Sustainable Travel Japan

Dr. Shelly Clarke sponsored my trip and stay at her wonderful estate in rural Shizuoka where she has been working passionately for many years to bring it back to life (in her free time). Dr. Shelley Clarke (Japanese citizen) is an international expert on sustainable fisheries worldwide. Watch the YouTube versions of this podcast on the Shelley Clarke playlist here (Shelley Clarke Season 1 SHOW) We...

Bonus walk-thru of the fabulous Akiya (abandoned house) to stylish retro guesthouse - talking through the designs and renovation while I was staying at the wonderful Benton Homestead Guesthouse in #omishima island #ehime - join me for a walk-through to hear about all the charming designs of this #renovatedhome #akiya abandoned house into fun, comfortabe & stylish #japan #sustainable #japaneseh...

Catch up on AUGUST 2026, JJ and Tove talk Japan events and insights for a more sustainable Japan. TOPICS: JJ is staying at Akiya (abandoned house) to stylish retro GuestHouse on Omishima island (Ehime) Benton Homestead, Summer Beach Event | Swarm of Blue Button Jellyfish Japan Beaches | DEI collab: LIXIL ‪@LIXILcorporation‬ MAERSK ‪@maersk‬ Coloplast ‪@ColoplastUS‬ TetraPak ‪@tetrapak‬ & Yokoh...

Alex Kang loves cycling and motobiking in Japan and coaches for triathlon as well as does cycle tours in the Shimanami-kaido route from Hiroshima to Ehime on Shikoku island. In this talk coach Alex joins us from the US where he is based half of the year but talks of his love for Japan 2-wheel travel as well as shares about his new business renovation along the main shopping street in Onomichi - th...

Will datacenters in Japan be good for tourism and travel? Not if they are located next to hotels and guesthouses and not if they destroy the environment in beautiful rural areas. This podcast discusses where Japan is now in developing more datacenters as is the aim for the PM Takaichi govt in 2026. I have been thinking a lot about data centers and in this podcast catch us up on the situation with...

Now a Japanese citizen, Dr. Shelley Clarke catches us up on her work as she makes a positive contribution to more sustainable oceans. We also hear of her passion to give a second life to a beautiful traditional Japanese estate dating back 600 years. But will she be the only resident of this community in 20 years? In 2022, I met Shelley Clarke at Minka Summit and talked with her here on Seek Sustai...

Ryonohara founder Lee talks here about design choices when renovating the traditional Japanese MINKA houses in rural Wakayama Japan. Also shares insights on running a successful AirBnb stays alongside retreats that connect guests to local craftspeople. Lee is also reviving tea farms and doing sustainable farming with goats and chickens. @Ryunohara https://www.ryunohara.com/about

Hrishita of Hachidori-Denryoku's international team joins us to introduce the great work of this renewable energy sourcing co. in Japan. How to include international residents to learn about the service and sign up to source renewable energy even if renting or do not have a sunny roof. How everyone & anyone can still be a proactive part of Japan's clean energy transition. Hachidori Denryoku (a...

Joy's recently back from Hawaii and inspired for sustainable travel and business strategies that also apply back to Japan. Tove has some Tokyo innovation and topics such as shorts okay for Cool Biz? / Regenerative Vertical Indoor Farm in Tokyo / Biodegradable plastics being used in Japan vs Hawaii / Sompo Japan insurance / EV electric car subsidy up to 1.3Million yen payback for all Japanese maker...

Farmer Thomas Kloepfer has been working this stunning hillside farmland for 15 years and finding the years of no-till farming paying off with healthy soil integrated with farm animals. Pitchfork Farms is on Mukaishima island, Onomichi area in Hiroshima, Japan. Book your own private farm tour with Thomas- it works well as a part of your Shimanami-Kaido cycle ride along the coast starting from Onomi...

