Limestone-based material LIMEX, developed and patented by Japanese startup TBM Co., Ltd, has proved to have been a good alternative to plastic and paper. Limex is made primarily from limestone, a natural resource in which Japan is 100% self...
Goto is a city in Nagasaki prefecture, consisting of 11 inhabited and 52 uninhabited islands. The city is in the westernmost area of the Kyushu Island; almost 1,000 kilometers west from Tokyo. T-Point Japan co. ltd., a Japanese company engaged in...
Tokyu Corporation joined RE100 on October 25, making it the first Japanese railway company to publicly commit to using 100% renewable energy. The railway company will further its commitment to a sustainable, low-carbon society in which renewable...
On 10 December 2019, Odakyu Electric Railway released ONE, a community service platform. ONE (pronounced oh-ney) is the acronym for Open Next Experience. It is a mobile application that serves as the hub for sharing economy applications. ONE...
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...
With a little imagination and effort, a discarded item can be converted into a new product while keeping some of its original characteristics. Upcycling is a creative method of giving a second life and function to used things, as well as increasing...
In our daily lives, it can be easy to put off dealing with important issues because the consequences seem so far off. There are always signs that something is going wrong, however. In a previous piece, I compared climate change to not improving a...
It’s no secret that Nestlé Japan Ltd boasts a wide collection of unique KitKat flavors that are exclusively available in Japan, including matcha, sake, strawberry cheesecake and various region-inspired editions. However, in order to make their...
Christmas is a popular event and celebrated nationally in Japan, but the concept of giving during the event still has room to grow. Book Santa project hopefully inspires those who want to give during the holiday season. Book Santa started in 2017 as...
A few months ago, we featured Tabi no Tochu (meaning “On The Way” in English), an introduction of the guesthouse on its innovative usage of a sharing economy to provide a missing welfare need. Unfortunately, we didn’t go deeper to explore the inner...