Japan for Sustainability

by Junko Edahiro

With the ultimate aim of helping to create a sus­tainable society, I lecture and write in Japan, and I also translate into Japanese the latest informa­tion as well as key messages from around the world. I have been honoured to have had the opportunity to bring to Ja­pan the words and writings of the environmental academics Lester Brown, and Dennis Meadows, forexample, and also to translate Mr. Al Gore’s book, An Inconvenient Truth.

Eight years ago, I started an e-mail newsletter that provides a variety of environment-related information in Japanese. Today, I have almost 10,000 subscribers, includ­ing people in national and local governments, the business world, NGOs, and universities. Going in the reverse di­rection, to communicate environmental information from Japan to the rest of the world in English, five years ago I launched, with some colleagues, an NGO called “Japan for Sustainability,” which is one of the media partners for this conference. Today, we disseminate latest initiatives, tech­nologies and some “old wisdom” in the field of sustainabil­ity from Japan to 189 countries.

Now, may I ask you a question? When you hear the words “Japan” and “sustainability,” what kind of image comes to mind? Long ago, the Japanese lived in harmony with nature. Our houses were not built with solid brick and stone like in the West, but with soft materials like wood and paper. Even when the Japanese were inside their homes, they were aware of the wind and insects singing outside. During the hot summers, people cooled their senses by sprinkling water on the ground and by enjoying the sound of wind chimes. The traditional way of life was close to nature.

The Edo Period

Allow me to mention a bit about the Edo Period, when the city of Edo – now known as Tokyo – was the centre of Japan. The 265 years from 1603 to 1867 are known as the Edo Period. Japan was closed to the outside world and enjoyed a time of relative peace, with virtually no wars throughout the land. Japan’s economy and culture flour­ished independently from the rest of the world. During this 250-year period, the country’s population was stable at about 30 million. Edo is estimated to have had a population of between 1 and 1.25 million, making it the largest city in the world at the time. Incidentally, the popu­lation of London was about 860,000 then, and Paris held about 670,000 people.

Today, Japan depends on overseas imports for 80 per­cent of its energy, 60 percent of its food, and 80 percent of its timber. In contrast, during the Edo Period, because Ja­pan was a closed country, there were no imports from over­seas. Everything was done using energy and resources obtained from within the country.

Let’s look at this again. The population numbers were sta­ble; society functioned and peo­ple made their livelihoods using mostly the plant-based resources and energy created from the sun the previous year; and a rich cul­ture flourished under these condi­tions. You could say that a truly sustainable society existed in Japan during the Edo Period. Because all resources were regarded as precious, plenty of businesses evolved to deal with re-use and recycling. There were businesses that spe­cialized in repairing metal goods; old cooking pots and ket­tles and other items of metal could be repaired and used again. There were special tradesmen who would repair wooden barrels and pails used to hold liquids. During this era, everything was repaired properly and used as long as possible. Paper lanterns and locks were repaired, mirrors were polished, and so on.

Specialized businesses would purchase waste paper, used clothes, and used pails. There were even businesses that would buy the valuable wax drippings from candles and use them to make new candles to sell, and businesses that would buy the ash left from burning fuel wood and sell it to farmers as fertilizer. At a time when, in Europe, hu­man waste was thrown out of windows and diseases like the Plague spread across the land, in Japan, even human waste was used as a precious resource to be bought and sold. In fact, human waste from the richer neighbourhoods appar­ently went for the highest prices because it had the highest nutrient content!

Taru wo shiru

Since long ago, people used certain expressions closely related to concepts of sustainable lifestyles – expressions like taru wo shiru, which means “Be satisfied with what you have,” and mottainai, which means “Don’t waste!” One expression I am very fond of is seoi mizu, mizu means “wa­ter, “and seoi means “you carry on your shoulder,” which literally means “water you carry,” although this term is not commonly used any more. Behind this saying was the idea that when you are born, you carry with you all of the wa­ter you will use during your lifetime. Basically, this saying taught us that if we use something wastefully, we will be in trouble later on in life, so we must use everything very care­fully. This expression said it all in just a few words.

These are glimpses of the sustainable lifestyles that the Japanese were living then. But in the midst of the postwar recon­struction after Japan was defeat­ed in the Second World War, an emphasis was put on hard-work­ing and technological advances. Society and the economy were rebuilt upon a system that pro­moted consumption, with the idea that “consumption is a vir­tue.” The idea of “catching up and passing” captures the spirit of the day. Even today, now that Japan has joined the ranks of developed countries, I believe it has not yet escaped this developing-country men­tality.

What about Japan today? The picture is not a simple one. We are told that adults and children do not smile as much as they used to. Suicide rates have risen, and the en­vironment is deteriorating. But while we are often faced with depressing news, we can also sense the beginning of change and the beat of a new era. Progress is evident in the development of a variety of environmental technolo­gies, which you can read about at our JFS information da­tabase. Japan is actively transferring these technologies to developing countries, particularly in Asia. A lot of people are also asking themselves what true happiness really is. I would like to introduce to you now some stories and initia­tives that are not broadcast by TV or put in newspapers, but might capture your interest, especially in a cultural sense.

Slow Life

The idea of “slow food” (in contrast to “fast food”) came out of Italy, but after landing in Japan, it evolved into the whole concept of “slow life.” There is a growing inter­est in living life to the fullest, rather than simply chasing after speed and efficiency. The Governor of Iwate Prefec­ture issued a “Take-It-Easy Declaration” in 2001 to launch a movement to put happiness before economic efficiency. He explained as follows.

