Searching for Oscar the Grouch

TIME FOR SOME TRASH TALKING: If Oscar the Grouch ever decides to get a Muppet passport and fly to Japan, I have a feeling he might feel just a tad out of place. That's because for a country so impeccably clean, Japan has nary a trash can in sight.

Indeed, most of my walking jaunts in Tokyo typically end with my pockets filled with gum wrappers, pieces of paper, used up train cards and whatever junk happens to pile up in my possession during the day. Let's just say Oscar would be a lot grouchier in Nippon if he forgets to include his trash can in his check-in luggage.

This is just one of the many reasons why I love Japanese convenience stores — which I plan to wax poetic about in a future column. Like three wise kings open 24 hours a day, 7-Eleven, ampm and Lawson always bear me gifts in the form of receptacles for my PET bottles, aluminum cans and pieces of paper. My guess is Oscar would dive straight into the trash bin for burnables.

Then again, when you have about half of the U.S. population squeezed into an area slightly smaller than California, you'd probably be conscientious about your trash dumping habits, too. One of the great things about Japan's sparsity of places to dump your junk is that it made me realize just how much garbage I produce — and I'm quite tame compared to some people I know. I haven't thought much about the environmental impact of garbage since, well, I was at that age when I used to watch Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street. And as someone who studied for three years in Manila, I know full well the consequences of not being obsessive-compulsive with your trash management.

So maybe it's not such a bad idea to wean Oscar the Grouch off his trash habit and make him a more responsible member of society. To wean him off his trash dependence, I suggest doing what I did the first time I visited Tokyo: invest in a good pair of cargo pants.