advocated by governments through establishing various policies, from banning to taxing on plastic bag use, in many countries. During the three-months-stay in Europe and the United States, I noticed that most of the locals shop with their eco shopping bags, and retailers provide their customers mostly with recycled paper bags instead of plastic ones.
However, I found something intriguing while traveling in Japan. We received almost seven plastic bags on the first day in Kobe and kept avoiding getting more for the rest of the time. Surprisingly, cashiers appeared confused, sometimes irritated, when we tried to turn their plastic bags down, and some even insisted to hand us the bag we just returned. Out of curiosity, we started to observe people on the streets and failed to spot anyone with a reusable shopping tote (or were there someone who used thick plastic bags as their shopping bags so that I couldn't manage to recognize them?) and plenty of people had several plastic bags in hand. This observation might possibly be biased(or I hope it is biased) since we were just travelers, having a short stay and hanging mostly around tourist attractions, but the result was still shocking for I thought the plastic bag was an outdated use these days (must admit that I got slightly paranoid about this...)
In Taiwan, relevant policies are on the way, gradually altering our present status quo. It takes time, though, considering the convenience of plastic bags bring and the time we have been using them for. Fortunately, we've seen lots of changes and efforts, and there are numbers of lovely people keeping the flame going.
To be honest, I just want to say that it is really okay for customers to not being taken so good care of by grabbing everything in plastic bags instead of putting them in their own backpacks or a shopping bag, which only takes them a minute more; or it is totally fine to say no to the plastic bag-offering-cashier with some other queuing customers paying a little more attention to you. For the condition in Japan, I merely had a short observation period and would apologize to any Japanese friends if it is terribly biased. And lastly, I really do appreciate your time if you've made your way here and thanks for listening to me grumbling a bit.