Seek Sustainable Japan

Professor Iain Davey who teaches Sustainable Development strategies in a Kyoto University and who over the last 30 years has been renovating old houses, taking over abandoned farmland, converting his car to run on waste oil and so many other wonderful strategies to reduce his environmental impact. This also saves him money and most importantly helps him live his life in the way he wants to, closer...

Originally from London, UK- Emily Smith has been living in rural Nara with her partner and enjoying the slow life, building a lovely homebase with collaborations in the community while she documents the 72 microseasons and goes foraging in the forest with her 2 rescue dogs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji_1hilqG9Y LINKS https://www.instagram.com/down2forage/ https://www.youtube.com/@down2forage...

Tiffany Rossdale is a long-time international resident who has worked in the entertainment industry but is now more involved with social impact projects and businesses in Japan. In this talk, we explore some of Tiffany's latest projects talking about LGBTQ+ issues with universities and for WeExist film events, suggest being accepted by her professional name by LINKEDIN, helping to support homeless...

The 2026 Minka Summit in Hanase village, Kyoto - a community gathering of people from across Japan who love traditional Japanese houses, rural living, renovations, traditional crafts and cultural preservation. Join us for a day or for the entire 3 days - looking forward to seeing you there! https://kominkajapan.online/events/

Shiitake Creative Ally Hongo joins Seek Sustainable Japan to share insights on the 2026 winners, behind the scenes stories and a new published book focused on better, more sustainable, accessible and inclusive travel in Japan. Shiitake Creative Website @shiitakecreative https://shiitakecreative.jp/ Japan Travel Awards Website @japantravelawards https://japantravelawards.com/

Swastika & Trishit have been working with locals in Futaba Fukushima - a coastal area devastation by the 2010 earthquake, tsunami and radiation disaster that forced evacuation of the area. Now 16 years later, telling the stories of disaster and survival with visitors is a positive way to help rebuild the community. Visiting the Fukushima area is a deeply-impactful experience- you can book your...

Hana Shiraishi is editor-in-chief of DeepJapan - an online magazine sharing stories written by long-time Japan insiders to share interesting perspectives on local people, culture and travel across Japan. In this talk, Hana shares insights from working at a convenience store for her first job as well as many other wonderful stories of travel, inclusion and international community in her work with D...

How can a traditional Japanese inn survive for many generations? CEO Chizuka Tachibana is following in the footsteps of her family's legacy to run Ryokan Ohana in Fukuoka. As a descendent of feudal lords, Tachibana-san maintains, and continues to elevate an impressive family business legacy. Tachibana-san did a huge renovation of the buildings in 2025 and won the Grand Prize for the Japan Travel A...

Author Hiroko Yoda joins us to share insights from her latest book "Eight Million Ways to Happiness - Wisdom for Inspiration and Healing from the Heart of Japan'. It is a deeply personal journey of spiritual understanding, training and research into how Shinto, Buddhism, Shugendo and the many many Gods of Japan interplay in her thought processes as she grew up in Japan as well as gained more Japan...

Sustainable travel, business and innovation on our radar as sustainability focused consultants in Japan - Tove Kinooka & JJWalsh

You Sakaguchi (You-Sakana) has been living and promoting the SETOUCHI area of Japan as a blogger, designer, photographer and content creator. Ryoko Ihara is the head of branding at GoField co and often works in collaboration with You on projects. We will talk about some of their work, philosophy and sustainable travel highlights for the Setouchi (Kagawa/Tokushima/Okayama) area of Japan. You Sakagu...

This month FEBRUARY we talk about some of our favorite low-waste, plastic-free products in Japan, the high-technology of trees & other great sustainable business & travel events, talks, innovation and inspiration Tove Kinooka - sustainable business consultant based in Yokohama, Japan *Tokyo area* JJWalsh - sustainable business & travel consultant based in Hiroshima, Japan *Setouchi are...