University of Melbourne Educator Athanasios Tsakonas talks about the design of dark-tourism, A-bomb survivor trees of reconciliation & WW2 memorial sites in Hiroshima, Yokohama and Australia. LINKS LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/athanasios-tsakonas-85490438/ Green Legacy Hiroshima: https://gethiroshima.com/features/green-legacy/ Yokohama commonwealth war cemetery https://www.cwgc.org/vis...

Great topics in today's chat: renewable energy, sustainable life & business solutions, fabulous plantbased food, wonderful hotels in London, Hiroshima & Fukuoka putting people & planet forward, Ideas from London to promote EV's & ultra-low emissions #talkshow #cleanenergy #lowemissions #london #hiroshima #fukuoka #onomichi #heatwave #greathotels #japan #uk Topics & Updates - Ju...

Kristina Minami is better known as SugaLenin on Instagram and shares some of her favorite rural Japan travel advice as well as information about her new business to help guide visitors to more meaningful, less crowded travel with INNER JAPAN

Jay Allen has been the publisher and chief writer of the popular site Unseen-Japan since 2018 and living in Tokyo, Japan full-time since 2024 writing and guiding tours for Tokyo's nightlife and lesser-known capitol city gems. In this talk, Jay Allen has great insights about social issues, travel, history and culture as well as current news events and key issues worth discussing for a better inform...

Adrienne and Zealous Wiley are US based Palm Springs designers who fell in love with traditional Japanese houses and are living their dream by purchasing and beautifully renovating a 100-year-old machiya (traditional townhouse) in Kyoto, Japan. This live chat with Adrienne and Zealous gives us insights on their design decisions and steps of renovation as what led them to take on this new lifestyle...

This talk is a lightly edited version of a talk I did with my dad Jay Jarman 5-years ago on Seek Sustainable Japan. Still so many wonderful insights here on living a life and running a business with a focus on helping kids in need. Dad has now officially retired but as the founder of such a wonderful organization he is still very much a part of their fabulous work. LINKS https://www.commongrace.or...

Rick Grehan of image mill talks of his new project just an hour outside of Tokyo to revive an old silk-making house and tea farm as sustainable and regenerative as possible to bring it back to life as a new community creative experience and learning hub for Tokyo folks to engage with nature, local people and tap into a better work-life balance. Please help them raise funds for this project by dona...

Joy and Tove catch-up on travel, events, projects and products that focus more on a sustainable Japan

Azby Brown always has wonderful insights on Japan house designs old and new and the connections to history, culture and good craftmanship https://azbybrown.com/about/

Catching up with no-till farmer Thomas Kloepfer who runs Pitchfork Farms on Mukaishima island in Hiroshima, Japan. Thomas was inspired by Fukuoka-sensei to try no-till farming techniques in Japan and now balances farming with animals and various climate-change resilient crops on a sunny hillside in central Japan. Website https://www.pitchforkfarms.jp/about-3

Chuck Kayser has been taking over abandoned farmland in rural Kyoto and Shiga Japan to create vegetable farms and do community workshops to raise awareness of the why and how of organic, natural farming and self-sufficiency. #sustainable #living #organic #farming #japan Chuck Kayser Website for Midori Farm Kyoto https://www.midorifarmkyoto.com/ Watch all the talks with Organic Farmers in Japan on...

As a part of this year's MINKA SUMMIT event at the end of April 2026, we had the wonderful opportunity to tour keynote speaker Jeff Berglund's fabulous riverside MACHIYA in Kyoto along the famous KAMO river. Jeff shared so many fascinating stories of design, history and culture. Jeff's Website: http://www.jeff-kyoto.com/ See the images from the house tour by watching the video version of this tour...

Chuck Kayser shares his insights from trial and errors of organic farming in the Kyoto and Shiga area of Japan to an audience of Minka traditional house and rural living enthusiasts from across Japan and even some from abroad. Chuck Kayser at Midori Farm https://www.midorifarmkyoto.com/

Clips from a talk by Professor Iain Davey who teaches Sustainable Development strategies in a Kyoto University and who is based in Shiga Japan. For over the last 30 years Iain Davey 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 impor...