Kurashi - News From Japan

There is, I'm told, an ancient Greek proverb, that is most likely much more ancient than the Greeks, that adores the man who plants a tree in which shadow he will never sit. I have been to Yakushima three times, and there are some very old cedar trees there, but also many stubs, as temples had to be built in Kyoto and such places. There is even the memory of a certain Buddhist monk who educated the islanders that felling ancient trees was not a sin. I wonder what he personally gained from such advice. How tragic for the ancient trees, but, perhaps the monk was more concerned about the welfare of the human souls trying to survive on that remote Satsuma island. I got a small bonzai peach tree on a visit to Mito, in Ibaraki prefecture. It is a famous site, and I was happy to have the tiny tree in its Mito pot in my garden. Then I planted it and it took root, and by now several years later, the tree has grown to about three meters tall. What a joy for that tiny bonzai plant. I cut ...

Good news, possibly some important wetlands may get protection, if they make it as Ramsar Convention sites. One in particular, in Ibaraki Prefecure, could help protect the habitat of the Oowashi, Steller's eagle, in Swedish, Jättehavsörn. Lake Hinuma: I have been there a number of times, thanks to Pandabonium, who insists on sailing his Lido in that area, and it is a lovely place. Hope these great eagles will get all the protection they may get, that lake is such a sweet spot. About the Oowashi eagle, this is a huge bird of prey: This bird nests in two habitats: along sea coasts and alongside large rivers with mature trees. They nest on large, rocky outcroppings or at the tops of large trees. On Hokkaido, eagles concentrate in coastal areas and on lakes near the coast, along with substantial numbers of white-tailed eagles. Eagles depart between late March and late April, adults typically leaving before immatures. Migrants tend to follow sea coasts and are usually ob...

Wonderful, wonderful program from NHK World about a lake just 60 km north of Tokyo, probably not very well known to Tokyoites, but it has its charms. Lake Kasumigaura is actually an ancient lagoon but the current lake was created some 50 years ago when a dam helped set the borders of what was to be water, and what was to be land. However, that also changed the conditions of the area, a lot. NHK World shows wonderful, wonderful lotus plantations, and fishing experiences in the old style Hobiki-sen boats... Just an hour or two from the nation's capital. Wonderful, wonderful... NHK World: Journeys in Japan However, (Kurashi taking a deep breath...) NHK World fails to take any notice the huge environmental issues that this lake, Japan's second largest after Lake Biwa, continues to face. Why gloss over the realities? Why NHK World producers, and foreigners participating in this game, cannot raise even the most simple questions about what ordinary people here in Japan on...

The BBC is in Japan for the Climate Change conference in Yokohama , and I was interviewed about food issues and what needs to be happening, soon: Is Japan playing hunger games with climate change? "...We are facing a crisis unless we do something. I think we need a fundamental change in the minds of consumers," says Martin Frid from the Consumers Union of Japan. "One of the solutions here in Japan is local consumption; local production, where consumers come and help out on the farm and bring their kids." Nice photo from the BBC website of my good friend and organic farmer Michio Ouzumi in Ibaraki, who contributes in his own original way to inspire and educate! The Yokohama Climate Change Policy Headquarters has a website called Hope our Earth with this message from Yokohama-born astronaut Satoshi Furukawa: The Earth as seen from space had an overwhelming presence. I was strongly struck that the Earth was a system keeping a perfect balance, with us h...

...with a clear mandate to come up with a report by Monday next week that should outline how climate change will impact the world over the next 100 years. That includes food and agriculture topics, such as food security issues, that I work on, so I was interviewed by the BBC today in Ueno Park about that. If I like Matt McGrath 's report later this week I promise to post a link! Climate change will no doubt cost Japan dearly. Estimates could be as high as ¥17 trillion (US$176 billion) annually by the end of the century, according to a 2009 report from Ibaraki University, found referenced here . The study reveals that Japan will have to cope with a range of impacts that could simultaneously: affect the stability of its most important food supply, rice; increase the severity of natural disasters, like flooding; alter and undermine some of its key natural ecosystems; place even greater pressure on communities and a health system already struggling with its ageing populat...

