JFS Newsletter No.190 (June 2018) Image by bBear. The JFS newsletter has introduced a selected series of examples of good companies in Japan, referring to the book "Jizoku Kano-na Shihon Shugi" ("Sustainable Capitalism," written in Japanese) by Kazuhiro Arai, director and asset manager of Kamakura Toshin, a Japanese investment company. In the final article of this series, we introduce other good companies that were not included in the categories we have introduced thus far. With the Government on Its Side: The Yamato Group In 2011 when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, the Yamato Group, centered around Yamato Transport Co., a major parcel-delivery company in Japan, helped its employees who wished to provide voluntary aid work to support the affected area. Immediately after the earthquake, employees working in the affected area delivered relief supplies, which were arriving one after another, on their own initiative. In spite of a gasoline shortage, they delivered parcels unrelated to their business operation using their company's trucks. Meanwhile, the headquarters immediately organized volunteers to cooperate in delivering relief supplies, and, in collaboration with the Self-Defense Forces, let its employees continue to deliver supplies as part of their routine work. The group also lobbied the government to use all of the group's donations for specific purposes. As soon as the earthquake occurred, it decided to donate 10 yen (about US$0.09) per parcel delivered. The total amount came to about 14.2 billion yen (US$126 million) in 2011, accounting for 40 percent of its annual profit. Direct donations, however, are taxable, so Makoto Kigawa, then president, negotiated with the Ministry of Finance to make the group's donation tax exempt as an exception. At first, the ministry frowned on the idea, though it understood the group's aim. Nonetheless, Kigawa continued negotiating persistently. Finally, the ministry created a tax-free donation system by devising a donation scheme. It worked like this: the Yamato Group would donate money to a newly-established public interest incorporated foundation, then the foundation would donate the money from Yamato and ordinary citizens to organizations needing aid, to be selected by a third-party panel. Kigawa explained the situation on his own initiative and successfully gained understanding from corporate investors at home and abroad. Making use of its accumulated know-how in parcel delivery, the group has recently been cooperating with many municipalities in the fields of safety confirmation/monitoring systems for the elderly and shopping support systems for depopulated areas. Forsaking Profits: Cybozu Inc. Cybozu develops and sells groupware that provides many services by itself, including mail service, schedule management and message board services. The company has hammered out a policy to put social reinvestment above profit. For that purpose, the company declared it would not make a profit. This came as quite a shock to its stakeholders. The company takes the stance that it will not worry about a fall in its stock price, but expects those who empathize with this policy to invest in the company. In 2006 when Yoshihisa Aono, the current president, assumed office, the company was having problems with its work schedule, which included weekends and midnight work on a routine basis. This resulted in a 28 percent employee turnover. Aono planned to offer various workstyles and personnel systems according to the needs of individual employees. He continuously established new schemes including a childcare leave scheme and choices over each worker's own work hours. The president himself set an example by taking childcare leave. As a result, turnover decreased to four percent. Making good use of such experiences, the company reinvested its profit into social activities such as workstyle education, for example, producing cartoon films over working mothers' difficulties and how to improve workstyles. Recycling Accomplished by Workers with Disabilities: FP Corporation FP Corporation manufactures and sells simple food containers such as foam trays for supermarkets and delicatessen shops. In addition, the company has developed a unique recycling system and technology with which it collects used food containers when delivering its products, and recycles foam trays, transparent plastic containers and PET bottles. The company and its group companies employ about 400 workers with disabilities as regular workers. The ratio of disabled to all workers there is 14.56 percent, and three out of four of the workers with disabilities are severely disabled, yet they provide the power to run the recycling process. Hisao Katsuta, president of a special affiliate of the company, says that he waits for workers with disabilities to make progress, and that even if they have no adaptable potential now, they will become able workers if he maintains his patience. Voluminous foam trays are costly if transported a long distance for collection. To reduce transportation costs, the company has established recycling plants around the country and hires people with disabilities locally, aiming for mutual development with local communities. In this article we have introduced three examples of "good companies": one that challenged the national government, negotiating for support to disaster-affected areas; one that is striving to address nationwide issues concerning workstyles; and one that actively employs people with disabilities as a primary workforce. Finally, we would like to introduce "happo-yoshi" (eightfold satisfaction), a management style advocated by Kazuhiro Arai in his book. The concept of "happo-yoshi" combines the merits of traditional Japanese business ethics, commonly referred to as "sampo-yoshi" (triple satisfaction) with the Western concept of creating shared value (CSV). "Sampo-yoshi" was the business motto of the merchants of Omi (present-day Shiga Prefecture) during the Edo period and since, which focused on benefiting three parties, namely the seller, buyer and society. It embraces the view that business should benefit both sellers and buyers, and that the products should be useful to society as a whole. Creating shared value (CSV), on the other hand, is a framework for creating economic value while simultaneously addressing social needs and challenges through business activities. Since both CSV and "sampo-yoshi" aim to reconsider management styles that seek only maximum profits, they lead in a similar direction. The eight parties in "happo-yoshi" are corporate managers, employees, suppliers/creditors, shareholders, consumers, communities, society and the nation. When "sampo-yoshi" was expanded to "happo-yoshi," significant attention was given to the finite nature of natural resources. Natural resources, or the "stock" of the earth, have greatly decreased while capitalism infinitely pursues wealth with a focus on "flow." The more efficiently capitalism works, the more resources will be lost in the future. To achieve lasting business activities, companies need to continue their operations while preventing the earth from becoming spent. Thus, they should take a wider view of their stakeholders, with an eye on the earth environment and the whole world, in addition to the stakeholders defined by "sampo-yoshi" and CSV. That's why "happo-yoshi" includes society and the nation. A management style that creates shared value for eight parties, namely corporate managers, employees, suppliers/creditors, shareholders, consumers, communities, society and the nation, and makes all these parties happy -- it sounds like a dream. The "good companies" introduced in this series, however, are realizing such "happo-yoshi." We hope that the number of these unique "good companies" will continue to increase in the future. 'Good Companies in Japan' (Article No. 1): Valuing Employee Happiness and Trust https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035984.html 'Good Companies in Japan' (Article No. 2): Seeking 'Happiness' for All Stakeholders https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id036022.html'Good Companies in Japan' (Article No.3): Seeking Ways to Develop Societal Contribution along with Core Business https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id036062.html Edited by Noriko Sakamoto

Image photo. Osaka City University announced on April 25, 2018, that it succeeded in developing a new biofuel cell system with the functions of a solar cell and the ability of carbon dioxide conversion. Utilizing the photosynthesis function of spirulina, a biomass of dark-green unicellular microalgae, this solar-light driven biofuel cell generates electricity by consuming CO2 in water as source material and produces formic acid as a byproduct while generating electricity. The team led by Prof. Yutaka Amao in the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis of Osaka City University had focused on the effective oxygen-evolution photosynthetic function activity spirulina shows in water. Using a device containing CO2-saturated buffer solution with two electrodes coupled with each other therein, an electrode on which a photosynthetic membrane derived from spirulina is immobilized and another electrode on which formic-acid dehydrogenase is immobilized, they found a certain amount of electric current (measuring 55 microamperes) flowing through the circuit when visible-light is applied to the photosynthetic-membrane immobilized electrode. They also found that formic acid was produced above the formic-acid-dehydrogenase immobilized electrode by reduction of CO2. They also confirmed the evolution of oxygen and reduction of hydrogen carbonate ions derived from CO2. Thus, this biofuel cell introduced a new technology to create bioenergy that not only consumes CO2, a major global warming substance, as a useful source for generating power, but also produces an organic molecule, formic acid. Formic acid has a large usage potential, such as a hydrogen-energy storage medium, a synthetic material for organic chemicals, and a solvent for inorganic-organic chemical compounds. It is expected that this technology will become an effective tool to realize a low-carbon society.

Image by recyclind. The Renewable Energy Institute, a public interested corporate foundation in Japan, released "Restructuring of Japan's bio-energy strategy." Regarding this energy, with its large potential in Japan and being expected to contribute to the realization toward the decarbonized society, it presents an immediate strategy along with its domestic problems, as well as clarifying the long-term vision. According to the report, a Feed-In Tariff (FIT) scheme is required to change in the power sector as soon as possible. In Japan, the heat utilization of bio-energy is not being fully developed, while a co-generation system would provide a high power conversion efficiency of 80 to 90 percent. Therefore, granting a bonus to co-generation plants under the FIT scheme would promote better heat utilization. Also, a new coal-fired plant would be able to get support from Japan's FIT scheme if it co-combusts biomass with coal. In order to reduce fossil fuel consumption, this type of generation plant should be excluded from the FIT scheme, regardless of mixed combustion rates, the report said. For other strategies, it suggests securing biomass fuels derived from domestic forest resources and preventing wood resources from deteriorating, and utilizing waste such as rice husk/paddy straw and unused wood products, such as bamboo in the agricultural sector. The Institute will deploy positive activities based on strategies in the report to promote the utilization of bio-energy with its characteristics and roles.

