Singapore - The 'fine' city

"Oh, Singapore... You'll get fined if you throw cigarette butts or litter isn't it?!" is the response I always get from the Japanese when I say where I'm from. My response would be an embarrassed "Yeah, but people do it anyway!". Seriously, I'm pretty sick of hearing this from the Japanese. Surely Singapore has something else to be known as other than being a strict country, beautiful city and the meaningless merlion! That's all the Japanese know about Singapore! I wouldn't mind if they remember Singapore from the SARs incident or the IOC event. But please, no more talking about fines! I don't know who to blame: Singapore for establishing such an authoritarian reputation or Japan for not educating the Japanese on foreign affairs well enough. Some of my students think that kimchi and Winter Sonata (the Korean drama) are from China!