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"Finding Hope in Fukushima" is an article I wrote on MEDIUM - 2023 is the 12th anniversary of the 3.11.2011 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear power meltdown Tohoku disaster and the first time I had ever visited Fukushima. This podcast is an overview of the big takeaways of my 3-day consulting trip along the HAMADORI coastline that was most effected by the radiation disaster after the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Key points of future tourism appeal: 1) great guides. On this monitor (trial) tour, we had Azby Brown- an expert from the SAFECAST org who has visited the area more than 40 times since 2011. Good guides are key to the success of this area as a destination as only knowledgeable and honest guides will be able to clearly communicate the complex issues and the past, present and future realities for the Fukushima area. 2) preservation of ruins and key sites as memorials 3) engagement with interesting locals who are actively developing new businesses, engaged in activism and who can give a clear and honest perspective of what it's like to stay in Fukushima 4) testing for knowledge, but also for safety and peace of mind of the visitors

Azby Brown is the main guide for a media tour of the Fukushima area called the "Hope Hamadori" Fukushima tour. This is connected to the area's HOPE TOURISM projects and new developments to guide international visitors through the area to talk honestly about the past, present and future. The aim of the project is to find ways to appeal to tourists who want to learn about Fukushima's past, present and future. #fukushima #travel #japan #sustainabletravel Azby Brown is an author, educator, expert on Japanese design, craftsmanship & environmental sensibility and lead Researcher for SAFECAST org. Azby Brown Links: https://azbybrown.com/about/ https://safecast.org/ Azby Brown playlist of talks on the Seek Sustainable Japan talkshow-podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcyYXjRuE20FkJOvlC8FHOX0F8Ox5j-PT

Social Entrepreneur Kina Jackson is based in Osaka where she works as a consultant, educator, translator and interpreter. In this talk, Kina Jackson talks social-good app, Black Women in Japan group, plantbased VEGAN OSAKA promotion for delicious meat-alternatives, finding ways to handle work stress, and collaborations among the Osaka-Kansai community. 00:00 Welcome 01:15 Entrepreneurship award 03:30 Workplace balance at home 04:48 Philadelphia vs Kansai 05:22 Osaka Entrepreneurs shout-out 06:50 Vegan Osaka 09:14 Omnivore driven plantbased startup 10:30 Plantbased Menu at Vegan Osaka 12:00 Sustainable protein wins 13:40 Mixed group customers 15:00 Meat eateries need vegan options 20:00 Made-in-Osaka plantbased products 21:07 Black Women in Japan community 23:40 Karen Hill Anton 25:00 Diversity & Inclusion Workshops (DEI) 25:40 Women Empowerment "Migaku Me" 26:50 SDG's USA-Liberia-Japan project 33:20 Cross-Cultural Business Workshops 36:00 Social Good App GOCHISO 41:00 Passion for volunteering & social good in biz 48:00 Workplace health and wellness seminar BCCJ 50:00 Enjoy the spring blossoms! Thanks for joining! Kina Jackson is a sustainability focused entrepreneur who has been based in Osaka, Japan since 2002 when she came to try out living in Japan as an English teacher. Kina Jackson founded a consulting and translation business called KJ consulting where she...

Castles, Kimono, Sumo, Minka traditional houses, food, history, puppets, kites, heritage, events, craftsmanship, nature, parks, gardens, family-friendly, Toyota, LEGOland and Ghibli too make Nagoya a fantastic destination in Japan travelers will want to spend time. #nagoya #japan #travel == What was your favorite insight from the talk? I can't wait to go and stay for a few days to see the castle town, kites and wagashi sweets! I also want to go to LEGOland and Ghibli.... aaaa-- so much to do and see!! Lena and Elly are the mulitlingual entrepreneur co-founders of Nagoya is Not Boring website, experience and walking tours, and now co-founders of an inbound-consulting co too - Lena and Elly share insights on the many great travel opportunities that support local culture and community in Nagoya and the surrounding area. The #NagoyaIsNotBoring business launched in April 2020 as a positive response to negative press calling Nagoya a "skip over" city by countering to offer and promote great travel opportunities for visitors and residents to enjoy the area in and around Nagoya. LINKS https://www.nagoyaisnotboring.com/ Elly's YouTube: @beingelly Lena's YouTube: @JapanHautnah