...over Tokyo, likely to affect Chiba, Ibaraki, Miyagi and Fukushima as well. It should get extremely bad in the morning of Wednesday Oct. 16 from 6am so don't expect trains to be running. If you worry, get a delay certificate * paper slip at your station and show your boss. Since 2012, you can also do it digitally from your mobile phone/iPhone/web. Even better: Stay home, stay safe. Might be over by noon. I kind of like how the heavy rain pounds my roof as I get to sleep. Nature is powerful, we had better remember it. We are one with this planet if we let go of some of our fears. This is one big one, the "largest in 10 years" or so we are told. Here are some safety precaution measures suggested by ANN: Image of delay slips from odcanime , who had JR trouble when studying design back in Osaka. *  電車遅延証明書 densha chien shoumei sho

Here are a couple of links to some bright ideas from fellow bloggers. Also, for the new year, some principles to scale up in your daily life. Thanks everyone! 1) Exchange/Study/Survive Help indigenous Ainu youth get to New Zealand for an exchange with Maori to study methods for cultural survival. In January 2012, a Maori leader, Te Ururoa Flavell visited Ainumosir (Hokkaido) and Tokyo and witnessed the work Ainu people are doing in their communities to revitalize their culture, language, and rights. He immediately suggested that Ainu youth come to Aoteroa (New Zealand) to see how Maori community members have been working to ensure cultural survival. Immediately, we formed the Aotearoa-Ainumosir Exchange Program Committee to seek out participants. After a rigourous interview process, we chose 7 Ainu youth to go on the exchange starting end January for 5 weeks. Once they reach Aotearoa, they will study, experientialy, about the various ambitious endeavors of M...

Since main stream media will not do the math, I thought I would give it a try. There used to be 54. But, four at Fukushima Dai-ichi are gone due the the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Major meltdowns. Do we have 2, or 10, or 20, or more nuclear reactors that could actually do the job, in Japan? What is their status? Let's start with a map, found on wikipedia. Then, let's go from north to south. Tomari Three reactors, the only plant in Hokkaido. "...the Tomari power facility in Hokkaido, said that it could not rule out the possibility that the plant was vulnerable." Source NHK World 20120229 and JAIF (pdf). So, 50-3=47 Higashidori So,  only one reactor, but more planned. Now, this is where things tend to get interesting: Although the plant was in maintenance shutdown during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami , the April 7th aftershock caused the loss of all external power and the plant had to switch to backup power to supply cooling...

Food, Inc. director Robert Kenner visited Japan in May, 2012 to talk about agrobusiness and the problems of genetically modified organisms (GMO). He visited Japanese organic farmer Uozumi-san in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo, who has developed his crops since 1974 with natural methods, connecting mountain forests, farm and the ocean. Consumers Union of Japan and the Japan Citizens' Network for Sustainable Food and Agriculture organized the trip. From an interview with The Ecologist: LS: What was the most shocking aspect of making the film? RK: There were two things. One was early on when we went to a hearing about whether to label cloned meat. A representative from the meat industry said it would be 'too confusing for the consumer'. I realised I had entered an Orwellian world where people are being 'protected' by not being told. Then when I asked food safety advocate Barbara Kowalcyck what food she eats and she couldn't answer me or she'...

Just a few images from last week's trip to Ibaraki prefecture with Food, Inc. director Robert Kenner and his wife, part of the biodiversity events here in Japan. Robert got to see how a small-scale farm can work with over 120 different crops. This is the future of food. We went there together with Harata-san from the Kansai-based effort to promote information and knowledge about biological diversity, not only in Japan but all over Asia and - needless to say, around the world. Japan Citizens' Network for Sustainable Food and Agriculture (J) Consumers Union of Japan (E) There is no such thing as "nationalism" when it comes to crops or species that have evolved over millions of years. I liked how Robert Kenner was able to transcend a lot of the issues and cut to the chase. Soy - so important here in Japan for a lot of stuff you take for granted in the food we eat every day in Japan, like soy sauce, miso, and natto, as well as eda-mame, dried beans. No a...

I had a chance to see some Japanese native bees up close at Uozumi-san's amazing organic farm in Ibaraki. They are very calm compared to European bees, not aggressive (or so I was told) and less noisy! They also have an amazing defense mechanism against larger insects ... (from BBC) "Japanese honeybee kills steamed and heated to 50 Celsius in the population the Giant Hornet. Giant Hornet dies at 48 Celsius." More videos about Bee Keeping in Japan on Youtube .

A pig that flies? Already 20 years ago, this amazing anime film was released by Studio Ghibli in Tokyo. Music by Joe Hisashi, here is 時には昔の話を Toki ni wa Mukashi no Hanashi wo. I'd translate that as "Sometimes, we talk about the old days" which is the mood of the story. Time flies, anyway, and we had better just try to hang on there! The WW1 ace pilot who has been turned into a Bogart-like pig, is now flying an amphibian, a type of airplane that was developed in Italy in the 1920s. In fact the film is very much an homage to early aviation , with accuracy that you'd expect from Miyazaki Hayao, yet how does he know how it feels to fly planes like that?? The amazing thing is, he makes the viewers feel like we also know what it must have felt like. Click here to watch the original 紅の豚 Japanese trailer on Youtube (embed not allowed). Miyazaki originally created this as a manga, and said this: "If this were animation, I might be able to convey the grandeur of this li...