Japan

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19 03, 2025

Introducing Japan’s First Zero-Waste Town

2025-05-22T12:43:41-04:00Tags: |

Florentyna Leow, a writer, translator, and tour guide based in Tokyo, takes a journey through Kamikatsu, a small town in Japan that achieved an 81% recycling rate in 2016. In 2003, Kamikatsu became the first municipality in Japan to declare a zero-waste goal by 2020. The town sorts waste into 45 categories — down to items as small as toothpaste tubes — offering a model for effective waste management.  Florentyna highlights how recycling has become central to the town’s identity, shaping how residents relate to their everyday practices. Still, Kamikatsu has not escaped Japan’s aging population crisis. With only 1,400 residents, many elderly people face mobility challenges that make traveling to the waste site difficult. A housing shortage for newcomers further complicates revitalization efforts.  The shortage of housing for new residents further aggravates the population issue. Nevertheless, the progressive environmental policies have attracted a new wave of young residents to the town over the years, showing a glimmer of hope. Terumi Azuma is one of the new residents who moved back to the town after living in the city. She and several other residents, who are passionate about improving the sustainable lifestyle in Kamikatsu, now lead discussions on how to further improve the recycling system in the town, while pointing out that living in Kamikatsu is a retreat from the consuming culture in big cities.

19 12, 2024

Japan’s last ‘Ama’ sea women

2025-04-09T18:01:51-04:00Tags: |

In this short film, members of different generations of Japan’s Ama sea women are interviewed about their traditional practices. With thousands of years of history behind them, these freediving fisherwomen strive to live in harmony with nature—catching only what is needed while actively protecting the marine environment. Their seasonal harvest traditions reflect this balance: gathering seaweed in spring, abalone in summer, and turban shells in autumn. Many of the women also engage in spiritual practices, offering prayers for safe dives, and often remain active well into older age—the oldest active diver interviewed is 74 years old. However, the tradition is at risk of fading, as many daughters are no longer interested in following in their mothers' footsteps, and younger generations show declining interest in preserving Ama culture.

9 03, 2023

A Surfer Dives Into Her Heritage and Love for the Ocean

2025-12-10T01:14:41-05:00Tags: , |

Kimiko Russell-Halterman is an environmental educator with Brown Girl Surf, an organization that teaches young girls and non-binary youth to connect with the ocean and nature. Surfing is overwhelmingly white and male-dominated in the United States, a dynamic that has deepened historical patterns of exclusion toward Black people. Through her work, Russell-Halterman seeks to decolonize and promote the accessibility of the sport by conducting a storytelling project on cultural outdoor activities among members of the organization. Her connection to the water is tied to her matrilineal heritage and history. Her moment of inspiration came when she visited ama divers on the coast of the Mie Prefecture in Toba, Japan. There, she witnessed a millennia-old tradition of Japanese women divers who harvest from the sea floor without oxygen tanks, relying only on their breath. This experience deepened her desire for such knowledge, advancing her relationship with the ocean and renewing her appreciation for the simplicity of subsisting from the sea floor. As a marine science instructor, she has learned to harvest from the ocean floor herself, diving with a spear gun, Hawaiian sling, or even with her bare hands. However, ama culture is threatened by dwindling shellfish and a decreasing number of women entering the profession. Russell-Halterman seeks to deconstruct traditional perceptions of humans as destroyers of nature by teaching children how to reconnect with and live harmoniously within the natural world

26 09, 2020

Japanese Youth Demand Action On Global Warming In ‘Shoe Protest’ Outside Diet

2021-02-16T20:40:24-05:00Tags: |

Youth activists in Japan hold a COVID-19 safe climate protest as part of the Global Day of Climate Action displaying over 100 pairs of shoes outside the National Diet Building in Tokyo. In lieu of holding a street march, Mutsumi Kurobe and other young climate activists stress that the Japanese government must do more to take bold action on climate even and especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Over 30 partner actions were held by youth organizers across the country, many of which were led by local Fridays for Future chapters in alliance with the global student strike movement. Photo credit: Mainichi/Yuki Miyatake

12 05, 2020

Japanese Youth Climate Activists Confront Society To Save It

2020-11-07T17:37:36-05:00Tags: |

Mika Mashiko is a 20-year-old climate activist in Japan who started a Fridays for Future initiative in her hometown of Nasu as a response to mass deforestation and corporate exploitation of natural resources. Mashiko has been working with the small group to spread increased awareness about climate issues, gaining greater support since it was founded in September 2019. This ongoing outreach has led to the local Nasu government officially declaring a Climate Emergency. Other youth activists including Yui Tanaka and Yayako Suzuki are demonstrating against the construction of new coal power plants and calling on the Japanese government to commit to greater greenhouse gas reductions. While public demonstrations are still less widely supported in Japan than in other parts of the world, climate activism is becoming more popular among youth and adult allies and increasing public pressure for accountability. Photo credit: Ryusei Takahashi, Japan Times

10 03, 2017

Six Years After Fukushima, Women And Children Still Suffer Most

2017-11-05T12:25:40-05:00Tags: |

Women and children are still the most affected by the earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi power plant meltdown of six years ago—because of not only injustices right after the events, but also the government’s current intention to resettle residents in areas close to the power plant, which are still contaminated, according to Greenpeace. There are threats to withdraw financial support from evacuees and housing support from those who chose to evacuate outside of the state’s evacuation order area. Kendra Ulrich, Global Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace Japan, states how problematic it is to force people to go back to contaminated areas and that this economic coercion is a violation of rights. Single mothers are the most affected and the most dependent on the financial compensation—many  mothers evacuated with their children, divorcing partners who chose to continue working in contaminated areas. Many mothers question the government’s decontamination of only certain areas, which leaves inhabitants still surrounded by contamination and not free to walk around. Noriko Kubota of Iwaki Meisei University notes the impacts of this confinement on children’s development. Thousands of mothers are fighting the withdrawal of support and have filed a class action lawsuit against the government to protect their choices. Photo Credit: Greenpeace/N. Hayashi

14 12, 2016

Japan’s Grandmother Solar Engineer

2017-09-26T13:59:30-04:00Tags: |

Tarahing Masanin volunteered to learn about solar energy in India, spending six months attending a training provided by Barefoot College to become a solar engineer. Since she returned home to Japan, Tarashing has already worked in over 100 households to install solar equipment, providing alternatives to her community in terms of energy resources. Photo credit: The Star

25 04, 2012

In Japan, A Mothers’ Movement Against Nuclear Power

2017-07-17T23:39:00-04:00Tags: |

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese mothers are leading the anti-nuclear movement in Japan, challenging norms about Japanese women and social activism in the process. The mothers regularly organize marches, petition government officials, fast, and hold months-long sit-ins and other public actions. Photo credit: Olivia Sydney Fine  

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