#trashtag is a challenge that's
been going around the internet all year and I don't know why this isn't a
challenge on YouTube yet. So, we're doing it. Japan is well known for being a clean
country but even here there are trouble spots. Especially at beaches like this This is Shikanoshima Beach and it's actually the same beach Jun just filmed
for his most recent video and yet right now, only a month later,
it looks like this. We did some digging to find out why. And it turns out the department
that keeps this specific beach clean, the fishing port section, generally only has
the budget to hire a cleaning company once a year right before tourist season. For the rest of the year its cleanup relies mostly on volunteers like us So we joined forces with local
sustainability magazine CICLO to host a group cleanup. I've tried to recruit as many of my friends as possible. This is Dean from RunAway.
Hi guys. He came all the way from Tokyo
with his family to help out. This is the only weekend he could
make it so we're doing our own cleanup today and then we'll be back next week
(or for you guys later this video) with a much larger army of people I'm gonna make a shell castle. A shell castle?
All right, that sounds really cool. You work on that; I have to go film a little bit.
Okay. I'll come back later just check your progress.
Yeah. And then if we have time can we make it?
Yes. Together?
ABSOLUTELY. I will totally help you. So this is what we're
gonna try to clean up today today as much as we can clean up with
two adults and a six-year-old child. It's a coconut!
Yeah! It's pretty heavy. It's so hard. I think I'm just gonna leave the camera
here for now and see what we can get done! [A million plastic bottles are bought
around the world every minute.] We've been at this a couple hours and
one of the things we learned real quick is that we picked one
of the worst spots to start because this is like a pile of driftwood so you have
to dig down to get all of this plastic and trash out but everything is too
small to realistically be able to get all of it.
There's just no way we can pick this stuff up a hand. The tide is starting to
rise so some of the trash has been getting swept out to sea. I've been trying to pull some of this stuff out of the tide
zone before it gets swept back out. It's really
depressing sitting here and watching all of the plastic floating in the waves. And then people are just bringing their family over here with their kids playing in the
water just walking around all of the trash. It's just a little demoralizing. It's adorable. Wildlife. That's the best thing I've seen.
Yeah, right? That beats picking up messy containers and stuff.
Right. All right, so we are calling it a day. This is our trash pile. Some of this stuff we got, like... This frickin rope is massive. It's literally wider than my hand. Keiji, do you wanna show everything we got? Nice! You look cool! [The equivalent of a garbage truck full of
plastic enters the ocean every minute.] All right, so we're back with our larger
group. I think we've got about 40 people here right now,
which is amazing. Awesome. The local
City Hall was really supportive of our event and provided us with hundreds of
bags as well as numerous tools, drinks, and also agreed to pick up and dispose
of the trash we collected. Shout out to my amazing friends who
helped make this event happen. So my name is Melisa. We wanted to kind of get a community going
related to sustainability and environmental issues here so thank you all for coming today. Are there any Japanese people here today? Oh, there are quite a few! So everyone else understands English? Okay, just those two people. I can yell. We're sorting everything into two
different types of trash today: burnables and non-burnables. We've got a lot of work
to do. Also some people showed up to play ball. Maybe we can influence them, you know? Maybe we can drag them
into cleaning up with us. The beach starts down at this fence On the other side is like a little harbor. So we're gonna be starting here and then
just going as far as we can. All right, well let's get started! [9% of plastic is recycled
12% is incinerated
79% ends up in landfills or the environment] Rachel, look at this. This can explode. Wow, this is crazy. And these plastic bottles we can't
even recycle because it's too dirty. [46% of plastic in the ocean is from
fishing nets and lines] Hi, how's it going?
Hi. I think we're gonna need more bags.
Yeah, I think so, too. I don't think 400 is enough. I went camping in Oshima
and I felt exactly the same, that there's so much garbage.
It's really sad. But this is worse. That bag already seems to be full.
Yup! We need to get more awareness, like
Know/NO more plastics. Oh, I love your shirt! The mask is because I have a slight cold. Oh, okay.
You came here even though you're sick? Just slightly, yeah. Thank you so much, man. No, I mean, there's not many opportunities
to do this, so I'm happy to help out. What even is this? [By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean
(by weight) than fish] Do you do these cleanups every now and then? I do a cleanup in the Philippines every year. Oh wow, really? Thank you for coming. What do you think about this beach? Is it worse than you though it'd be? It's cleaner than I expected. This is CLEANER than you thought it'd be?! Yeah, the one I do every year
in the Philippines is terrible. Worse than this?
Worse than this. Thank you. Your bag is already full. I'm amazed how much trash there is. Me too. There's way more here than I thought there'd be.
Same. I'm really motivated.
Thank you. It's been like 10 minutes and
your bag is already full. Yes. My concern, more than the ocean,
is actually the river. The rivers in Fukuoka are really dirty. There's lots of trash floating in them.
That's what Ryo told me, too. Yeah, and I'd really love to do something in the rivers. Woah, there's a tire here. What is that?
There's a tire, right? This is a tire, right?
Oh my- How do we... I think we have to dig it. We got a shovel. I can get you a shovel. Okay, yeah we need a shovel.
Yeah, we do. We definitely do. The beach off-season is so dirty! Especially after typhoons. I'm subscribed to your channel-
Thank you very much and I saw the message about this event. I asked my husband if he would go
and he said yes so we came today. Thank you!
I wouldn't have come by myself. How is it? It's so much worse than I thought. I came here in the summer and it wasn't like this. So I guess there were people cleaning it. Well now you're one of them! Thank you! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu I wasn't expecting like huge bits of
everyday rubbish. I was expecting a lot
of like plastic bottles and cigarettes but there are a lot of like... shoes and laundry baskets and just things
you don't expect to see on the beach. Yeah, exactly. It's kind of surprising how deep they go as well. I know, I just found a tire over there.
