There was some volunteer cleanup activity along Smith Street in Carroll Gardens on Sunday. A correspondent reports:
I saw these volunteers today on smith street (sunday) VOLUNTEERING! to pick up our trash. They told me they were three groups combined–Gomunications “Gomu: means trash in Japanese supposedly) these were the ones i talked to. Shining Big Apple and the Urban Divers.
Much trash was collected and leaves raked.
2 responses so far ↓
1 olee // Nov 24, 2008 at 10:38 am
that’s so nice! i think that is the same japanese group that does cleanups around the city. they did a monthly cleanup on my old block in the west village too (west fourth, bless them, they had to clean up some pretty gross stuff).
2 neighbor // Nov 24, 2008 at 3:21 pm
The japense word for garbage is gomi, not gomu. It actually means something more like waste.
in early 80s in kyoto foreign students and enlfish teachers used to go “gomi hunting” very late at night on recycling nights, fueled by hot sake from streetside vending machines, always located near the bathhouses.
japanese throw away incredible things. you could furnish a whole house with slightly tatty tatami mats, dishes, glasses, kitchenware, curtains, tables, chairs, futons, everything you needed.