Remi Lopez is a French entrepreneur who founded Japan Tour Adventures.which offers guided tours and experiences by locals in Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto areas of Japan. Cycle tours and walking tours. #travel #japan #guidedtour #osaka #nara Entrepreneur and travel guide Remi Lopez who is the manager of the Japan Tour Adventure business. Japan Tour adventure offers cycle and walking tours and unique experiences in the Nara, Osaka-Sakai, and Kyoto areas. Knife-making, cycling up to great views, beautiful shrines and temples, foodie tours and Eigo-Tours for Japanese students. https://www.japantouradventure.com/

Tove & Joy are sustainability-focused consultants and advisors in Japan who talk once a month about sustainable topics on our radar. #sustainable #japan #trends #sustainability Today's topics: sustainable hospitality, fair-trade (yummy) chocolate for valentines and white day, online shop for organic groceries, strategies to cope with stress at work, and the Japan travel awards among other topics and book recommendations - jump to the topics you want below & follow the links to the companies and events we introduce. #entrepreneur #business #innovation #strategy #products #services #mentalhealth #diversityinclusion #consulting 00:00 Welcome to Sustainable Short-Takes 00:38 Amazing result of this show! 00:51 Kitafuku Paper from Craft Beer Waste 02:40 Cost of beer waste to craft breweries 03:30 SAF - cooking oil waste to sustainable fuel 05:45 Mottai-nai and Edo-era #reuse relevance now 06:18 EKOLOKAL group online shop launch 2/28 07:00 Refugee Empowerment International GALA event 08:25 Travel with Purpose - ESGs at the Hilton 10:40 Valentine's Day sustainable chocolate recommendations 15:43 BCCJ "Healing Work Hurt" #mentalhealth 20:22 Japan Travel Awards 2023 23:00 Creating Sustainable Hospitality Demand in Inbound Travel 25:00 What's Sustainable & What Could Be Better at a Japanese Inn 26:00 Not Invented Here BOOK - Cross Industry Innovation 27:30 Women Inspire Sustainable Japan cross-industry learning 28:30 Gaz Oakley's Vegan Comfort Food Recipe Book 29:30 International Women's Day in March LINKS * Kitafuku - paper from craft beer waste: https://kitafuku-project.com/ * SAF sustainable aviation fuel talk with Terazaki-san who was an advisor for REVO Japan: https://www.youtube.com/live/7DVKwPox9AE?feature=share * NHK focus on SAF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdZYUE2gZTE * SAF targets and innovation in the US: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/sustainable-aviation-fuels * Azby Brown - EDO era reuse of everything in his book "Just Enough" talk with Azby on Seek Sustainable Japan #interview https://www.youtube.com/live/f-hk1NOeopU?feature=share * EKOLOKAL online shop launch 2/27 sign-up by email for updates: https://mailchi.mp/0e26e510d90b/the-epicerie-pre-launch * REI Refugees Empowerment International GALA event: https://rei-npo.org/en/2023/02/book-your-seat-for-the-rei-gala/ * Travel with purpose - initiatives and training at the Hilton hotel ESGs https://esg.hilton.com/ * Chocolates: Tony's Chocolonely: https://tonyschocolonely.com/jp/en (find it at AEON mall and sometimes 7-11 and other import shops - fair trade, ethical and targets to end slavery YES * Chocolates: People Tree - Japan and England based company focused on fair-trade and ethical business practices for chocolates and clothing:

