Sustainable Travel 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...

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 available 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 *Se...

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...

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