Discovering Tokyo’s sustainable brands with Zenbird (Event Report)

Celebrating the release of the Sustainable City Guide: TOKYO, Zenbird organized the “Tokyo’s Green Gems” event held at BIKAS COFFEE in Tokyo on 24 August. Facilitating the event was Roger, Zenbird Media’s Editor-in-Chief, sharing how the best way to share the contents of the guidebook was to have the individuals experience the brands themselves, and thus the main purpose of the release event. To do that, Zenbird has invited BIKAS COFFEE and Rinne.bar to share their expertise and knowledge in creating a sustainable business in Tokyo.

First, we invited BIKAS COFFEE to share what’s special about their coffee from Nepal. A fan and friend of BIKAS COFFEE, Aki Miyajima, shared her experiences with the coffee brand. BIKAS COFFEE’s comes from Nepal, and is grown through agroforestry, a sustainable method of growing coffee trees that protects the surrounding nature and eventually the livelihoods of the farmers. But BIKAS means development, going beyond the developing a fair trade of coffee export, but to build communities in both Nepal and Japan that can bring about sustainable change.

Next, Akari Yamaura from Rinne.bar led us in an upcycling crafting session. Rinne.bar combines crafting and drinking together as customers use materials received from various craftspeople to make their own creations. As she explain the message of zero-waste behind RInne.bar and how the flow of creation usually goes, Yamaura set the participants to creating cards using Japanese motifs of omamori (Japanese amulets). We saw how the participants opened up to chatting and making friends with one another, as they created creations with themes across time and seasons.

Closing out the event, Roger wrapped the learning for the session: there is a different face to sustainability we should look for. Firstly, we can begin to look at what types of sustainability the brands are (social good? environmental good? circular?). But there are brands like those featured in the guidebook that are not just making a shift to be responsible brands, who are going for the high-hanging fruits, taking bigger steps than many others to create the sustainable future they envision.

Secondly, sustainability doesn’t need to be dreary to implement. Customers who do not know about BIKAS COFFEE can enjoy drinking coffee and eventually plant a coffee tree in Nepal. Rinne.bar shows that sustainability can be fun without sacrificing entertainment value.

Zenbird appreciates the participants who took their precious time to spend with us! They gave us an opportunity to share some of our favourite sustainable brands in Tokyo, and hope to hold more events where participants can experience the brand first hand for themselves in the near future!