# 20 Million Tons of Junk Headed For Hawaii-Is Japan Liable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-million-tons-of-junk-headed-for-hawaii-is-japan-liable/600958 "2011-10-27T12:35:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 22
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-million-tons-of-junk-headed-for-hawaii-is-japan-liable/600958/22 "2011-10-28T04:01:38Z")
> [@Reverend\_Meade](#): > > I’m going to have to agree. I find the OP kind of offensive. I’m having a hard time putting the exact level of offense into words. It’s not “you’re a horrible person bad”, but regardless, ralph124c you should be ashamed of yourself. Well, I am going against the grain on this one and suggest that Ralph124c has a legitimate question. It might be sad and awkward, by why should the millions of dollars it is going to cost to clean up this mess be the US taxpayers problem or the problem of home owners where the pile lands? I will agree that the Japanese people didn’t throw the stuff into the ocean, but I can tell you that if high winds knock over my garbage can, split the bag and deposit the contents in my neighbors yard I am not going to look the other way and declare it his problem. Yeah, I didn’t put the garbage there and didn’t intend for it to land in his yard but I am certainly going over there to clean it up. The “right” thing to do is the Japanese government find a way to not make this another’s problem. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-million-tons-of-junk-headed-for-hawaii-is-japan-liable/600958)._