Module 01 · ごみ

Gomi Mastery

Six short cards, then the games. Read them — the games check whether you did. (There's also a printable cheat sheet for the fridge.)

1. Card 1 of 6

   4 bags + 8 loose streams

   Komoro sorts household waste into 4 designated bags (指定袋, shitei-bukuro — buy them at supermarkets, konbini, or Cainz) and 8 loose resource streams that go to the station unbagged. Here's the cheat sheet — the colors matter.

   Burnable

   燃やすしかないごみ

   Food waste

   生ごみ

   Landfill (non-burnable)

   埋立ごみ

   Plastic packaging

   プラスチック製容器包装

   CansGlass bottlesPET bottlesNewspaperMagazines & misc paperCardboardMilk cartonsOld clothes

2. Card 2 of 6

   Green bag = packaging with this mark only

   The green bag takes plastic *packaging* with the プラ (pura) mark — trays, wrappers, bottles' caps and labels. A shampoo bottle: green. A toothbrush: red (burnable). Plastic products without the mark — hangers, Ziploc bags, cling wrap, toys — are all burnable. This is the #1 mistake.

   Shampoo bottle

   プラ mark → green bag

   Toothbrush

   no mark → red bag

3. Card 3 of 6

   Wash it, dry it, or it's burnable

   Everything in the green bag must be rinsed clean and dried. A dirty natto container gets the whole bag returned with a sticker. If you genuinely can't get it clean, it goes in the red bag instead — that's the rule, not a workaround.

4. Card 4 of 6

   Sharp or glass? Wrap it and write it

   Knives, blades, scissors: wrap in newspaper, put in the blue (landfill) bag, and write 刃物 (hamono, "blade") next to the name field. Broken glass and ceramics: wrap and write ガラス (garasu). The collectors reach into these bags.

5. Card 5 of 6

   Write your name on every bag. Yes, every bag.

   Every designated bag has a name field (記名欄, kimei-ran). A bag without a name gets rejected. Write the house name — Akiya Collective / アキヤコレクティブ — or your own. Romaji is OK; katakana is better. The neighbors will see your trash bags. That's the point.

6. Card 6 of 6

   6–8am, the net up the hill, the right day

   Collection happens on the day, 6:00–8:00am. Never the night before — crows, bears, and neighbors all notice. The station is the collection nets up the hill: turn left out of the house, about 30 seconds' walk. If a bag is rejected it gets a sticker and is left there — you take it back, fix it, and re-submit on the next correct day.

   Station location on Google Maps ↗