Getting rid of stuff

[gpvillamil]

I suspect this is a very common problem for people in living in Japan, but what the heck, I'll ask anyway:

How do you get rid of stuff?

I moved to Tokyo recently, and all the stuff I'd had in storage in London arrived yesterday. There's really too much - glassware, tableware, kitchen stuff, suitcases, etc.

What is a good, non-landfill way of getting rid of most of it? Are there charities that will take it? Flea markets? Or, as I suspect, will I have to pay someone to take it all away?

[GomiGirl]

Do what everybody else does - advertise it and sell it. I don't know of any charities but if anybody knows of any, I would be intereseted to hear.

I arrived with 10 small fed-ex boxes and two suitcases containing photos, CD's, clothes and tupperware (long story)..

My apartment is now stuffed with furniture, electrical appliances, lamps, a piano (another long story) and a few dead pot plants.

ssheessshhh.. I am such a bower bird.

[Taro Toporific]

ssheessshhh.. I am such a bower bird.

BEHAVIOR | Sex and the Single Bowerbird
The Scientist / Jan 2003
How do extreme displays of male behavior evolve? While there's still no clear answer, the search for one has spawned a rich variety of studies on sexual selection. Using animatronics, one team is helping to explain how females choose males and why different females make different choices.

Gerald Borgia and his University of Maryland colleagues are investigating the complex displays of 11 male bowerbird species in the Australasian region. These males do not parent, but build finely crafted stick structures, or bowers, and decorate display courts when they want to mate (G. Borgia, "Why do bowerbirds build bowers?" Am Sci, 85:542-7, 1995). Team member Gail Patricelli has built a lifelike female bowerbird robot that performs convincing courtship movements to show that females are not passive players.

Field videos and sound recordings show that males aggressively compete and that the quality of bowers and courts, along with intense song and dance displays, is important in attracting females and influencing their mating choices. "We know that males can mate with up to 25 females in one season," Borgia says. But faced with a "fembot" showing caution, male satin bowerbirds do not always display at maximum intensity, Patricelli reported. (G.L. Patricelli et al., "Male displays adjusted to female's response," Nature, 415:279-80, 2002.)

[GomiGirl]

Doncha just love Google for looking up my obscure references!!