Image photo. A new initiative in Japan is tackling the global issue of food loss and waste by attempting to eliminate mismatches between food supply and demand. This "Supply and Demand Optimization Platform" can share and utilize crucial information in the entire value chain. The Japan Weather Association (JWA) and NEC Corp., a leading Japanese electronics company, announced on February 28, 2018, that they would collaborate to optimize supply and demand in entire value chains, including manufacturing, distribution, logistics and sales in various industries and sectors. To begin with, they applied their platform to the food value chain. By optimizing the supply and demand of not only individual industries but the entire value chain by providing user companies with demand forecasting data, inventory information and sales results, they aim to help address the social issue of food loss and waste. The platform utilizes a technology called "Heterogeneous Mixture Learning Technology" developed by NEC. Besides automatically discovering specific patterns based on correlations in big data, it can switch reference patterns depending on the analyzed data. With traditional machine learning it is generally difficult to discover more than a single pattern, but this new platform has high-precision prediction and anomaly detection even in data with varying patterns. One key feature of this particular technology is that it clearly shows the underlying explanations for the forecasts it makes, and this facilitates smoother decision-making and implementation. With its solid track record in consulting on commodity demand forecasting, JWA will provide meteorological data for the platform's data analysis, and also offer commodity demand forecasting services using the data. To boost the platform's accuracy, the partners have been conducting a demonstration trial for beverages since January 2018. Besides demand forecasting for the retail industry, they have already begun to see a significant improvement in the accuracy of product demand forecasting for manufacturers by utilizing information directly associated with consumption, including retail sales data, and weather and event information. The platform is expected to help reduce food loss and waste, through production planning and order planning based on highly accurate demand forecasts, and adjusting the supply-demand balance based on fluctuations in demand forecasts. The partners are also considering future development of the platform beyond demand forecasting, by linking with operational systems such as supply-and-demand planning, production planning, order planning, and inventory management.

Source : Ministry of the Environment How is the current situation in Fukushima being communicated today, and how are different stakeholders working to shape the message? Here we introduce initiatives in education and the media from Part 2 "How the State of Fukushima Today is Being Communicated - Case Studies" of the panel discussion "Update Fukushima - Support Fukushima by Learning and Sharing with Others" held in February 2018. Building a Fukushima model for global disaster-recovery education The Fukushima Ambassador Program being implemented by Fukushima University invites overseas students from affiliate universities on a short-term stay of two weeks. During their stay, they visit disaster-stricken areas together with Fukushima University students to deepen their understanding of past, current, and future issues in Fukushima. Since the start of the program in 2012, visits have been organized 12 times with 154 students participating so far. Feedback from foreign students in the program include: "I want to tell others about all the great things we learned about Fukushima through the program" and "I want to tell people about not just the lessons from the Fukushima accident, but also how wonderful and warm the people of Fukushima are and all its local charm." A local Japanese student said, "I feel more confident about telling the world about Fukushima." Fukushima University plans to continue the program and is building a "Fukushima model" for global disaster-recovery education, one that includes training foreigners who want to contribute to Fukushima's recovery by communicating its status and Japanese people who can communicate in English. Shaping Fukushima's Message in the Age of Social Media The Discovery Channel created a documentary program to introduce Fukushima's recovery process to a wide audience, particularly to people in Southeast Asia who are interested in Japan. In the documentary, three young people - an environmental scientist, a YouTuber, and a photographer; all social media influencers - visit Fukushima to interview local people and see current conditions firsthand. The Discovery Channel hopes the program will resonate with viewers as a memorable story that integrates the three interviewers' authentic storytelling with the Discovery Channel's Hollywood-style journalism. Reaching overseas audiences through television Aired in 18 Asian countries, TV-U Fukushima broadcast a special documentary on the current state of Fukushima as part of a regular program introducing the Japanese economy, business, culture and trends. Through the documentary, TV-U Fukushima hopes to present Fukushima in a manner true to life. Evaluate, know, learn and communicate Three high school students from Fukushima spoke at the University of California, Berkeley, in October 2017 to share lessons from the disaster and Fukushima's message for the future. A total of 122 people including Berkeley students and university staff participated in the event, which was covered by many international media. The three students commented, "It's important to have a general understanding not only about the existence of radiation but also its quantity. I hope people will keep offering their attention to Fukushima, but with the right knowledge," "People will be left with a positive impression of Fukushima if we talk about its charms and positive attributes, so I will continue to tell people in Japan and around the world about Utsukushima Fukushima (Beautiful Place, Fukushima)," and "Even people coming from the same Fukushima prefecture will naturally have different experiences in the disaster and see their futures differently. I would ask that you learn about Fukushima with a flexible mind."