YouTube is going all-in this year with #shorts to take on the royalty of short video content TikTok - but as a small channel, is it worth jumping in and creating shorts for your channel as well as your regular content? I have a small, sustainability in Japan focused YouTube channel of 3.2K subscribers which has grown from 20 subs in 2020. Here I talk through my growth strategy to stay on brand and some of the encouraging positive changes I have seen in views and subscribers since I started the daily video challenge of 2023. I talk through my 3 strategies and how it has been going as I look at the data from YouTube. This is a discussion that started in my head when I wrote this MEDIUM article: Can a Sustainable Brand Grow with SHORTS on YouTube? I hope it is interesting and helpful to anyone considering diving into content creation, especially to follow the trend of short video content creation of 1 minute or less. Let me know what you think in my DMs or at me on social media - jjwalsh on Twitter and YouTube / inboundambassador on Facebook and Instagram - I'd love to hear your thoughts and support the content you are creating as well - especially if it has a sustainable focus :) Music thanks to the genius of Casey Bean- support his journey as an original songwriter on Bandcamp - you name your price: https://caseybean.bandcamp.com/album/before-dark

Naomichi Hiro Terazaki has worked in the hospitality and tourism industry for many years and has great insights from his role as an advisor for SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) businesses REVO international and Euglena co. SAF could be a huge step forward to reducing the biggest environmental cost of the tourism industry created by aircraft. I'd like to learn more about this industry- what's your take? His career started with studying international ocean law in London, and he told me after the podcast that he is also working with the government to interview applicants who are seeking asylum and coming as refugees. So many varied fields, but all connected to finding a better balance for people-planet-profits to ensure a brighter common future - that's so important for sustainability. As you hear in the beginning of the talk, Terazaki-san is also a campaigner for the SAVE JINGU GAIEN campaign asking the Tokyo government to pause the redevelopment project which will destroy old buildings and nearly 1000 beautiful trees - please sign the campaign page below. LINKS REVO international - https://www.e-revo.jp/english/ EUGLENA co. https://www.euglena.jp/en/ Save Jingu Gaien campaign: https://www.change.org/p/protect-jingu-gaien-s-trees-rethink-the-development-plan Naomichi Hiro Terazaki on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomichi-hiro-terasaki-terazaki-822b5558/ MUSIC Casey Bean is our featured artist of 2023 - show your support for his music by downloading his album on bandcamp where you can name your price. Casey is a teacher, forest gardener and podcaster of The Beanpod show.

Joy and Tove - 2 sustainability focused consultants, advisors, educators, and entrepreneurs talk monthly about some of the sustainable businesses and projects on their radar effecting sustainability issues in Japan: finding a better balance for people-planet-profits in life, work and travel. 00:52 The Global Circularity Gap 02:12 What is Circularity? 03:22 Design to be reused 05:15 Creating open communication 06:28 Yoshihiro Takishita keynote speaker MINKA summit 09:13 Japan ranks 50th on the Climate Change Performance Index 10:40 Leadership & Paul Polman 13:22 Save Jingu Gaien - Rethink the redevelopment 16:40 Tokyo needs more green not less 17:40 Hiroshima park projects need to be paused 19:00 EV's in Japan subsidies and cost savings 21:00 Positive feedback loop for electric cars 22:50 Amnesty International Japan 24:18 REI Refugee Empowerment Intl Gala Event March 10 2023 28:00 Kinota Braithwait book MIO - support diversity 30:30 Thanks for joining everyone! #seeksustainablejapan #sustainable #japan #shorttakes #podcast #talkshow #sustainablebusiness #sustainablejapan #sustainablebrands #sustainabletrends #sustainability #sdgs #esgs = LINKS = * Circularity Gap report 2023: https://circularity-gap.world/2023 * CCPI Japan's Climate Performance Rank 2023 50th (45th in 2022) https://ccpi.org/ https://ccpi.org/country/jpn/#:~:text=Japan%20falls%20five%20places%20to,very%20low%20in%20Climate%20Policy * Save Jingu Stadium: https://www.change.org/p/save-jingu-stadium-protect-this-historical-cultural-asset-and-sacred-baseball-site-surrounded-by-greenery * Save Jingu Gaien: https://www.change.org/p/protect-jingu-gaien-s-trees-rethink-the-development-plan * BOOK: Minka: My Farmhouse in Japan by John Roderick * BOOK: MIO by Kinota Braithwait https://www.learnwithkinota.com/ * FILM: MINKA by Davina Pardo https://www.birdlings.com/#/minkafilm/ *  @nytimes  New York Times article and video about Yoshihiro Takishita on  @YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uG-LuykjMo * Takishita & Roderick MINKA article on Gwarlingo https://gwarlingo.com/2013/minka-japan-farmhouse-roderick-takishita/ * Yoshihiro Takishita article by Hawaii's newspaper Star Bulletin

