# Japanese expats clean up the Champs-Elysées in Paris



## Metropolitan (Sep 21, 2004)

*Ashamed that tourists coming from their fatherland discover each day they actually live in a slum, Japanese expatriates living in Paris decided to clean up the Champs-Elysées in order to bring back a bit of prestige to Paris most famous avenue.*

Link : http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/portf...ettoient-les-champs-elysees_1182745_3224.html










On Sunday April 19th, Japanese expats decided to meet on the Champs-Elysées with cleaning material specifically bought to clean up garbages on the avenue.

The operation is funded by Tokyo's association "Greenbird", which has been initially founded to clean up the most visited streets of the Japanese capital. All members of the association who participate to the cleaning are volunteers.

With brooms and plastic bags, the Japanese expats are stared at strangely by tourists. Those volunteers simply cannot accept that their fellow countrymen, spending huge money every year to visit the French capital, are mistreated this way by the Paris authorities who, according to them, do not maintain well enough the site.

The City of Paris employs 5,000 agents to clean up the 105.4 square kilometers of the city area daily.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

I don't think theyre doing it just to make it look good for their visiting countrymen (seriously, do you really think it preys on their minds that much??), rather its the Japanese civic spirit of working together coming through. This operation is a Japanese funded eco-scheme, Im sure happy to clean up both in any Japanese city as in Paris, where it will also garner more global attention. I think the volunteers also take the opportunity to meet up with other ex-pat Japanese.

The article has kind of a weird take to it. Its as if it cannot compute that these people may genuinely be civic minded, regardless of loyalties.


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## Metropolitan (Sep 21, 2004)

the spliff fairy said:


> I don't think theyre doing it just to make it look good for their visiting countrymen (seriously, do you really think they care that much), rather its the Japanese civic spirit of working together coming through. This operation is a Japanese funded eco-scheme, Im sure happy to clean up both in any Japanese city as in Paris, where it will also garner more global attention. I think the volunteers also take the opportunity to meet up with other ex-pat Japanese.
> 
> Its a bit like saying immigrant volunteers to disabled charities are doing it just for the immigrants in those charities.


You're right indeed. I guess the first line of the article is just there to attract readers attention.

I've actually translated a bit freely the article from French. I've probably exagerated the thing in using words such as "ashamed" or "slum" to incite more people to react about it.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

m'kay  it worked. Paris as a city is pretty much worshipped in Japan, people fall in love with it without ever having visited.


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## Metropolitan (Sep 21, 2004)

Anyway, the event is still quite surprising.

I guess it's still quite embarassing for French people that foreigners living in Paris take the initiative to clean up the place, when it's obviously Paris authorities job. Being regularly on the Champs-Elysées, I constantly see people cleaning up the place. I guess the issue is that there's just too many people constantly eating sandwiches and drinking soda. In a way, it's a bit the same issue as in a theme park, and in Disneyland, their solution is to put a trashbin every 50 meters. Maybe the same should be made on the Champs-Elysées?


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

Don't forget that there is two Champs Elysees.

The western side : always busy with shops, cinemas, restaurants, clean and well maintened.
The eastern side : less busy inside a "park", this part is quite dirty and quite damaged, as any park in Paris I would avoid it after midnight, it should be full of dealer and drunk men.

The picture show the eastern side.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Paris is actually one of the cleanest major cities in the world, coming from London (which isn't bad) I was amazed. Also at night they have a veritable army of street cleaners, sweepers and bleepmobiles. Also the buildings are required by law to be cleaned every few years, and there are bins literally on every possible building corner at every few meters.


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

Indeed. Living right now in a city that can actualy BE considered dirty, there is no comparison.

Although some parts of the suburbs are indeed not the cleanest.


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## Paddington (Mar 30, 2006)

Good, put those lazy tourists to work.


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## raggedy13 (Jan 25, 2007)

^They're not tourists, they're inhabitants of Paris - note the article title says "Japanese expatriates living in Paris".


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## Get Smart (Oct 6, 2008)

I wonder if in India there is a huge Japanese expat community, because India could use a cleanup


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## urbanfan89 (May 30, 2007)

All of China's large cities have sizeable Japanese expat communities, and they as sure as hell need a cleanup.


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## Homer J. Simpson (Dec 2, 2003)

If these guys have enough free time to do something like that perhaps they can swing by my place and clean up my front yard.


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## siamu maharaj (Jun 19, 2006)

I know my next roommate with be Japanese.


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