Image by Camera guy.. Japan's Ministry of the Environment has been testing a new "nudge" policy approach strategy based on behavioral science. This program started in FY2017 with the purpose of reducing CO2 emissions from the household, business and transportation sectors. The "nudge" idea is all about gently pushing people to act. This approach includes, for example, including neighborhood electricity consumption data in electricity bills so that consumers can compare their own electricity consumption with that of others and be motivated to reduce their own consumption. The ministry took the lead in setting up what it calls a "nudge unit" dubbed the Behavioral Sciences Team (BEST) in April 2017, involving collaboration from industry, academia and the public sector, aiming to quickly mainstream this approach. The team includes companies selected from among applicants for the nudge program as well as related ministries, local governments, and experts. A consortium of four companies was selected for the FY2017 program. As one example of their work, Oracle Japan and Jukankyo Research Institute Inc. are jointly developing a Japanese-style nudge model that benefits individuals, businesses and local communities. In FY2017, the first year of the project, the consortium sent out customized home energy reports four times to about 300,000 households, in cooperation with five energy companies such as Hokkaido Gas Co. and Kansai Electric Power Co, and has been measuring the impacts on awareness, motivation, and actual reductions in CO2 emissions. The consortium will continue the project until FY2021 and establish nudge-based models reflecting actual Japanese lifestyles. The use of behavioral science is attracting attention for its high cost-effectiveness and freedom of response by targeted audiences. The Ministry of the Environment will continue to look at its applicability for ongoing medium- and long-term efforts to move Japan towards being a low carbon society.

Image by Syed Wali Peeran Some Rights Reserved. An International Study Group consisting of Kyoto University, Japan and Mutah University, Jordan have started operation of a reservoir using an optimal strategy based on a strict mathematical proof, announced Kyoto University in March 2018. The group proposed an irrigation scheme for harvesting water from floods in a desert and storing the water in the reservoir to use for irrigation. The group actually built a prototype in an arid region of Jordan, and results of the study appeared online in "Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment," an International Academic Journal, on March 5, 2018. There have been efforts in the past to establish agricultural water management facilities in harsh environments outside of Japan for academic purposes. However, this study is the first example which examined an operation strategy based on a strict mathematical proof. The success of this prototype as an interdisciplinary effort between water resources engineering and analysis identifies the scheme as a feasible option for water resource development in harsh environments. In particular, using the concept of a "viscosity solution" to a certain partial differential equation makes it possible to use an optimal operation strategy which does not involve smooth on/off control of the pumps. Arid regions distributed widely throughout the world, including the Middle East and North Africa, are facing problems such as salt accumulation in and excessive dependence on exotic rivers and fossil groundwater. Establishing irrigation agriculture that effectively uses the limited water resources in such harsh environments has grown more urgent. At the same time, damage caused by unexpected floods is said to have increased, resulting in an even greater need for an irrigation system that addresses these problems.