Creating a textbook that engages with university students in Japan is a challenge but a Professor at Okayama university, John Rucynski has found a winning formula for writing a textbook with stories of successful international professionals working in Japan. https://deepjapan.org/john-rucynski/ https://cengagejapan.com/elt/ListeningVideo/page/?no=1412662013bfq7a

CEO Paul Christie of Walk Japan started as a guide for tourists many years ago and has led the Walk Japan company toward a more sustainable business path where needs of locals and visitors are more in balance. He has also helped revive a small village in rural Japan with organic farming, community building, bringing in new residents and using tourism income to help fund projects. https://walkjapan...

I visited the traditional boatbuilding workshop of craftsman Tenkyou Hirofumi who was working with Douglas Brooks and filmmaker Chikara Motomura on a project this year in Miyoshi *Hiroshima* Japan - great to hear the sounds of traditional carpentry as we talk about the value of preserving these traditions.

Visitors and new residents to Japan are often surprised to see so many wonderfully cute and bizarre characters in Japan and the characterization of everything from safety announcements to tourism promotion. Dr. Debra Occhi has been studying the Japan world of characters for many years and shares some of her insights on the historical connections as well as how these characters function in business...

First of our 30-min Short-Takes series for 2026 In this episode JJ & Tove give their predictions for Sustainable Japan 2026: Food Diversity - Zero-Waste - CleanTech - GenderEquity - Apps - Minka - Traditional Rural Japan Travel - Japan EV's - Innovation - Entrepreneurs - Biodiversity =Tove's top 5= 1) TooGoodToGo Food Waste/Loss App Launches in Japan / https://www.toogoodtogo.com/ja 2) Multi-l...

Douglas Brooks joins the show again this month to talk about his 10th apprenticeship with a traditional Japanese boatbuilder in Hiroshima as well as other projects in 2026. His backstory is that he had a roommate from Hiroshima at University and when he first visited Japan as a backpacker he got bored of the typical sightseeing, but fascinated by wooden traditional Japanese boats he found his way...

Rachel Nicholson shares insights on her work with Hiroshima Kagura performances - she translates the story subtitles to English and hosts the live shows every wednesday night in Hiroshima city. LINKS https://www.rccbc.co.jp/event/kagura/en/ This is the website for the Wednesday Night Kagura performances (that start on 4/1) https://www.hiroshima-kagura.jp/en/ This is the big “what is Kagura” for Hi...

Welcome to a new year of Seek-Sustainable-Japan - here are some dreams and thoughts as we start the year as best we can- hope it's a good one for all of us! Feel free to drop comments or questions to me somewhere & I will give you a shoutout in the next episode! LINKS: #seeksustainablejapan on YouTube #inboundambassador on IG & FB #jjwalsh on BlueSky

Our top picks of Sustainable Japan for 2025 - enjoy! Did we miss your faves? Please let us know and we will give you a shoutout in the next episode! LINKS: #seeksustainablejapan on YouTube #inboundambassador on IG & FB #jjwalsh on BlueSky

Wonderful discussion here with educator, author, architect & artist Azby Brown where he shares his deep insights into the beauty and meaningful design of traditional buildings and art where you can see the I WAS HERE mark of the human who crafted it. There is a warning here from Azby Brown about our fast shift to destroy these handcrafted things of value (like MINKA) in the rush to embrace tec...

What are the latest sustainable japan topics on our radar for November? Monthly chat about sustainability trends, innovation, events and issues for Japan & beyond with JJWalsh & Tove Kinooka / Topics & Updates - November 2025 LINKS The Conduit - Climate and Conflict https://www.theconduit.com/programme/... The Burning Question: Climate & Conflict     • The ...

Kominka Japan has set the date for the annual Hanase Village Minka celebration in Rural Kyoto for the weekend of April 24,25,26 2026 - save the date! Tickets are now on sale and you can get a discount if you buy before the end of 2025 https://kominkajapan.online/events/ LINKS: My talk with Paul & Kim Fredale about their stunning home and garden renovation: https://youtube.com/live/yjVcsFL09sU...

Inspiring talk from Azby Brown at MinkaCon2025 about how the beauty of hand-crafted things in traditional houses is what we as human beings respond to and NEED to have connection to in our homes and lives. Azby Brown is a respected MINKA MASTER, educator, author, researcher, advocate and advisor based in Japan for many years. https://azbybrown.com/about/ Watch the video here to see the images he s...