Yeah, exactly. We need a shovel. And you might pick up something like this, think
"oh it stops here" but it keeps going. Okay, this one doesn't keep going but you know. Oh, watch out, watch out Thanks I thought it was pretty bad for a Japanese beach, sure. It's intense. I don't know if this many people will be
enough. I hope they will be. We'll do our best to clean up. Thank you so much. And if there are other events,
I really want to know about it so I can join every one of them. I think it's really important.
Thank you. Organizer Ryo-kun Yes How's it going? I'm amazed at how many people showed up. Yeah, it's really great. But even with this many people I don't
think we can clean it all. I'd like to keep organizing cleanups. Totally agreed. Let's do it! So you were born and raised in Fukuoka.
Right. But this is worse than you thought? Yeah, I didn't know it was this bad. I'm embarrassed. Really. I'd like to continue organizing this event so please join us if you get a chance again. Is that your child? Yes. You came to clean the beach with your child on your back?? Thank you so much. Are you okay? It's not tiring? My lower back hurts a little. Please take a break in between. Thank you. I haven't come this side of the beach. I was shocked how dirty it is here. I actually really wanted to go to this beach. I've been here a couple of times around but it's actually just too dirty to be here. You just can't relax
with all the garbage around here. Is this your first time at a cleanup?
Yes, it's my first time. Thank you for coming today. I want to come back again. Oh really? Thank you! It's probably a little worse than normal
because of the typhoons. There's a lot of different stuff. There's a lot. What is this? I found a small wood piece from a grave
that has a person's name on it. I wonder where it came from. I left it by the tent. Oh okay, thank you. It was way dirtier than I thought. People only see the sea
but this dirty beach should be seen. Who can enjoy the sea with this much trash on the beach? Thank you for cleaning the beach. I'm happy that this event is here. Because like, when I go to the beach
I take like one or two pieces of trash with me. But this is like... Yeah, we try to make this a monthly event. So hopefully we can keep cleaning. Yeah, I definitely think that's a good idea. I saw the announcement of this event and made me want to do something for environment. This event is a good idea. I’d like to keep joining the cleanup. We're planning to do this regularly. I'd love to join you. Is this tug of war? Look at the path they made.
I know! When you're digging through sand you
only use these muscles and they hurt SO BAD. I am WEAK. You said you wanted energy shot, right? I got Yunker. Want some coffee? Ummm thanks, pass. Hard pass. Ah, non-burnable. There's something really big over there. Again? You guys got it. Good job. That is the LARGEST duffel bag. It's a GIANT BAG. Teamwork! Amazing. [In 1960, plastic was found in 5% of seabirds.
Now it's more than 90%] So this is what you're getting out of the
water. Huge pieces of like... bag.
What is that even? A shopping cart? This would be handy for bringing bags here. It's broken completely.
Oh noooo Hey My arms are burning Otsukaresama desu. This is like one of the largest
remaining pieces, but because it's right where the tide is if you try to dig it up the waves
just push sand right back into the hole. And it seems like it's very deep. The shovel has arrived. Let's see what we can do. Good, that came out. Good. Good. GO GO G-O
F-I-G-H-T WIN! What is this slab of... OH Oh my gosh! It was a tube!! Oh my gosh This is actually an incredible pile of trash. So much. We've got multiple tires many, many nets whatever this thing is lots of large tarp/sails/
we're not even sure what some of this stuff is. There's a shopping cart. What was your favorite thing you found today? Surgical need- Uh, okay. All of our
camera batteries officially died. Fortunately I have a backup phone. What was your favorite thing
you found today? Surgical needles! Yeah, you were the special one who found that! Someone else found another one! Oh Jesus What was your favorite thing?
The ship sail. Yeah, that was pretty cool. Sonnie, what was your favorite
thing you found? You know what,
I wouldn't say that I found it but scattered everywhere, all the shoes. Yeah. I'm very confused. There were no feet
inside of the shoes. Just to let people know. A lot of shoes. Yeah. What's your favorite thing
you found today? The fish net. The fishing net?
It was so giant. Joe, was your favorite thing? I don't have a favorite because
they all sucked to dig up. Jun what was your favorite thing? It's not a trash but there's like a
beetle-looking sea animal over there. Oh, a horseshoe crab.
What's it called? Horseshoe crab. Hor-
Horseshoe Horse like a horse? Horse-shoe Horseshoe Crab.
Crabs. I never seen them in real life.
They have blue blood and it's used for something very important
for humans that I can't remember. Medical research! 45 L x 180 bags?
Yeah. 8,100 Approximately 8,100 liters of trash? (single person woos) It's a video. Excellent job, everyone!! Otsukaresama desu!
OTSUKARESAMA DESU! We made- we scared the baby. We really only got a fairly small area
of the beach done. There's still a lot left to do. but all things considered we ended up
with a pretty large trash mountain and I'm very proud of everyone. I'm very happy that so many people came out. We'll be doing cleanups once a month
here in Fukuoka with our friends at CICLO. If you want to join us, event info will be at
cleanup.ciclo.jp The next one is Saturday,
November the 23rd. And because I'm serious about dragging other
YouTubers into this, I'm tagging: Life Where I'm From Only in Japan Micaela runAway Japan Sonnie Travels and Hudinio Gaming. But #trashtag is for everyone, not just YouTubers or
random people who post photos on the internet. Put a bag in your car or purse
and bring it with you when you go places. It only takes a little bit of individual
effort to make a big difference. So let's all try to leave places cleaner
than the way we found them! (Girl Scout 4laif)