"Update Fukushima" website The Executive Committee of "Update Fukushima" on February 10, 2018, cohosted a panel discussion with the Ministry of the Environment and United Nations University (UNU), titled, "Support Fukushima by Learning and Sharing with Others." The event, held at UNU, consisted of three parts: theories, case studies, and a summary. This article will cover part one, "Thoughts on Fukushima Today - Theories," to explain the current situation in Fukushima. Recognizing that accurate information on the current state of Fukushima is not reaching people in Japan and abroad, "Update Fukushima" was held to clarify and share facts, viewpoints, and methods to correct misinformation and misunderstandings. In part one, "Thoughts on Fukushima Today --Theories," four members of the Update Fukushima Executive Committee--Ryugo Hayano, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo; Sae Ochi, Lecturer, Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Tokyo Jikei University School of Medicine; William McMichael, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Fukushima University; and Hiroshi Kainuma, Associate Professor, Kinugasa Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University--appeared on stage for a panel discussion on the current state of Fukushima and what can be done to accurately communicate information on Fukushima's agricultural produce, foods, environment, health, and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. For agricultural produce and foods, case studies on rice and other topics were presented. All rice produced in Fukushima has been thoroughly tested for radiation levels since the Great East Japan Earthquake and has never exceeded the regulatory limit since 2014. Nevertheless, there is a considerable number of people who refuse to eat it, or do eat it but hesitate to recommend it to others. The challenge is how to approach a situation where data alone is not enough to convince people. Information on the natural environment, on outdoor radiation levels, for example, can be found by looking at publicly available data. Yet, despite actual radiation levels being within the acceptable range, impacts on health effects are beginning to emerge. For instance, children, fearing radiation, have stopped playing outside, which can lead to higher rates of obesity. The recovery process at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has shifted from capping contaminated water and covering high-radiation areas of the reactor, to removing fuel that has fallen in the spent fuel pools. The panel pointed out, however, that the general public tend simply to perceive the situation as dangerous, rather than to gain specific knowledge of the situation. The first chapter of the event closed with three brief suggestions from the panel on how to fix misinformation and misunderstandings about Fukushima. Communicate to the broader public as well as individualsUntil now, the Japanese government has taken specific measures to provide information to individuals seeking it, including introducing a consultation system. On the other hand, given that many people do not know the current situation, a shift needs to be made to also communicating to the broader public. Enjoy the unknownsThe panel observed that clearly identifying what we do not know opens us to the opportunities presented by Fukushima. These unknowns should be broadly communicated, and in a way that encourages people to find joy in the mystery. Relevance and accuracyIt is important to communicate information on the most relevant issues--on health damage and discharge of contaminated water from the nuclear power plant, for example--and to communicate it with accuracy.

JFS Newsletter No.190 (June 2018) Image by Asturio Cantabrio Some Rights Reserved. Junko Edahiro, chief executive of Japan for Sustainability, delivered a presentation at a parallel session on June 14, 2018, at the 16th Annual Meeting of International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, held in Hong Kong. This month's JFS newsletter will introduce her presentation, titled "'Nai-Mono-Wa-Nai': Ama Town's Concept of Sufficiency and Message to the World." What is This Concept of Nai-Mono-Wa-Nai? Human activities are far exceeding the capacity of the Earth to support us, and this excess is leading to climate change and other environmental problems. Despite this, most people still tend to believe in the growth-based economy. I believe that developed countries in particular seriously need a perspective on happiness supported by a new sense of values. From that perspective, a town on a small, remote Japanese island offers us an important concept that could make a big difference in the world. Ama Town on the island of Nakanoshima in Shimane Prefecture has a population just under 2,300 people, and in 2011 the town adopted the slogan of "Nai-Mono-Wa-Nai." "Nai" means "nothing" or "not" and "mono" is "thing." Directly quoted, this paradoxical phrase in Japanese is something like saying, "A thing that is not here is not here." But actually it has two meanings. The first meaning is a simple statement: "What is not here ... is not here" and, the underlying message is, "We don't have it here, so just accept the situation." A second meaning is that,"There is nothing that is not here." Did you get that? In other words,"Everything ... is ... here." You may think that all of this sounds very contradictory. But let me show you how this concept works in practice in Ama Town. Nai-Mono-Wa-Nai and Ama Town Ama town is on the small island with 33.5 square kilometers with beautiful rice paddies and sea. The town is almost self-efficient in staple food, fish and to some extent vegetables. But Ama has no department store, no convenience store, and no movie theater. There are no fancy bars and clubs for the young people to enjoy in Ama. Thirty years ago, youth group activities became very active because of it. Rather than lamenting about not having something, they said "If there is nothing