Kurashi - News From Japan

If you are a tech geek and like to buy new smart phones all the time, do consider this interesting graph from Compound Interest - not much recycling going on in the smart phone industry, unfortunately. Click to enlarge. Key quote: The problem with extracting rare earths is that they don’t tend to occur in particularly concentrated amounts in the crust. As such, the techniques required to extract them are costly and labour intensive, limiting the places in which it’s economically viable to bother extracting them at all. The processes used to extract them can also be environmentally hazardous, which is also a limiting factor; in 2010, China cut its exports of rare earths by 40% based on its concerns regarding pollution. With this in mind, recycling the rare earth elements at the end of their lives would seem to be a no-brainer. However, there isn’t a single rare earth element whose end of use recycle rate is greater than 1%.

September 1 each year is a day when Japan remembers its many earthquakes and other emergencies. Events are held to train people how to use fire extinguishers and other equipment. This year, before that date, the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry mentioned that as a general precaution, households ought to stock up on, say 15 rolls of toilet paper rolls per month, in advance. Not a very unreasonable piece of advice. Without mentioning the focus on September 1, many foreign news media carried all kinds of headlines about this. Be that as it may. Expecting young journalists to understand Japan is like - well - it's the old hands I'm more worried about. Also, back in 1973, scare stories in Japanese media about people buying two years worth of the rolls triggered others to hoard as well. Media bears a huge responsibility in times like these. Reports about any event of mass buying will of course encourage others to engage in - mass buying. They know that back during th...

I have been hearing good things about permaculture but I'm less inclined to agree that animal husbandry can be integrated in any such endeavor... Ken sayz… Personally for me permaculture is about just enough and finding contentment, not exerting energy to make money. I like that it’s focused on rebuilding the top soil and growing perennials and growing food and transforming yards into useful spaces, making everything have multiple functions. To me permaculture is not just about making it in the current economy, it’s about planning for a future economy after unsustainable practices fail and leave us with nothing but the more sustainable ones, which is something that I think young adults today will see as they grow old. Which made me come up this story, or parable, or fable, of our times: Once upon a time... there was a city boy in his early thirties who moved to the hills to farm with his young wife. They started small and that all went well for a while. Th...

Get the latest Japanese newsletter from Consumers Union of Japan, in Japanese . CUJ was founded back in 1969 and has been an independent voice for a long time. Do check out the CUJ history, in English . I remember how proud we were when we got the NPO legislation status. Our main focus has been on the UN Convention of Biological Diversity, and the WTO, and the TPP. We also care about food labels and other cases of consumer fraud. Consumers Union of Japan (CUJ) is a politically and financially independent non-governmental organization (NGO). CUJ is funded by membership fees, sales of its publications and donations. CUJ was founded in April 1969 as Japan's first nationwide grassroots consumer organization. It was officially certified as a non-profit organization on May 1, 2006 by the new Japanese NPO legislation. NPO, NGO... these are the ways the government tries to keep people at bay. But Consumers Union of Japan and its many campaigns have managed to stay independent ov...

Soil & Peace Festival 2013 There will be a Soil & Peace Festival in Hibiya Park, Tokyo on Sunday October 20, 2013. Starting at 10:00 hundreds of farmers and activists and artists will hold a great event until the evening. A great opportunity to meet your favourite NGOs and learn more about organic food, anti-nuclear campaigns and the future of Japan. Look forward to lots of inspiration! Music by Katou Tokiko and many others throughout the day, starting with a taiko performance by Gocco . Website with more info (J) here   International Film Festival on Organic Farming The 7th organic film festival will be held in Tokyo on November 23-24, 2013. This will be a great opportunity to catch up with recent trends and watch documentaries from Japan and abroad. The theme this year is “Holding on to the Soil” to refelct the hardships many farmers are experiencing, with special focus on Okinawa and Fukushima. Location: Hosei Unive...

