“Japan syndrome” hits about 10 Japanese tourists to Paris a year. The victims are so disappointed at the dirty streets and rude waiters that they succumb to a nervous breakdown at the idea of having wasted a week of leave and savings on a trip to the City of Lights.

There is said to be a psychologist, Japanese of course, who treats these despondent compatriots at the embassy. So when I read about a group of Japanese volunteers who gather once a month to clean the famously cobbled streets of Paris I saw a story.

Place de la Concorde is a busy intersection of ferocious drivers in underpowered cars hurtling past some of the most beautiful architecture in the city. At the epicentre I find a group of 20 Japanese dressed in green tops holding tongs and brooms, with cameras and gloves, waiting for their leader Osamu-san to start the slow march up the Champs Elysees.

I interview Osamu-san. It is stunted and in three languages. His reasons for the group’s existence seem not to require explanation: Paris could be cleaner and so the group is cleaning it up. Simple. “Green Bird - Keep Clean, Keep Green” read their vests. “It’s not so clean in Osaka, either” he says smiling, not wanting to appear superior.

So up the Champs Elysees we go, stooping to pick up cigarette butts and old metro tickets. This isn’t exactly Jakarta, but the quantity of rubbish that fills their bags is astonishing. A street-cleaning truck drives past, its driver watching quizzically as two housewives sweep the beige sand of the walkway.

I wasn’t the only journalist on the scene and every move is photographed, questioned by the six other journalists. The Japanese just carry on stoically, oblivious to the camera shutters clicking, posing politely.

It is a cool Sunday afternoon and the passers-by watch our group with amused haughtiness. Japanese tourists take photos, the Americans ask questions, the French don’t break stride.

After 200 metres up les Champs the adventure is over. Osamu-san pulls out his hefty Nikon for a group photo and the group strips off their green vests and melts into the crowd, leaving a couple of sniggering onlookers and half a dozen bags of meticulously collected detritus.

Click here for a slideshow of Thomas White’s pictures from the clean up.

Japanese tourists often get a lot of flak for going everywhere in packs. Last weekend, I became one of them.

As part of its efforts to stimulate the economy, the government last week kicked off a two-year discount on the country’s notoriously expensive highway tolls. The pricing system differs between rural and metropolitan areas, but what caught the nation’s attention was the all-you-can-drive toll of 1,000 yen ($10) on regional highways on weekends and holidays.

I took this as a chance to rent a Toyota Prius, and I told my mother to pick any place she wanted to go to celebrate her birthday that Sunday. She picked a spot on the tip of the Boso peninsula, east of Tokyo. The idea was to take the Aqualine, a 15 km pass across Tokyo Bay that combines a submarine tunnel and a bridge offering a scenic view. The 1,000 yen toll for that alone was a steal compared with the 2,320 yen on a regular day.

Our outing was relatively tame — 300 km (186 miles) there and back. The day before, I had seen one hard-core leisure-seeker interviewed on TV saying he was driving more than 600 km to the island of Shikoku in western Japan to enjoy the region’s famous “udon” noodles. (The Japanese will go to crazy lengths for good food, but that’s another story.) I reckon he saved close to $200 in tolls.

So the government’s plan, at least after the first weekend of the rollout, seems to be working. In addition to fanning tourism, the land, infrastructure and transport ministry hopes to alleviate congestion on regular, free roads as more people opt for the highways.

Of course, the maxim that you can’t please all of the people all of the time applies here, too: Ferry and railway operators are up in arms, and I’m sure those concerned about the environment aren’t exactly enthusiastic. Japan Railways is cranking up a “No traffic jam” slogan to promote rail travel these days.

That’s definitely something to consider.  On our way back, we had planned to dine at the recreational rest-stop in the middle of the Aqualine. But electronic signs along the way warned that parking lots were full as we inched along at a snail’s pace in the sea of cars. We gave up and carried on back into the city.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Toru Hanai

The Sapporo Snow Festival was held February 5-11 on the northern island of Hokkaido and I had the job of chronicling this in pictures for Reuters.

Capturing the Sapporo Snow Festival was not as easy or beautiful as the pictures would appear. On the opening day, snow fell continuously, while the bitter cold made roads and walkways treacherous.

I constantly had to wipe the camera lens, although everyone except the military crew charged with keeping the sculptures snow-free, appeared delighted with the conditions.

One couple from Hong Kong were taking a late Honeymoon, with pictures, in Sapporo, having married in November but waiting for a snowy wedding backdrop.

Kids would open their mouths to taste the snowfall, and mobile phone cameras snapped away to take memories of the Sapporo festival back home.

In the middle of the Snow Festival, the food court offered warm food and sake, Japanese rice wine, and the cold weather and heavy snowfall lured many, even a photographer eyeing his own warm refreshment from a day’s shooting.