There are certain words in the English language that are used only in certain situations. "Nazi" is one of those words. If you're talking about WW2 or neo-Nazis, then it's fine because you're using the word in context. However, sometimes you'll hear people using it out of context, for example, "My mother wouldn't let me go to the party. She's such a Nazi", or "I hate police - they're all Nazis", or even "The Soup Nazi!". Personally, I think it's a bit harsh using the word in these situations, so I've never used it out of context before. But now I feel I have good reason to. I've encountered a situation in which certain people have created a mindless dictatorship with so much power and such control that the only appropriate word I can use is "Nazi". So, here we go.

In my town we have "Garbage Nazis".

Let me explain. As Japan has a relatively large population for such a small landmass, and because its such a consumerist society, it's important that people dispose of garbage appropriately or else there would be mountains of garbage everywhere. In Melbourne, we have three bins - a big bin for regular garbage, a bin for garden waste and a bin for recyclables. In most cities in Japan you have to separate your garbage into about five or six different groups, each of which has a different way of disposal and is collected on different days. For example, in the last city I lived in we had 1) burnable garbage, 2) non-burnable garbage, 3) food waste, 4) cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, 5) oversized garbage... um... I think that's it. Even though you're supposed to separate all this garbage into special bags and follow all the disposal rules (such as taking the labels and caps of plastic bottles, washing the bottles, putting the bottle in the "plastic bottle bag" and the cap and label in the "burnable" bag) most people don't because it's a real pain in the ass. As long as you make a decent effort (ie. don't just chuck everything in the burnables), it's fine. Furthermore, city living gives you anonymity. Everyone puts their bags in a communal bin for their building or block, so there is no real way to trace people who don't follow all the rules. I was happy with this system.

Everything changed when I came to this town, the HQ of the Garbage Nazi Party. Here, like other places, there are lots of different groups of garbage and lots of different rules for disposing (there's a fifty page manual that everyone gets when they first arrive). There are the regular groups like "burnable" and "non-burnable", to go with special groups that are only used here, such as "mixed paper". "Mixed paper" is particularly frustrating, especially for visitors to the town, because nobody is really sure what qualifies as mixed paper. Basically, any paper that can be recycled is "mixed paper" (but not magazines, newspapers, cardboard etc. because they have their own special groups). A4 white paper, letters, envelopes etc. are all easily identifiable as "mixed paper". But what about a envelopes with that plastic window, junk mail, tissues, the McDonalds drink cup and toilet paper rolls? All those things are generally safe. What about wax paper, paper towels, cereal boxes and McDonalds french fries containers? Forbidden. Why? Who knows. All I do know is that every time I want to throw out something that looks like it came from a tree, I have to spend time trying to decide whether it goes in the mixed paper bag or the burnable bag.

"So what? Just do your best and it'll be fine", you might say. Well, until now this was what I thought. But the Garbage Nazis are cleverer than that. This town has one special rule that I've never heard of before. When you deposit your bag in the communal garbage shed (my apartment has one shed for about 30 apartments), you have to write your name on the garbage bag or box. This is so that they know who the garbage belongs to. When the garbage men come, they visually inspect each bag. If you haven't disposed of the garbage properly (eg. you didn't take the cap off of one bottle, you put a banana peel in the "burnable" instead of the "food waste" or you put a piece of scrap paper somewhere other than the "mixed paper"), not only will they not take the garbage away, but they'll pick it up and drop it in the hallway in front of your apartment door with a note that says you've been bad and should fix your garbage. This is very embarrassing for people who live in a collectivist society like Japan. Having other people walk past your door all day being able to see that you aren't conforming to society's rules... instant social death. For me, it's no problem, for three reasons. 1) I dispose of my garbage properly - my bags have never been returned, 2) Everyone expects the foreigner to screw up regularly so they are more accepting of mistakes and 3) I live in the top corner apartment of my building, so even if a bag was returned to my door nobody would see it anyway.

Why not just not write your name? If you don't write your name, it won't get taken away. If it doesn't get taken away, bags will just sit there. The apartment supervisor will get angry and go through the bags to find out whose garbage it is, then will go visit that person and yell at them. If I did this, I'd be particularly easy to spot. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who reads English magazines and uses certain foreign products.

So, to all those people living in a society where people are free to throw things out willy-nilly, be glad you don't live in the land of garbage Nazis.