The places and rooms where the deceased lived that I go to for work are always different.
I received a request when the heat had subsided. When I opened the door to the site as usual, I found that the hallway and floor were so full of newspapers and alcohol cans that I couldn’t see the bottom and even I would be buried in them. It was a so-called garbage house.
As I was cleaning up, I found a lot of fishing rods and lures, which were the deceased’s hobby. In addition, I found photos of the deceased’s spouse and a colored paper with a birthday message written on it, stored in a cardboard box.
This happened in a large house. The deceased must have lived a peaceful life with his family. Traces of that life are scattered all over the house.
There was a telescope in the attic with a skylight, and the whole family probably watched meteor showers and the like.
No matter where you are, the belongings of the deceased can tell you about their lifestyle.
This time, we were asked to do the work by the brother of the deceased, and as we worked, people who had been in contact with the deceased while they were alive said things like, “Thank you,” and “It must be hard,” and we felt even closer to the deceased.
It can happen to anyone to have a family, buy a house, and then, after their children leave home, they find themselves alone after the death of their spouse.
Some people may fall into a state of self-neglect due to the death or divorce of their spouse, or may lose their will to live due to mental illnesses such as depression, which can lead to a garbage dump.
Some people may also lose the ability to move their legs and hips due to accidents or injuries such as fractures, and are physically unable to take out the garbage or clean up.
There are as many different reasons why people are unable to throw out garbage or end up accumulating it.
In other words, anyone can live in a garbage dump, and the people who create garbage dumps are not necessarily unhappy or problematic.
The garbage that we produce in our daily lives is generally disposed of in a manner determined by each city, town, or village. However, measures and efforts to help people who have difficulty putting out their garbage on the designated days are rarely made public, and in many cases, the people around them do not even notice.
I feel that it is important to create opportunities to notice this as we interact with our neighbors in our daily lives.
Some local governments are working on initiatives such as helping people who have become unable to take out their garbage or who have difficulty doing so. I hope that such initiatives will become more widespread.
Places known as garbage houses are rarely brought to light and are by no means a common phenomenon, so to many people they may seem “unusual.” However, I want people to know that garbage houses are actually a familiar reality. Maybe a garbage house situation is lurking next to you.

※Translating Japanese articles into English with AI