InsideJapan News Network

A non-profit organisation based in Tokyo has been spreading its eco-friendly, anti-pollution message outside Japan, it has emerged.

Since 2003, the group has been helping to keep the neighbourhoods of the Japanese capital clean and tidy, reports the Associated Press.

Greenbird Paris, its first overseas branch, was launched in 2007 and sees a battalion of environmentalists ridding some of the city's iconic monuments of litter and accumulated detritus.

Mami Osafune, 27, has been involved in the green project since last year.

"When I first arrived at Roissy airport, it was a shock for me, because Japanese people always dream of Paris as being a beautiful city," she commented.

Meanwhile, group member Yoshiko Inai Said that while the local authorities do their best to keep litter under control, "Parisians by habit pollute the streets".

Recently, 85 people from 11 countries gathered to clean up the Tokyo district of Akihabara, reported the Japan Times.

Written by Mike Cotgreave


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