Some 30-20 years ago, environmental groups in the US and Europe like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth attracted a lot of talent, people who wrote great reports and participated as non-governmental organizations at UN meetings about global matters, in addition to staging demos at sea and climbing chimneys and so on and so forth. What if we had not had those dedicated people? The world would have been a lot more dull. Some of us decided to work directly for people, for consumers. One of the great ideas back then was the concept of 3R* which is now mostly forgotten. If you know what 3R means, well done. The rest of you will have to fact check at the end of this blog post. 3R was a way of communicating the dire state we were in, some 20 years ago. We still have not learnt much. Thus, it seems to me that we are left with an entirely new 3R: Reduce consumption, Reduce waste, and Reduce ecological foot print... Reduce is of course an idea that goes 180 degrees against the common econ...

Not the letter O, I mean "ZERO" - as in zero waste. A small town of 2,000 people has started down an ambitious path to 100% zero waste - Kamikatsu, in Shikoku Region's Tokushima Prefecture. So far, the town has increased its recycling and composting rate to 80 percent. As a result of Kamikatsu's lead, at least two municipalities have made a zero waste declaration - Minamata City in Kumamoto Prefecture, and Oki town in Fukuoka Prefecture. In addition, Hayama town in Kanagawa Prefecture has adopted a zero waste policy. Let's help this trend catch on in a much bigger way. I like the Mayor's happi coat, recycled from a koinobori (carp streamer). And here is a report about a family in the USA who have a virtually zero waste household. Perhaps not surprisingly, the lady of the house was not originally from the US, but France. This family lives in one of the wealthiest counties of the US, so if they can do it, it can happen anywhere. Visit msnbc.com for breaking ...

Small steps are often the best way to get to a bigger result. Stationary product maker Kokuyo launched a clever labelling campaign in 2007, clearly telling consumers which products in their massive catalogue they considered "so-so" from an environmental point of view. The label, Eco X Mark, was printed in bright red and the goal has been to eliminate such items by the end of 2010. Through hard work, they have announced that their campaign is a success, according to Sankei . Kokuyo's 2011 catalogue will have zero products that carry the Eco X Mark, compared to 76% of the stationary products in the 2009 catalogue. In the process of looking at the entire supply chain, they have not only gotten rid of toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde but also managed to reduce CO2 emissions. They inspected 100 paper mills around Japan to make sure that they really recycle the pulp to the extent that is written on the label. A number of new and environmentally friendly products have also...

I was interviewed by TV Tokyo for a program about biogas in Sweden, to be shown on the air on September 11, 2010. Biogas has gotten a lot of attention because municipalities can easily invest in factories that convert methane from sewage or food garbage (生ごみ、namagomi)　into a efficient fuel for city buses, garbage trucks, and even ambulances. This means less dependency on fossile fuels: not having to use imported gasoline or diesel is seen as a very important policy. There are some efforts in Japan to produce biogas. Kobe started providing biogas to buses in April, 2008 and Biogas Net Japan was established by 11 major corporations in January 2008: The establishment of Biogas Net Japan follows a series of trials carried out by the Biogas Network Consortium (established in 2005 under the aegis of The Japan Research Institute by some 30 energy related companies and plant & equipment makers with a view to making efficient use of the biogas produced by organic waste matter). Thes...

When I was doing the research for my book, Nippon Shoku no anzen ranking 555 (Japan Food Safety Ranking 555) I noticed that many food companies in Japan had very detailed CSR reports and impressive environmental strategies. Several also had clear goals to reduce CO2 emissions, reduce water use, avoid genetically modified organisms, and use more locally procured - and organic ingredients. It is not always the case that the companies achieve all of their goals, but, if you read their annual Corporate Social Responsibility reports and track their progress, you get a picture of how they get a grip on issues like emissions. This trend is highlighted by a post over at greenz.jp where Miyagi Koshiro and Ken note that in a survey of 55 Japanese companies, 95% of Companies Have Quantitative GHG Reduction Targets . e’s Inc, founded by environmental journalist Junko Edahiro released a report on 55 companies surveyed on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. According to the rep...