Here are 5 of the best ways to make sure that your trip to Japan is the most meaningful, fun and enjoyable for you while also reducing your impact on the environment and social impact issues for local people living and working in Japan. What do you think? Anything surprise you in this list? Anything else you would add? I would love to hear your comments, questions and suggestions too! Music shoutout to the amazing singer-songwriter-forest gardener Casey Bean - please name your price and support his music on Bandcamp: https://caseybean.bandcamp.com/album/before-dark

Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment project needs to be paused to do environmental, social and local community and business assessments, that is what the campaigners like Marian Hara are asking of the Tokyo government. The redevelopment project will destroy the natural, open beauty of the Jingu Gaien area and Marian talks of the surveys they did with over 100 visitors who valued the area and wrote messages of support for the development to stop. Marian Hara is an environmental activist campaigner against the project who will outline some of the issues and how you can support their campaign to save the trees and community spaces. Marian also talks of her 10+ years working with the Tokyo branch of Amnesty international Japan writing letters and campaigning for Japan to accept more refugees and people seeking asylum as well as raising awareness and campaigning against the death penalty which is often done without transparency and is problematic when there is a history of forced confessions and fake evidence to secure convictions in some death penalty cases. https://www.amnesty.or.jp/ Jingu Gaien Campaign LINKS - sign the petitions on Change.org =Save Jingu Gaien = https://www.change.org/p/protect-jing... = Save Jingu Stadium = https://www.change.org/p/save-jingu-stadium-protect-this-historical-cultural-asset-and-sacred-baseball-site-surrounded-by-greenery Music by original singer-songwriter based in Ishikawa, Japan: Casey Bean of The Beanpod podcast, "Don't Ever Change" original track from his 2022 released album BEFORE DARK - please support Casey on Bandcamp by naming your price for his music https://caseybean.bandcamp.com/album/before-dark Watch my latest talk with Casey Bean on Seek Sustainable Japan to hear him play live and learn about his chickens and forest garden design: https://youtu.be/dZLKjxhMD1g

Hiroshima is a great place to visit if you are an animal lover- we have deer on Miyajima island, we have rabbits on Okunoshima island, cats in Takehara and Onomichi towns and now the sweetest family of Donkeys at Donkey Paradise. Donkey Paradise is about 90-minutes drive from Hiroshima city and only 20-minutes from Fukuyama, Onomichi and Tomonoura. The couple who started the petting-zoo were educators for many years as they ran a cram school (juku) in the town. Once they got a donkey of their own and moved to a house on the hill overlooking the sea they thought others might love it too. Big thanks to Francois who has joined the Donkey Paradise team and took me on a tour around the farm and to meet the super sweet Donkeys and goats. Francois helps run English tours as well as runs the social media for the business. I was so happy to see how well all of the animals are being treated and cared for and I think this is a great sustainably focused example of how to revive rural communities - follow your passion, focus on education, run operations with low impact, and find a way to integrate learning with nature as well as support local businesses, artists and craftspeople. See the video I took for this podcast here: https://youtu.be/XkzBBky-5PE See more about Donkey Paradise on their social media channels or website: https://donkeyparadise.jp/