“Let’s make our life in the new century more human, more natural, and more simple.” These ideas indicate Iwate’s ideal with the “take-it-easy” slogan. For example, Iwate’s approach to buildings is to conserve traditional wooden houses that stand in harmony with nature, rather than to cut forests to make way for state-of-the-art buildings. Such a sense of harmonious coexistence between nature and hu­mans is highly valued in Iwate’s take-it-easy movement.

By the way, this governor is now the minister of Pub­lic Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecom­munications at the Japanese National Government.

Iwate Prefecture is not an exception. More than ten cities in Japan have issued a “Slow-Life City Declara­tion,” and they are organ­izing conferences called “Slow-Life City Summits.” And there are many special­ized magazines to tell peo­ple how to live slowly.

Here is another small but true story. When a new condominium was to be built at a place about an hour out of Tokyo, the pro­spective residents got into a huge debate about whether or not an elevator should be installed. Aware that el­evators consume electricity, some said that the building should have no elevator, in order to help combat global warming. Others said that an elevator is needed for the elderly persons who would be living in the building. They had a hard time reach­ing any consensus, but in the end an excellent solution was proposed. Guess what? A slow elevator. An eleva­tor would be installed, but it would move so slowly that most people would not want to wait for it. Because most people can climb the stairs much more quickly, they would probably not use the elevator. But seniors and others who really have to use the elevator are usually not as pressed for time, so they will not mind waiting to use an elevator that moves slowly. This is an example of innovative solutions popping up around us, inspired by this key word of “slow.” Several years ago, one of the best selling books in Japan was titled “Slow is Beautiful.”

Here is another example. Five years ago, I was one of a group of people who proposed the idea of “Candle Night for a Million.” We asked people to spend a “slow” evening, turning off the lights for two hours on the night of the summer and winter solstices. This idea has grown to the point that many events are now held around the coun­try on the nights of the sol­stices, with 8 to 10 million people participating in ways they themselves choose. I believe this phenomenon is a sign that people are trying to reclaim their own time, their own lives, and their own happiness. During the summer candle night this year, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment joined as a partner in the appeal. In to­tal, 63,138 facilities nation­wide joined in the lights-out event, including a famous landmark known as the To­kyo Tower, resulting in a re­duction of close to 1 million kilowatt-hours of electrical consumption.

In a separate interesting initiative, a group of key mu­sicians in the Japanese music scene, including the world reknown Ryuichi Sakamoto, got together with their own money to launch the art­ists’ power, “ap bank.” It fi­nances projects in renewable energy and other areas, and promotes environmental ac­tivities. Over 30,000 people gather at the “ap bank fes” outdoor concert held each year to raise funds for the bank, and it has grown into a huge event. At the concert, garbage is separated into 11 categories, and all plates and cutlery at food stalls are reusable. All power for the concert comes from renewable energy, including electricity for the concert itself and the energy for the shuttle buses to bring concert-goers to the venue.

Product Service System

The business world, known for pursuing efficiency and economic growth above all else, is starting to show signs of change. Many “servicizing” businesses are appearing on the scene to provide functions and services, instead of simply selling products. It is also known as PSS: Product-Service System.

Let me give you some examples of servicing business­es. A distributor of work uniforms that leases the uniforms to companies for employees to use, started to collect and recycle the materials after they are worn out. Panasonic, an electrical goods manufacturer, offers a fluorescent lamp- leasing service, in which it sells the “functions” of comfort­able lighting to factories and office buildings rather than fluorescent lamps themselves. Another company offers an air conditioning service incorporating a leasing scheme for air-conditioning systems, and payments are calculated based on the amount of air controlled by the air-condition­ing system. A supplier of industrial pure water services in­stalls its ultra-pure water production system at the site of client companies, which pay for expenses calculated based on the amount of water used. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industries set up a special commission to pro­mote servicizing development and produced a manual with over 80 case studies.

Gross Company Happiness

Some companies in Japan have been inspired by the example of the mountainous country of Bhutan in Asia, which, as an indicator of national progress instead of GDP or GNP uses GNH. What is GNH? Instead of Gross Na­tional Product, it means Gross National Happiness. One of the impressed companies in Japan is trying to measure corporate progress with an indicator of GCH, “Gross Com­pany Happiness.” When thinking about the happiness of their employees, about ten years ago the company’s presi­dent considered their current sales levels to be too high, and put negative annual sales growth targets for about ten years. The result? I asked the company president. He said because of this unusual policy, which makes their employees hap­pier with more smiles toward their customers, it has been difficult for his company to curb the sales! The company is now one of the model companies in Japan, cherished by their employees and local communities.

Humanity is being threatened by climate change and other environmental problems. In order to solve these prob­lems, I believe there are five things we need: to know, to create a vision, to grasp the big picture, to act, and to com­municate to others.

None of these come completely together in just one country, or in just one region. Today, the time has come for us to create something new – across borders, across the East and West. We must move from one-way communication and even from two-way communication of sharing experience and learning from each other, to what I call “co-creative or generative communication” to create new paradigms and values by cultivating what East and West can offer.

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Published on
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007648.html
November 30, 2007

Photo credits:

Asakusa temple, Tokyo, Japan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84433504@N00/357872027

Koumyouzenji @ Dazaifu ( Fukuoka-ken, Kyushu, Japan )
http://www.flickr.com/photos/e-chan/851978350/

Umeda Station in Osaka.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamoda/114123904/

A beef rice stall in Tsukiji
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayna/7272362/

[From WS January/February 2008]