Comment by byteraccoon

I lived in Singapore previously and currently living in Japan for the past 5 years. Japan is not like Singapore - yes you're right Singapore is a mostly government enforced society including the artificial cleanliness but Japan is not. Cleanliness in Japan is cultural, people in Japan truly care about cleanliness and it's "common sense" to them and you do not see "plenty of trash strewn about" in non-touristy areas of Japan. (Of course Japan is not some perfect society and there are places that are dirty)