Tokyoesque is a UK based consultancy that helps businesses around the world set up in Japan - offering Japan market research and market expansion strategy. Watch the video Alex Brown is the Marketing Assistant at Tokyoesque who writes a lot of their online content and will share insights into the company's research, work and upcoming projects and trends. || LINKS for Tokyoesque talk - sign up for their monthly insights newsletter on the website as well. https://tokyoesque.com/ NEW MUSIC for 2023 thanks to the talents of original songwriter and podcaster Casey Bean of The Beanpod - his track "Don't ever change" is a great summary of the positive community we have online as we enter 2023. Please buy your copy of Casey's new album (name your price) via Bandcamp

The worldwide market is going crazy for electric cars, but Japan seems to still be in a holding pattern despite having one of the best EV charging network infrastructure in the world (more chargers than gas stations). So what cars are actually available to Japanese consumers this year? Listen in to find out and hear some insights as I look back at my savings and driving habits as a Model3 driver in 2022. Medium article this talk was based on here Background tunes thanks to @Hikosaemon via soundcloud for royalty free tunes - thanks Hiko!

It's the last day of 2022 and I'm almost recovered from my 4th booster (apologies for the scratchy voice) as I look back on the year of the tiger at 5 interesting stories of sustainable success, innovation and resilience which give us hope and food for thought as we head into 2023 the year of the rabbit. This is a spoken version (with added extras) of my article on MEDIUM Read the article on MEDIUM here. LINKS I refer to in this podcast: Reuters report on the Andrew Tate arrest https://www.reuters.com/world/romania-detains-ex-kickboxer-andrew-tate-human-trafficking-case-2022-12-30/ US State Department report on Trafficking: https://www.state.gov/humantrafficking-about-human-trafficking Link to Greta Thunberg viral tweet: https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1608735970131849217?s=20&t=fU2rnTM9SAuoQs_H---uSg Greta Thunberg's Glastonbury Speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yK_N11pGEs&feature=youtu.be UK's Channel 4 News Interview with Greta Thunberg about her upcoming The Climate Book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXezjC_s2Vw&feature=youtu.be Support the Greta Thunberg foundation: https://thegretathunbergfoundation.org/#where-the-money-goes Support the Reaching Out Romania foundation https://www.reachingout.ro/about-reaching-out-romania/ Booking.com 2021 survey reveals travelers frustrated when stopped from sustainable actions https://www.sustainability.booking.com/post/booking-com-s-2021-sustainable-travel-report-affirms-potential-watershed-moment Footprintus.com 2022 consumer survey shows how annoyed customers are about lack of sustainability at businesses (too much plastic) https://news.footprintus.com/en/consumer-study Support Glass Half Full NOLA https://glasshalffullnola.org/ Glass Half Full NOLA CEO and Co-founder Franziska Trautmann Twitter: @ecofran PBS feature: https://youtu.be/L3TU_hoaa_Y Reuters (2021) Climate Impacts of Sand Mining https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-ENVIRONMENT/SAND/ygdpzekyavw/ MyMizu organization https://www.mymizu.co/en/business Support MyMizu

Robert Yellin is the founder of the Yakimono Art gallery in Kyoto which features contemporary and classic artists from across Japan including many living treasures. Watch the video of our talk here on YouTube. It is always an edcuation to drop in and see the museum of great work at the Yakimono gallery in Kyoto and in this 20-minute chat, Robert introduces so many artists that he knows deeply such as Mori Togaku, Maruta Munehiko, even drops in the musical artist Monday Michiru, porcelain master Izumi Imaimon, modern potty with brush strokes of Setsu Junji, Suzuki Goro tea bowl, Kaneshige Toyo, Kaneta Masanao, the book Listening to Clay, gallery Muse Tomo and Saito-An in Hagi, Atsuko Koyonagi and Joan Mirviss in NYC. ** LINKS for Robert Yellin & the Yakimono Gallery Kyoto ** https://japanesepottery.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ry_yakimono_gallery_kyoto/ https://www.facebook.com/japanesepotterykyoto

