Photo/Illutration Seiichi Miyamoto removes blobs of chewing gum from a sidewalk in Tokyo’s Kichijoji district on Aug. 17. The cleanup process takes about 10 seconds for each piece. (The Asahi Shimbun)

Seiichi Miyamoto has removed an estimated 4.6 million wads of discarded chewing gum in a cleaning job he has stuck with for two decades.

Miyamoto, 55, feels proud of his efforts to beautify communities in Tokyo and elsewhere.

One by one, Miyamoto removes the blackened remains of chewed gum spat out on sidewalks or stuck on walls. He uses a special machine from Britain that heats water to about 160 degrees and sprays steam on the sticky blobs.

When the gum is softened, he brushes it away with a cleaning fluid, leaving no trace.

It takes about 10 seconds for Miyamoto to remove each wad of gum. The machine can handle up to 1,300 pieces a day.

Based on those numbers, the cleaner has removed more than 4.6 million gum pieces, or about 14 tons, in the past 20 years.

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Two cleaners work together to remove gum stuck on streets. (The Asahi Shimbun)

Miyamoto joined Gumclean Co., which specializes in chewing-gum removal, when it was founded in 2002, at the invitation of an investor acquaintance.

He was put in charge of essentially everything, from importing cleaning machines to finding clients.

He was also the company’s only field worker responsible for gum patrol and removal although he had never worked as a cleaner.

Back then, chewing gum was removed mainly by hand.

A local government official once told Miyamoto that taxpayers’ money should not be spent on gum removal because it was not a life-threatening problem.

But now, Gumclean has signed contracts with local governments, shop operators and other clients mainly in the Kanto region to clean about 150 spots a year.

Gumclean currently employs more than 10 people, including part-time workers.

Miyamoto serves as an executive officer, but he still works on the front line.

He views everyone who uses streets and facilities as an “indirect client.” If people are congregating in a spot that requires his services, he waits until the crowd disperses to do the job.

When Miyamoto came to Tokyo from Nagano Prefecture to attend college, he was shocked by all the litter in downtown areas of the capital.

He came to believe that neglected and dirty streets would disturb public order and upset people’s minds, while town beautification could bring a sense of security and create a comfortable place to live.

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Three tools essential for preparing Seiichi Miyamoto’s cleaning work are, from left, a measuring wheel, a smartphone and a counter. (The Asahi Shimbun)

One example is the Daiyagai shopping district near the north exit of Kichijoji Station in Musashino city in western Tokyo, where Miyamoto has been working every four months for more than 10 years.

He said the number of discarded chewing gum pieces there has steadily declined.

Miyamoto feels that he has contributed to the Kichijoji area’s honor of being regularly ranked among top Tokyo towns where people want to live the most.

He added that the ultimate goal is to make streets so clean that no one wants to foul them with chewing gum.

When asked what his company would do if there was no more gum to remove, Miyamoto said with a smile, “It’s all right because it will take several decades to remove all the gum already found on the streets.”

Gumclean also eliminates oil stains and illegally posted stickers.

“We want to keep contributing to community development in many ways,” Miyamoto added.

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