"From now on, I will carry my own water bottle," I promised Mother Nature. She had just scolded me as I came around the corner by presenting me with an angry beach covered with garbage. And this was not the first time she has told me off. Hundreds of beaches in the Seto Inland Sea are inundated with garbage that washes up.
A myriad of plastic refuse glistened in the sun requiring me to squint to avoid the reflecting sun rays. There was even a plastic car bumper, automotive flotsam, baking in the hot afternoon sun. But the majority of the plastic was PET bottles. Plastic straws were numerous, too, among the natural seaweed and driftwood that had washed up.
"And I won't use straws anymore either," I promised.