fun to do here, let's create it." And so they started a series of their own initiatives, like creating their own beer garden and organizing a tug-of-war competition for the whole island and much more! whatever they are lacking. Copyright Hiroshi Abe All Rights Reserved. This means sharing a lot of time together and sharing both the joys and pains. So when they achieve something they have a big sense of achievement, and this fosters solid relationships of mutual trust. This really means good "connections" between people, and those connections are like a platform that leads to tackling the next challenge. It is out of nai-mono-wa-nai that creativity, innovation, and strong connections are born, and these human interactions create a dynamic community without depending on money or external input. Next example, vending machines: At a typical ferry terminal in Japan, like many train stations, you will see a long line of automatic vending machines selling beverages and other products. But when you arrive in Ama Town by ferry, not a single vending machine is there to greet you. A new ferry terminal was built in 2002. At the time a decision was made not to install any vending machines. They do offer convenience and efficiency, but Ama was determined to encourage face-to-face sales, which require more effort and interaction. For the town, it is not "efficiency" that is important, but rather, "interactions" and "encounters" with fellow islanders and island visitors. And that is why there is no vending machine at the ferry terminal. However, it is exactly because of it, there is a lot of talking, smiling, and energy. The High School Miryokuka Project Another episode that symbolizes nai-mono-wa-nai is the High School Miryokuka Project, which could be translated as "project to improve the appeal, attraction or charm of the high school." Ama town is home to the Dozen High School. This is the only high school in the Dozen region which has three island towns. The number of its students was dropping as the islands' population declined, and there were concerns that the school would have to close if the trend continued. If that happened population would further drop with many implications for the local economy and future. At the time, there was a strong assumption that a small island school had only disadvantages compared to schools on the mainland. But to escape from the threat of a school closure, the Dozen High School Miryokuka Project launched in 2008, decided to turn their disadvantages into advantages. They don't have many things, that big cities have, then why not to make full use of this situation and what they have. They have nature, traditional culture, local industries that big cities don't have as well as local challenges unique to local towns. The Dozen High School is now trying to make a greater use of the local challenges facing the island, such as population decline, a dramatically declining birth rate and aging population, and financial pressures. Since these issues are Japan's nationwide challenges, the Dozen High School is in a position that help to develop the human resources for pioneering a new future for Japan. It is exactly because they had the spirit of nai-mono-wa-nai that this counterintuitive thinking was possible. Dozen High School and its unique education have attracted much attention from around the country. By creating a program to actively accept students from elsewhere to study here on the island, they found that students would come from all over Japan as well as abroad. Today the program is so popular that it is quite competitive to get in. The number of students registered here literally took the form of a V-shaped recovery. It was an epic turnaround from the threat of a school closure. Nai-Mono-Wa-Nai in Day-to-Day Life There are also many examples of nai-mono-wa-nai in day-to-day life. There are no babysitting services, but neighbors will take care of local kids any time. There are no "disco" clubs, but all of the townspeople can dance the traditional dance along with the "Kinyamonya" local folk songs. There are no security companies, but people do look after each other, so no one worries about that. There are no flower shops, but lovely flowers are growing outside many homes. There are no movie theaters, but there are many local video nights. Copyright Ama Town All rights reserved. As you know, Japan is facing a sharp population decline and the population of AMA Town dropped from nearly 7,000 in 1950 to below 2,300 today. But today with these initiatives and development, Ama has become a popular town for young people who want to migrate to this island. The total population is still declining due to natural attrition, but the number of people moving here to live is on the rise . The secret attraction for these people is the spirit of nai-mono-wa-nai. Three Messages or Benefits of Nai-Mono-Wa-Nai From the experiences of Ama Town, I think we can find three messages or benefits of nai-mono-wa-nai. (1) Positive acceptanceMove from the defeatist thought of "We don't have it here, but we just have to live with the situation." to "We don't have it, and that's OK." Not forced acceptance but this positive acceptance is the starting point and the basis of nai-mono-wa-nai. (2) We have everything that is importantSecond point is a sense of sufficiency. "We already have everything that is important." There are no babysitters on the island. But you can always ask others in your neighborhood to help watch the kids. There are no big stores to sell everything imaginable. But if you ask your neighbors for a particular tool, it will always turn up. This is all possible because of the capacity to be self-reliant, willingness to share and to make or create whatever you need. Ama Town has an enormous amount of social capital, because many townspeople know each other and have shared many experiences. (3) Enjoy the "process" of creating things together.The third factor here is the attitude of "together, let's create whatever we are lacking and enjoy the process!" A society of mass consumption offers a convenient lifestyle but it is a society that has forgotten the joy of creating something together, instead of just buying it. When I look at what is happening in Ama Town, I realize that in a mass-consumption society it is hard to get a sustained sense of happiness and that feeling of abundance that comes from realizing that what you have really is enough. 