SDGs manga awards highlight youth voices on marine plastic and climate

The NPO Riviera Future Creation Project held the 6th Riviera SDGs Artwork & Manga Awards ceremony last month on 7 March. The event served as a platform for Alpha and Z generation youth to present direct policy recommendations to regional leaders, including Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa and the mayors of Zushi, Kamakura, and Hayama.

Approximately 800 entries were submitted from across Japan, ranging from children to senior citizens, each visualising social and environmental challenges through the medium of manga and art.

The awards ceremony featured the presentation of prestigious honours such as the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award and the Minister of the Environment Award. New this year is how the Grand Prize winners were selected through a live final judging process during the ceremony. Due to the high quality of the nominated works, the judges took the unusual step of selecting two Grand Prize winners.

Parallel to the awards, the R-Next Summit provided a forum for youth leaders to engage in the R-Next Sustainable Conference. Five students from primary to high school levels presented sharp, experience-based proposals to government and education officials. Keigo Fujii, one of the Grand Prize winners, advocated for a transition to a circular economy. He highlighted the “recycling wall” where recycled marine plastic products remain expensive and proposed that the government implement subsidy systems while encouraging consumers to accept slight price differences for the sake of the environment.

Other proposals addressed the root causes of environmental degradation and social issues. Fourth-grade student Reika Wakita questioned why Japan has not yet adopted global environmental infrastructure, such as Germany’s deposit return scheme for bottles or Taiwan’s food waste sorting culture. Meanwhile, high school student Keisuke Takahashi suggested that digital matching platforms could help prevent youth isolation by creating places of belonging outside of the school environment. He also called for a cultural shift to make littering socially unacceptable, drawing a parallel to the successful standardisation of seatbelt use.