Clean Getaways: Tokyo This Summer

While we love New York City and do our best to service the millions of hardworking, coffee-drinking dreamers living in the five boroughs, Maid Sailors knows an out-of-city vacation makes sense. Keeping your own place clean is hard enough – it’s no surprise that keeping New York City clean is an impossible task. Instead of holding out for something that’ll (probably) never happen, take a vacation this summer and experience a squeaky clean modern city to gain some perspective on how the cleaner half actually lives.

Culture of Clean

Tokyo is a shining (if not shocking) example of how a modern, Western city can operate on a completely clean basis. The citizens of Tokyo embody a “culture of clean” that flows through every alleyway, highway and subway. Take this to your head: Tokyo rarely has garbage cans laying on street corners. Why? People are expected to either dispose of their trash in their homes or in restaurants; if individuals manage to “create” trash on the street, they keep it with them and dispose of it in in their homes. Because there are rarely any trash cans, people don’t bother relying on the streets because they know they’ll be married to it for the hours they remain outside. Next time you see a “filled to the brim”, brown-and-green trash can in Manhattan, remember: the city might actually be better off without it.

Rats? What are those?

You can eat off the floor in Tokyo’s subways. Well, maybe this isn’t true for all of them, but one of our clients recently came back from a trip from Tokyo’s Shinjuku region (where there are very many office buildings), and glowingly commented on the pristine and organized nature of Tokyo’s subways. Trains are timely, people rush politely and dispose of trash rarely. If a rat were to find itself lost in the subway, it would certainly die even if a single train never came. Why? Because there’s no pizza to nibble on or leftover Coca Cola to drink. Tokyo’s public transportation is (generally) rodent and insect free because there’s no food for them to thrive on – keep this in mind next time you’re waiting for the F train.

High-end Bars Live Up to the Hype

Ironically, there’s an immaculate place called “New York Bar” at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo. In an admittedly cute homage to New York, the restaurant serves expensive steak, plays live jazz, has heavy cocktails and allows smoking. Aside from Marlboro fumes permeating the air, the restaurant is a fantastic place to experience what a clean, immaculate New York could look and feel like. Not to mention, the restaurant is on the top floor and gives you an absolutely breathtaking view of Tokyo’s beautiful city (partially pictured above). An experience at this restaurant alone is worth the 12 hour flight.

Concluding Remarks

If you’re looking for a clean urban experience this summer, look no further than Tokyo. The business district offers the Western dining, drinking and shopping experiences you’ve grown accustomed to while maintaining its unique exoticness. While you’ll return to the city rejuvenated, you’ll feel frustrated as you wonder: if Tokyo’s so clean, why can’t New York be the same way?