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! This is the last podcast of 2022 - wishing you all the best over the winter holidays and big thank you to all of you for tuning in and supporting my talkshow and podcast projects this year! I really appreciate & love you guys! Please support Seek Sustainable Japan projects in 2023 as a YouTube or Patreon member for just a few hundred yen (a few dollars) a month - I really appreciate my super loyal members and pass on extra insights and bonus material as well as AMA's and previews of upcoming episodes. Wow Episode 420! thanks everyone! This final talk is with Miyuki Seguchi in a LIVE talkshow interview on Seek Sustainable Japan on December 14th. Watch the video of the interview here on YouTube About Miyuki Seguchi: she is the Tokyo-based founder of a travel planning, guiding and training business called JAPAN EXPERTS. Miyuki explains how she started the company after a career in finance in London and becoming a certified Japan travel translator and guide. Japan Guides who are experienced travelers: Miyuki says that especially after traveling to many countries herself, she wanted to help visitors to Japan have more meaningful and sustainable travel experiences. She offers free travel advice on her website and social media and does a podcast with her advice and featuring the insights of passionate international residents in Japan who act as a bridge between DEEP JAPAN CULTURE and the international audience. Travel for Introverts: Miyuki's courses and podcast focuses a lot on the introverted travelers, solo travels and small groups who are seeking more meaningful types of travel experiences away from the crowds. Website: https://www.miyukiseguchi.com/ https://twitter.com/japan_experts https://www.instagram.com/japan.experts/#japan #travel #japanexperts

Casey Bean (TheBeanpod) just released his first album of original songs that he plays here live - my favorite five tracks. It was great to hear some of the backstory and insights on the lyrics. Casey has promised to have all new original songs for us at the end of May 2023 for our next talk in 6-months, you heard it here folks! Watch the talk video on YouTube So good to catch up since our first talk last year about life in Ishikawa, update on the forest garden, life with chickens and more fun topics. My first talk with Casey was so fun in the summer of 2021 learning about how he planned his forest garden and the ups and downs of having chickens. First talk here: https://youtu.be/CBFuZzrP0mQ Casey's newly released album called "Before Dark" is available here to listen and buy on Bandcamp: https://caseybean.bandcamp.com/album/before-dark

Originally from Hanover, Germany Barbara Kuhn is a trained architect who has worked as an educator, in international hotels, as an architect and has now founded a business called Tokyo.Threads where she sells bags, artwork and table decorations creatively recreated from vintage Japanese kimono and obi material. Here Barbara talks of how her business idea grew out of her love of cycling and travel in Japan which also led her to the 100-year old Machiya where we are talking. She gave some advice to the owner, Yuka-san, about how to reuse some of the antiques in the house as well as how to redesign the old sweets shop into a comfortable and appealing guest house and pop-up event venue. Watch the video of Barbara Kuhn here on YouTube | Shop at Barbara's Tokyo.Threads shop on Etsy

Jonathan Perugia is a photographer with over 30 years of experience working with both commercial and non-profits and individuals to improve the effectiveness of their photographs to tell a powerful story. I haven't met anyone who has this focus for photography in Japan, so although he is based in the UK, I think there are a lot of interesting parallels we can make between his work around the world and the needs we have here in Japan as well. I love the story of his love of photography starting with travel in India and a yoga course and I appreciate the led meditation in the middle of this talk, it is great to be reminded how to see things clearly in our day to day lives. Jonathan Perugia's co. GAIA Visual (UK) https://www.gaiavisual.com/