It's much less so today than it was when I first went to Japan back in the 80s. Still, the culture supports vending machines lining the streets and not a single little shit vandalizing them in sight.
In Kyoto the free, public bathroom, in the middle of the city, was cleaner than my own bathroom.
Whereas in Seattle I won't use one for fear of syringes.
I agree! I lived in Bellevue for a while back in the 1990s. One day, I was taking my family to Snoqualmie Falls and my three-year-old had to go to the bathroom. We stopped at a gas station in Issaquah and when I opened the door, it looked like people had just pulled down their pants in the doorway and splatter-shot into the room. It was so disgusting. I don't know what it is about American culture that makes that OK. I've never seen anything like that in Japan.