2017 Wagatoko, Wagakoto Survey So, how is the concept of nai-mono-wa-nai taking root in Ama? In 2017 we conducted an independent citizens' survey called the Wagatoko, Wagakoto Survey (about personal perceptions and world views). This survey was an attempt to consider what happiness means in Ama Town, and to measure it. Using concepts such as the framework of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness index, the survey looked at things like the rate of household food self-sufficiency and the frequency of sharing in the community. I also did a similar study at the national level so we could compare findings. Regarding nai-mono-wa-nai about 60% of all the respondents had a positive impression of the concept. The survey asked how satisfied they are with their lives today, and about 75% of the respondents from Ama Town answered that they were "satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied," 20 percentage points higher than the results of national survey (at 55%). In response to a question for working people, about 70% from Ama Town replied that they were "very motivated" or "motivated" at work, much higher than the national results (about 47%). When asked, "During the past year, did you share something with others in your community," 70% from Ama Town replied that they "shared often" or "shared occasionally," much higher than the national results (about 38%). When asked, "During the past year did you speak to someone about your community," 57% from Ama Town responded that they spoke "many times" or "sometimes," much higher than the national results (about 21%). When asked, "During the past year did you support the activities of someone else in your community," 43.5% from Ama Town replied "Yes," much higher than the national results (about 19%). These results are a good indication of how nai-mono-wa-nai works in practice in Ama Town. Happiness and Nai-Mono-Wa-Nai in Developed Countries The ecological footprint of humanity today is the equivalent of 1.7 planet Earths. In particular, the footprints of developed countries are enormous, and if people around the world had the same lifestyles as people in Japan [and other developed countries], we would need almost 3 Earths. However, if the scale of economic activity gets above a certain threshold, the level of happiness will not necessarily increase, even with further economic growth. The "Easterlin Paradox" looks at this phenomenon. Despite this, studies by my Institute for Studies in Happiness, Economy and Society (ISHES) found that many people in Japan still believe economic growth is absolutely necessary. For our planet Earth and for people's happiness, developed countries need to free themselves from the models of mass production, mass consumption, and forever chasing after economic growth. I think the nai-mono-wa-nai concept of Ama Town is a new model that can help us accomplish that. Thank you very much for your attention. Written by Junko Edahiro

Copyright Orihime-no-Kai All Rights Reserved. Tohoku Fukko Nikki (Tohoku Reconstruction Diary), a weekly feature in the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, delivers news stories on reconstruction efforts in communities devastated by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011. The articles are written by the JKSK Yui-Yui Project, an initiative to support survivors of the 2011 disaster. This time, we present the effort to utilize abandoned farmlands. I am a leader of "Orihime-no-Kai" set up in January 2017, in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. We have 10 members and have been performing a variety of activities. Iwaki City suffered substantial damage in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which led to radiation contamination after the nuclear accident, and harmful rumors that forced the city's agriculture sector into hardship. Along with a shortage of successors, more and more affected farmland became abandoned. Under such circumstances, the Fukushima Organic Cotton Project was launched in 2012, and started cultivating native brown cotton using organic farming methods, without using agricultural chemicals or fertilizers. After nearly 40 years of working as an elementary school teacher, wishing to work on farmland after retirement, I started to help my daughter's acquaintance, a farmer cultivating brown cottons and organic vegetables. We planted seeds of daikon (Japanese radish), took care of them and harvested them. We then dried and pickled the daikon with my acquaintances. The pickled daikon were the sweetest and most tender that I have ever eaten, and we thoroughly enjoyed eating them. I drove a tractor and operated a cultivator, which I had never done before. In July, I enjoyed harvesting potatoes together with the members of Orihime-no-Kai, their families, and volunteers from various industries. I considered making yarn from the raw cotton that we grew, and making something to from it using the weaving skills I had learned. That idea was realized this year. At first we were doing poorly, and I discussed the issue at gatherings, trying again and again to produce yarn. Little by little, we were able to produce yarn from our cotton. How impressive it is when raw cotton becomes thread! Every day we spin cotton into thread to make light shades for votive lights. We are going to hold a memorial event to use these lights in March 2018, seven years have passed since the disaster struck Japan. I would like to continue to grow cotton, spin it into thread and make a variety of things. Kumiko TomitaPresident of Orihime-no-Kai