Nagisa MizunoVisiting cafes and restaurants while traveling in Japan is one of the most enjoyable experiences. However, you might have difficulty spotting sustainable restaurants from social and environmental perspectives in Japan because there is no way to rate and highlight them. That’s why Japan Sustainable Restaurant Association (Japan SRA) has just started July 2019. It is initiated by Takahiro Matsuyama, sustainable food consultant and director, Takeshi Shimotaya, CSR consultant and other professionals.
SRA is a non-governmental organisation, originated in the U.K., in partnership with 8,000 member sites. It is the authority giving the “Sustainable Restaurant Award” to the highest social and environmental responsibility rating in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, known as the Academy Award in gastronomy.
Japan Sustainable Restaurant Association launched
“Japan SRA’s mission is to promote sustainability in the Japanese foodservice industry in cooperation with international SRA members,” said one of the co-founders of Japan SRA, Matsuyama. “The food industry is one of the slowest to make innovation happen. Although some restaurants throughout Japan take care of the environment by using natural energy and locally producing food for local consumption, they haven’t been enough highlighted. What we Japan SRA want to do it to shed a light on these restaurants by giving them a rating.”
The evaluation of sustainable restaurants is based on major 11 categories, each of which has more detailed check items, related to sourcing, society and environment. For example, they ask restaurants whether they use sustainably sourced ingredients, whether a restaurant is accessible to the physically challenged and whether electricity is by natural power. The rating questions are organised based on those of international SRA while some specific questions are added including Japanese unique seafood sourcing.
Small step with “one planet-friendly plate”
So as to accelerate their activities, Japan SRA plan to launch another campaign called “One Plate Planet.” It already started in the U.K. Any restaurant can join the campaign by creating one planet-friendly plate. After uploading a photo of the dish and its background story on the SRA website, the restaurants will be shown on a map on the website with a rating so that anyone can see which restaurants take care of the planet. A rating is based on six key criteria such as featuring more vegetables, wasting no food and celebrating local. Even if it might take some time to fulfil the requirements to be rated as a “sustainable restaurant,” restaurants can make a small step toward it with just a plate.
To boost sustainability in the Japanese foodservice industry, Japan SRA aim to increase the number of member restaurants up to 300 in a year. Matsuyama also pays attention to regions. “Each region has at least one restaurant or cafe driving sustainability. So the regions will be a key to spread our mission.”
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［Website］The Sustainable Restaurant Association
［Website］One Planet Plate
