Green Japan

I spent the last semester studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan. I tried to observe as much as I could of what Japan is doing to lessen their carbon footprint, specifically in Tokyo and the south west side of the main island. The other areas I was unable to go to but it seems to be a country wide effort. A lot of what is happening could possibly be due to other factors such as repercussions from the devastating earthquake and tsunami, affecting one of the huge power plants (Fukushima)  in March 2011 as well as geography as Japan is relatively small in comparison to how many people live there.

 This is a photo I took just for laughs. I think it shows well how Japanese work with limited space and are trying to somewhat "coexist" with the environment.

1. Trains

Trains in Japan are very effective and sufficient. You can go almost anywhere by train in bigger cities and travel around the country through local or bullet trains. Train stations are used to indicate locations and a majority of people uses a train daily (leading to packed trains at rush hours). Parking is limited, expensive, and usually not free making it difficult to go anywhere with a car. There was even one train station I saw run by giant solar panels on the roof. I did some surveying of college students and it seems that people are not taking the train to be Eco-Friendly, more that it is the most convenient way to get to where you need to go.

 This is just a map of only central Tokyo. It is absolutely crazy how many places you can go to just in this area by Train.

 

This was a very interesting train I rode in Hiroshima.

2. Bicycles

Almost everyone has a bike, just for traveling in the area near their homes to go to grocery stores, convenience stores, etc.  People have seats on their bikes for their young children and you rarely see a bike without a basket or two to carry things in. Japanese streets are very narrow usually so it is much easier to go to places by bike. Everywhere you need to go is very close and some even ride their bikes to the train station. There are also many different places designated to park bikes in front of many buildings. Bike theft is so uncommon as people have their bikes registered nationally and many people do not lock their bikes up. Police will even sometimes give tickets to people who park bikes in the wrong place. It could be very likely that bikes are much more convenient with how areas are set up to have everywhere you need to go reachable by bike or train that most people own bikes but it was very nice to be able to go to the grocery store or a super market either by bike or walking and take no time at all.

 A version of Japanese bike for people with young children. Children and groceries can be carried easily.

3. Walking

Many people walk a lot in Japan daily, and I found myself walking much more then I ever had to in the US. Everyday I walked to school from the dorm, to the grocery store, to the train station and I only every rode in a car in Japan maybe 3 times. Most places that you would need to go are close enough to go by foot within 10-15 minutes at most.

 This was the route I used usually 2-3 times a day to go to the school, get food, and go to the station. Just one way is about 1.5 miles.

4. Homes

Most people in the big cities live in very compact homes or apartments simply due to the lack of space, but the Japanese seem to make the most of the space they have. I had two different home stay experiences and in both homes, and it seems in almost all homes in Japan, clothes are air dried. In one of my extended home stays in a small apartment, no heater or air conditioner was used, even in the winter, and it seems that more people are doing this in consideration to save on high energy bills as well as they have to due to the shut down of the major power plant. Also, from a young age, in schools and at home they are taught about being Eco-Friendly. Not to mention, water saving toilets.

There is a "sink" at the top and you can chose to flush big or small. Also, in public bathrooms there are usually never hand towels or paper. People bring their own clothes to wipe their hands.

5. Recycling

All plastics, cans, etc are sorted in Japan as it seems to be a consensus to do so. You will rarely ever see a trash can by itself (this may be due to the incident in the past where bombs were placed in the trash cans by terrorists) as all bins will separate out the different materials. Due to this, it is very hard to find a trash can easily and I ended up carrying trash with me all the time. Trash is usually burned in Japan as there is no place for a land fill, materials must be separated, recycled, and reused. There is even an artificial island in Japan called Odaiba made from trash that has become one of the most popular “date spots” in Tokyo.  In Japan if a household does not separate materials correctly they might be fined. Also, when you are buying body products like shampoo and body soap, you buy one container and then you buy bags with products in them and use the same container for the shampoo over and over again.

Here is a picture in front of a convenience store, one of the easiest ways to find a place to recycle or throw trash away is to find a convenience store, and trust me there are a lot.

6. Buildings

Nowadays it seems that buildings must meet certain environmental standards as during a business trip, our class visited one of Japan’s top insurance companies, Mitsui Sumitomo, and they took us on a tour of their Eco-friendly building with lights that are on only when people need them with unique double windows to keep out heat and keep temperature stable inside, etc. They have a connected organic café, sustainable green spaces on the rooftops, and plants everywhere. Recently a law was passed as well to put a carbon cap on the factories. There is even a building with a roof top rice paddy. 

 Rooftop of the Insurance building (About the building)

7. Renewable Energy Sources 

I saw many, many solar panels and wind turbines while in Japan. It seems that people are starting to put solar panels on the roofs of apartments, homes, buildings (like the train station). Even when I first landed in Japan, there were solar panels lined up along the high ways. Japan is one of the leaders of sustainable technology and they seem to really be making use of it.

 This was the photo I took as I was leaving Japan, as you can see there are many, many wind turbines lined up along the coast.

I am sorry this became so long, I could literally talk about this all day but there are some things in Japan that were not so green. 

For example, packaging in Japan is abundant, this may be due to the cultural importance of presenting things nicely  but it is not common to see things wrapped up multiple times. Also, Japanese consumerism is almost on its own playing field. The Japanese culture values the changing of seasons greatly and this may be a factor to the constant change of various items people could buy. Since Japanese usually have very small homes, they spend a lot of their disposable income on things for appearance like clothes rather than other things. It seems to be in Tokyo at least, appearance is very valued and being fashionable and presentable throughout the day is of high importance so people spend a lot on things they only use for a short period. However, there are a few districts in Tokyo becoming very popular such as Shimokitazawa that consist of mostly resale and recycle clothing and item shops.  

 A recycle clothing store in Shimokitazawa. This district has many, many shops to find many unique and recycled items.

 Another issue is since Japan is very mountainous there is not a lot of land for farming for the amount of people that live there. It is very hard to find local or organic options and many foods are imported from very far away. In restaurants it is rare to allow take out which saves a lot of disposable resources that happen in the US. Also, I interviewed a group of college students randomly and asked what they thought of Climate Change and if they thought it was a real concept that was happening. Everyone  I interviewed said yes and it seems to be more of a consensus then here.Some expressed their concern with rising sea levels on Japan as well.  On Tvs and billboards I would see environmental awareness ads as well. Anyway I could go on and on forever, but please ask me anything if you would like to know more!

 

A random fair I came across teaching people more about ways to live an Eco-Friendly life. 

Please tell me of any of your experiences in seeing Eco-Friendly cities. I grew up in Kansas City so Tokyo was a major change for me and these observations are based on more of the comparison to KC and Lincoln. I have not had much experience in other cities in the US that are greener.