Fun video and simple dance for the kids. Mottainai Grandma is a picture book by Mariko Shinju, published by Kodansha, that has sold half a million copies. She is now on tour in Japan talking about the problems we all face, not just environmental issues, but also child labour and worse. "What do you mean by Mottainai?" One day I was asked by my child. How can I explain this word? There are some Japanese words that cannot be translated into English and Mottainai is the one and is difficult to explain even in Japanese. This is how I started to think about making this picture story book. - Mariko Shinju

A government white paper called Tuesday for households to save energy as a means of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Japan. The white paper, Kyodo notes, mentions that household energy consumption in Japan has increased 44% in 2005 from 1990. Energy used for hot water represents 30% of overall energy consumption in Japanese households, the white paper said. It proposed that Japanese households try to save energy by "shortening showers by 1 minute a day and introducing solar power and energy-efficient water-heating systems." According to NHK, the white paper says the use of renewable energy such as solar power is spreading rapidly in Europe and Asia, and the global market for renewable energy has grown by 40 percent in the last 10 years, to about 670-billion dollars. But: [The white paper] points out that Japan lags behind in this area. The paper says eco-business has grown only by about 10 percent in the last decade in Japan, and that new installation of solar power is act...

This is pretty funny. Akihabara, the district in Tokyo with hundreds of shops selling the latest computers and electronic gadgets, is also known for its amazing geek culture. The otaku , mostly guys - but also gals - enjoy a subculture of manga and anime - not to mention hentai - that has become famous all over the world. Now, in May, the cosplay maids at Akihabara cafes and restaurants have teamed up to form an environmentally friendly NGO. Their " My Maid Bag " campaign encourages customers to bring their own shopping bag (to reduce plastic) and not accept yet another layer of useless packaging. Great idea! Akibaeco is a blog devoted to changing - in the sense of greening - the hearts and minds of otaku in Akihabara and all over the world. Here are links to some of the fine establishments that have participated, including a moe hair salon, a dart pub, and very polite service when you order coffee: ＠ほ～むＣａｆｅ カフェ＆キッ...

China's president Hu Jintao has visited a PET bottle-recycling factory at a green industrial zone in Kawasaki, Japan. China Daily says Hu listened and took notes as Masanori Suzuki, an employee of the plant owned by JFE Group, talked about its environmental protection program. The environment has been one of the key issues on Hu's agenda during his Japan visit. On Wednesday in Tokyo, Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian and Japan's Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita signed a document agreeing to cooperate on wastewater treatment projects in rural China. Pilot schemes, aimed at reducing the amount of pollutants discharged into the Yangtze River, will begin this year in Jiangsu and Chongqing. Under the agreement, Japan will set up drainage disposal facilities, including water purification tanks, in the two regions. Seminars on wastewater disposal technology will also be held in China. JFE Group has said it will share its environmental protection expertise with some Chinese...

Kenichi Horie "waved" a fond Aloha to Hawaii at 11:00 AM Sunday (local time) and is now riding the waves to Japan on a new aluminum catamaran that is powered by wave action. The 3 ton boat, Suntory Mermaid II, is crafted of recycled aluminum and is 9.5 meters long (31 feet). Propulsion is provided by two fins mounted at the bow of the boat which flap as wave action acts upon them through a set of levers and springs. It doesn't matter what direction the wave comes from. The max speed is 5 knots and average cruise speed just 3 knots (about 3.5 mph), so it will take until late May for Mr. Horie to reach Japan. Electricity to run cabin and navigation lights, a shortwave radio, and laptop computer, comes from deck mounted solar panels. Horie, who is 69 years old, is no stranger to ocean crossings. Since 1962 he has made solo ocean crossings every few years and two solo round the world trips. In 1962 he sailed his 19 foot boat Mermaid from Nishinomiya, Japan to San Francis...

I got a question a while back about plastic recycling rates in Japan. Now, that is not an easy question at all, dear readers. Why? Well, for one thing there are many different types of chemicals in that group - plastic. If you paid attention during your High School chemistry class, you know that some plastics are actually called polystyrene foams . So, you go shopping. You need some steak, maybe fish, or some vegetables? Styrofoam is that bubbly, light tray you carry home your food on: probably made of styrofoam plastics. Since the 1930s, when I.G. Farben found out how to mass produce styrofoam, we have had just about enough of the stuff. According to wikipedia, cities that have banned polystyrene include Portland, Oakland, and Santa Monica. Wow. In Japan, about 70% is recycled. Great. Well done. Not bad compared to other countries. However. The rest? Not so great. Landfills, maybe. Dumped by a road, ending up in a river, maybe sayonara in the Pacific Ocean . Styrofoam plastic won...