IIRC, part of the reason for no trash cans is that eating in public is sort of taboo - you do it at a resto or at home. Food wrappers are quite a lot of trash people need to throw away.
From my last trip to Tokyo I recall vending machines having both garbage and recycling bins. So just keep an eye out for vending machines.
Not really. The main reason there are no trash cans in public is the 1995 sarin gas attack.
"A Terrorist Attack Led Japan to Remove All Its Trash Cans. Now They're Making a Comeback."
https://psmag.com/environment/trash-cans-are-coming-back-to-...
Agreed, but ironically Japan is the country I've visited that was the worst for this. Everything is wrapped, inside something wrapped, inside something wrapped. Each individual piece of candy is wrapped. Then 5 pieces are wrapped together. Then you have multiple of those again in a bag, etc. etc.
They do not. They're all recycling only.