Good Nature Hotel, a new Kyoto hotel, looks set to receive the WELL Building Standard accreditation. It will be the first hotel in the world to receive the accreditation for incorporating features that ensure users’ health and well-being. Good...
An experiment with edible ink may be the simple, yet revolutionary, idea needed to free Japan’s vegetables from unnecessary plastic wrapping. In Tokyo’s Nerima Ward, creative solutions company know Inc. is working with a local farm to sell plastic...
At its fourth World Conference on Tourism and Culture, held in Kyoto on December 12 and 13, 2019, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted new guidelines called...
Japanese plastics manufacturer, TechnoLab, has started using plastic waste from Japan’s oceans to make home interior goods and furniture. This project aims to bring recycling activities to local towns and overseas. The crowdfunding and community...
A new, plant-based food cafe has opened in Tokyo’s trendiest suburb, aiming to revolutionize food choices in Japan – starting with some of the cutest drinks ever – and a range of eco-friendly initiatives. The store, called u omotesando, opened on...
Unilever Japan has set itself the goal of shifting all of its product packaging away from polyethylene-terephthalate, or PET plastic, to 100% recycled plastic by the end of 2020. As a first step, from August 5, the packaging of new products under...
Parishioners at Shoden-ji Temple, in Tokyo’s central Minato Ward, have been on the decline since the end of World War 2. This is in part of land prices steadily rising, eventually pushing residents out. In a bid to survive, the temple is now using...
In 2010, a university professor asked four Tokyo municipalities for their help to conduct research on health disparity. Rather than just take his findings back to the office and move on, he instead explained the results to local officials, hoping...
In December 2018, Marukawa Shoji, representative director of the Nature Innovation Group, launched an umbrella sharing service called iKasa. Just six months later, his company has received a capital input of 30 yen million as users and businesses...
Professor Makoto Ichitsubo from Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) hopes to apply the United Nations’ sustainable development goals to technical education. To achieve that, his project team has created an e-book about the Sustainable Development...