Green Living¶
It’s not so hard being green, but it can be challenging in Japan.
There are only so many times you can tear through three layers of packaging to get at individually wrapped crackers that leave you with more waste than product, read hand-outs that only utilize one side of a two-sided piece of paper, or have a beautiful view in the mountains ruined by heaps of garbage carefully driven into the woods to be carelessly discarded, without doing anything about it. Like other over-developed nations, Japan is facing EXTREME waste management and pollution problems.
I, for example, live next to what I have named “The Smoldering Pit of Death,” a small cement box in which my neighbors burn their “burnable garbage”. Being the environmentally (un)conscious shop owners that they are, my neighbors don’t want to overburden Japan’s landfills with such items as the dozens of styrofoam coolers or plastic bags which are delivered to their store everyday. Instead they broaden their definition of “burnable garbage” by answering the simple question, “How well does the object’s mass decrease when you stick a lighter to it?” Unfortunately they’re not the exception, but the rule. What can you do to live in a more environmentally sound manner? Well, you could start by vowing not to burn styrofoam and plastic.
“Warabashi wa irimasen.” (I don’t need disposable chopsticks.) For a long time I subscribed to the idea that because disposable chopsticks are made from the scrap part of trees after they have been milled for their timber that using them wasn’t so bad, but what it boils down to is that trees are trees, and most of these trees are not coming from the mountains of Japan. Using disposable chopsticks contributes to deforestation. You can purchase reusable chopsticks with a case at any department or specialty store. Carry them in your bag and use them when you’re eating out. It’s an easy way to avoid having to use disposable wooden chopsticks.
“Fukuro wa irimasen.” (I don’t need a bag.) I moved into an apartment that had housed AETs for four years. It also housed a collection of four year’s worth of plastic grocery bags. Either get a more substantial bag and take it with you when you go shopping, or reuse your old bags.
“Taun peji wa irimasen.” (I don’t need the Yellow Pages [“Town Page”] Directory.) “But it’s FREE!” the scooter riding NTT phone book delivery man argued with me after I chased him down the street waving my freshly-delivered copy of the Yellow Pages frantically in front of me to get his attention. “Free is relative!” I felt like responding, but that was out of my vocabulary. A little known fact to residents of Japan is that the pulp for the Yellow Pages comes from Canada’s forests. They’re paying the costs. Realistically, how much are YOU going to use the Japanese Yellow Pages, anyway?
Check out your local grocery store’s recycling programs. JUSCO and Daiei recycle milk and juice cartons, styrofoam trays, and cans. Also, there are some neighborhood recycling programs with kids picking up these items, often on one Sunday every month. There’s also the chirigamikoukansha, a truck that drives around exchanging your old newspapers and magazines for recycled toilet paper.
Make your own memo pads, notebooks, etc. using the reverse side of excess handouts. Better yet, try to use both sides in the first place, and get other teachers to do the same.
To conserve water (and cut down on your water bills), use your bathwater more than once. The water won’t be dirty after only one use, so re-use it!
If you look around, you’re sure to see many other ways to be green—share them with other JETs!
