Zenbird Editors’ Pick – 10 Japan sustainability must-reads 2021

Zenbird Media has covered a myriad of topics in 2021. While changes in Japan are slow, the editors of Zenbird do see positive changes and have identified possible solutions (even though, we hoped for more speed). Despite the 2nd year of COVID’s ravage over Japan, actors and inspirers continue their march against issues like the climate emergency, gender and sexuality problems and human rights.

Here are ten handpicked articles from the editors to share what you need to know about sustainability in Japan, especially beyond the usual talked-about topics in big media.

Content

1. Women’s Wellness: NGOs and femtech join the fight against period poverty
2. Gender and Sexuality: Sex Education YouTuber Shiori-nu propelling Japan to address youth needs
3. LGBTQ: Japan’s evolving definition of genderless fashion
4. Human Rights: Japan still faces human rights issue of Fukushima refugees
5. Children and Poverty: Taco Rice Lovers’ quest to end Okinawa’s child hunger through gifting taco rice
6. Zero Waste: Zero Waste Market: Japan’s first zero-waste supermarket leads a packaging-free Japan
7. Climate Change: Why Fridays For Future Japan held a public climate debate with politicians
8. Japan and Sustainability: What Japan’s 1,150-year-old Gion Festival can teach us about sustainability
9. Environment and Development: Yumenoshima: Tokyo’s fly-infested landfill became green oasis
10. Circular Economy: Ishizaka Sangyo, an industrial waste treatment company, aims to circulate all resources

NGOs and femtech join the fight against period poverty

You would think a well-to-do country like Japan would not have issues like period poverty. Unfortunately, Japan continues to disappoint its women in many areas, including sexual education and women’s wellness.

Fortunately, the recent rise of NGOs and femtech in Japan is moving to fill the gap. Here are some examples of the changes that are improving the situation in Japan, starting with period poverty here.

Sex Education YouTuber Shiori-nu propelling Japan to address youth needs

Japan is often seen as conservative because of outdated laws and policies that lack modern leadership. For example, a sex education system that most agree is embarrassingly insufficient, consequently a major cause of problems like the inadequacy of laws against sexual violence and suffocation of female political and economic empowerment.

This is where heroines rise to the challenge, and Shiori Onuki, a Sex Education YouTuber, is one of them. Find out in this interview her amazing work and why she thinks sex education is human rights education.

Japan’s evolving definition of genderless fashion

When we talk about gender and sexuality in Japan, we mustn’t forget the fight for rights for our LGBTQ communities. There are many organizations making the problems for sexual minorities more visible in various aspects like job seeking or partnership claims.

Fashion has gathered attention too. Genderless fashion is something that a few fashion brands have begun introducing into their lines. As more Japanese begin questioning weakening gender roles and more aware of the needs of sexual minorities, we make an observation on how genderless fashion is evolving in Japan.

Japan still faces human rights issue of Fukushima refugees

Ten years ago, the world’s second-worst nuclear disaster occurred in Japan. The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of magnitude 9.0 set off a chain of events that would cost tens of thousands of lives and many more to lose their homes and livelihoods. The after-effects of the disaster continue to be felt today.

Yet, one of the problems we seldom talk about is the Fukushima residents who were forcibly uprooted by the disaster. There are 36,000 internally displaced people (IDP), or disaster refugees, if you will, including women and children. We look into if Japan is taking steps to protect human rights, especially for these IDPs.

Taco Rice Lovers’ quest to end Okinawa’s child hunger through gifting taco rice

If children are indeed the most important asset of the human race, anything that stifles that potential should be considered a crime, be it poverty, lack of education, or even worse, abuse. And in Japan, poverty is a significant concern, as one out of seven Japanese children lives in poverty, while that ratio increases to one in three in Okinawa Prefecture.

NPO Taco Rice Lovers in Okinawa is tackling hunger that poor Okinawan children go through. The founder, having gone through the same experience, realizes that the children need a sense of security. He does so by providing free food and the warmth of community cheer. Find out how he did it here. (And what exactly is Taco Rice?? Read to find out!)

Zero Waste Market: Japan’s first zero-waste supermarket leads a packaging-free Japan

What will Zero Waste look like in Japan when it is done right? Our first suggestion would have been the Totoya by nue’s bulk shopping store in Tokyo, until they opened Japan’s first zero-waste supermarket in Kyoto!

Zero Waste Market opened on July 31 this year and has since gained popularity across media and fans. It displays the experience earned through its first bulk shopping store in Tokyo, and has perfected and gone beyond that system to apply in this zero-waste supermarket.

We interviewed Zero Waste Market to learn what kind of zero waste society it envisions, and how it has helped Japan take the first huge step forward towards that future.

Why Fridays For Future Japan held a public climate debate with politicians

Japanese youths are always on our radar. Why? Because they possess leadership qualities that we must admit the country needs: modern, open and progressive. The youths of Fridays For Future Japan are a few of those many. Their consistency and determination are admirable, especially in carrying the messages of climate emergency and injustice.

Towards Japan’s election at the end of October, Fridays For Future Japan held an online event for various Japanese political parties to talk about climate change. Representatives from each party shared their stance towards climate change-related issues, providing viewers a clearer idea on how they should vote on voting day. Here is the coverage of that event.

What Japan’s 1,150-year-old Gion Festival can teach us about sustainability

While Japan’s history hasn’t always been in a positive light, ancient Japan has a treasure trove of wisdom when it comes to sustainability. Artistry, techniques, businesses, communities, villages etc that have lasted for centuries, for more than a millennium, offer hints of how to sustain.

One of the best examples of sustainability comes from one of the top three festivals in Japan, the annual Gion Festival in Kyoto. What is amazing is how this festival is community-driven, with many lessons we can learn about, like how knowledge passes on from a generation to the next and how the festival adjusts to changes in time.

Yumenoshima: Tokyo’s fly-infested landfill became green oasis

We don’t believe that we cannot turn the coming tide of the consequences of the climate crisis. We have and can develop the abilities and capabilities to fight it head on. It is just a matter of conviction.

Tokyo’s Yumenoshima shows us what that conviction can look like. After a few projects that failed to come to fruition, Yumenoshima was eventually used as a landfill, where it was ridden with fly pests. Discover the history and the changes Yumenoshima has seen to turn towards an environmental asset.

Ishizaka Sangyo, an industrial waste treatment company, aims to circulate all resources

Among the talk of sustainability and circular economy, one term that is gathering more steam in Japan is “Zero Waste.” While many think that zero-waste is impossible, Ishizaka Sangyo is here to break that stubborn belief. It is a waste sorting facility that has a recycling rate of 98%, and visitors from overseas visit Ishizaka Sangyo to learn from it.

This is an eye-opening interview you do not want to miss. Discover the philosophical lesson: why Ishizaka Sangyo stops at a 98% recycling and the true lesson we must learn to achieve a zero-waste society.

By the way, did we mention that Ishizaka Sangyo is a female-led business?