Trash cans are hard to come by in Tokyo, so sometimes an unlucky bike basket gets victimized and made into an impromptu trash can, if only one person is bold enough to start the transformation!
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Ha ha - I just found this. Awesome. Selling snowmen to the Japanese. People buy...I'll try it if I can get my hands on it....Not quite as bad as Nakashima Mika's version (honestly what could be?), but...OH wait a minute...it is damn pricey for just a three pack....This might actually be good. I look forward to giving it a try....Congrats on getting photo of the week in the current...well done Danny!! I'm sold! (-:...Good point. Maybe he had a senior moment....I thought the pictures were great! Nice review. :-)...But if he's Catholic...where's that put HIS work ethic? Ha ha. What wins out?...
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One term for this is "social proof", whereby we look to the actions of people around us to dictate our own actions. In most cases, social proof keeps us on the straight and narrow, but sometimes it can be disastrous. Take as an example somebody lying in the gutter. You're not sure if they need medical care or are just sleeping off a heavy night's drinking. If you are by yourself, you'll probably ask if the person is okay, but if one person ignores him, then the next person will likely assume there is no problem and also walk by, and so on until dozens of people are all walking by, assuming he's fine. Of course, he must be fine because nobody is stopping for him, right?
Same thing with the basket of trash. You wouldn't normally dump your trash in someone's basket, but if everyone's is doing it then it must be okay! Incidentally, there was an AP commercial a while back showing how trash is passed from bicycle to bicycle until there's only one bike left and one unlucky cyclist. Here it is:
http://www.longcountdown.com/2007/03/14/japanese-manners-part-1/
Interesting analysis Nick.
And thanks for the link to the video you found, it was funny.
I edited my post and linked to the video on your site, as they seem to be companion pieces.
Tell me about it. I have found that my pockets become full of little trash at the end of the day. I am still not sure what is the proper way to dispose of trash in Tokyo.
I support trash-dumping in baskets of bikes that are parked in no-bike-parking zones.
This happens even on my tiny fishing island! It gets me so mad. Sometimes, if I've got time to kill, I will empty the first bits of trash out of the victim basket before it attracts the attention of others. Even if it's not my basket. It just sucks to get off the ferry, walk up to your bike with full arms, and have to put everything on the ground while you make several trips to the garbage can. Aggravating.