Monday, September 26, 2022 | The Japan Times | 9

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Sustainability needs not uniformity but coherence
Roundtable
WARREN MEEHANCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Growing up in an “informal settlement” inIndonesia, an urban village communitythat formed organically with unplanned
spatial layouts and self-help housing,
Mahesti Okitasari, now a research associate
at the United Nations University Institutefor the Advanced Study of Sustainability,
based in Tokyo, had a daily curbside viewon collective development and how effective communities can be.
Now holding a Ph.D. in urban planningfrom the University of Tokyo (her dissertation was on decentralized systems, collaborative metropolitan governance andpublic infrastructure provision), Okitasari
is drawing on her youthful experiences aswell as her research to find ways to effectively implement and finance the U.N.’ssustainable development goals (SDGs).
Able to take a bird’s-eye view of urban
development, as she puts it, Okitasari
is conducting research into the many
opportunities for more efficient implementation of the goals. Okitasari believes
that while local communities wait for thegovernment to bring about change, they
can also be “nudged” by organizations
using her unit’s research to more effectively do what they have already been
doing: getting on with the job of implementing effective change themselves.
Okitasari took time out from her busy

schedule to sit down with Ross Rowbury
for The Japan Times Sustainability Roundtable’s 23rd iteration to explain how
achieving the SDGs and making the world
more sustainable can be done at a local
level. Rowbury began by asking whichareas Okitasari was looking into in termsof her research into sustainability.

It’s all about context“It’s quite broad,” Okitasari began. “My unit
at the institution is focusing on the translation of the global agenda, including thesustainable development goals, and thenational commitments on climate action
which are part of the Paris Agreement, andhow they are being translated into domestic policy and project implementation,and how to strengthen the policymaking
process to make sure it reaches the mostneeded people while fulfilling the targets.”
Okitasari explained that the institutelooks at everything from biodiversity
to governance for sustainable development, research into education, and waterspecific issues. She further explained that
there is no uniform method for applying
these goals: “There is no one-size-fitsall, I’m afraid — the focus is on context,
everything is about context.” The instituteprimarily takes a broad look at situationsin an effort to compare similar cases indifferent regions and then communicate
to policymakers what has worked well in
different contexts so they can apply thatto emulate the success stories as well as
avoid the failures.
Mahesti Okitasari isa research associate
at the UNU Institutefor the Advanced
Study of Sustainability. She joined theinstitute in 2014 as apostdoctoral
research fellow.
YUICO TAIYA

Mahesti Okitasari YUICO TAIYA“We want to be able to go to policymakers and say this is what’s happening
in different development settings,” sheobserved. Taking a broad area such as theAsia and the Pacific as an example, she
explained that there are so many settings
with unique development needs, whether
small islands, rapidly developing cities,
least developed countries or developedcountries such as Japan. Each will need tohave the SDGs applied in its own context
to match its unique circumstances. “Evenwithin countries we have different scales
and different needs,” she explained. “Justlook at Indonesia. If we looked into thedata it would just be a developing country, but within the data we have different cities, different regions, with different
scales and different needs.”

Settlement kid, urban planner
Okitasari grew up in Surabaya on Java inwhat urban planners refer to as an informal settlement, a community with littleplanning or design. Okitasari said suchcommunities have a long history in thedevelopment of cities across Indonesia. “Ireally like how that kind of community

works — it really stays with me,” she said.
As an undergraduate she studied architecture, then was introduced to urban planning through her studies, and the subject
became her passion. Taking an internshipand then working as a project researcher
in a lab focusing on housing and humansettlements, she decided to pursue a postgraduate degree in urban planning. Shesoon realized how broad the study area
was, reaching out not just into housing andurban planning, but also into the multifaceted subjects of governance, policymaking,economics and ultimately sustainability.
Okitasari soon found the importance ofempowering informal settlements of thetype she grew up in, because in developing countries, waiting on governments
to provide housing often takes too long.
Ensuring these communities are more
habitable and sustainable, often throughsimple methods such as just providing
safe water and sanitation, is the key toproviding safer sustainable housing, andcan sometimes easily satisfy a number of
the SDGs at once. Okitasari explained thatwhile a community may develop organically, participatory planning with development organizations can make thatdevelopment more meaningful. She gave
examples of the creative linkages thatgovernments are implementing between
different SDGs, such as providing affordable housing with safe waste management and water supply (achieving SDG6), which in turn contributes to better
health outcomes (goal 3), and meanwhilebringing women into the process to help
achieve gender equality (goal 5). This is
why ensuring the quality of budgeting can
be a way to ensure impactful projects.

Challenges of implementation
Okitasari considers the lack of coherence
among the important actors in the development space to be one of the biggest
obstacles to achieving a more sustainable
world. “If policy is not coherent between

Prior to UNU, she gained research and consulting experience in disaster management, regional
planning and housing policies . YUICO TAIYA

national and local governments, acrosslocal governments and across sectors,” or is
not coherent with science, “then there aretotal contradictions,” she explained. “We
don’t need similar policies, but within local
governments, we need coherence.”
A further impediment is the lack ofcapacity to implement these goals. Okitasari is, however, happy to note that a
new postgraduate degree specializing in
the Paris Agreement will be offered at
UNU from autumn 2023, with the objective of increasing policymakers’ capacities
through training experts on implementing
the climate pact.
For the future, Okitasari hopes to be able
to work more closely with the local communities she has been trying to help. “I’dlike to have projects where I work directlywith the people — now I have the scienceand the policies, butto link them directlywith the people andnot just have it end
up in a paper,” sheexplained. “It’s an immense task.”
Roundtable is a monthly series of Englishlanguage events organizedby The Japan Times Cube. For
more information visit https://sustainable.japantimes.com/
roundtableTimes Gallery

Kamakura Kitajima
Forging a new culinary tradition in Kamakura

Cuban Ambassador Miguel A. Ramirez participates in the ceremony
for the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima andNagasaki. With his presence in Nagasaki, Cuba reiterated its commitment to nuclear disarmament. EMBASSY OF CUBA

Address
Kamakura Kitajima
4-3-18 Omachi, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa
https://www.kamakura-kitajima.jp
TAKEO TERAOCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Kamakura Kitajima occupies a renovated
old house in a neighborhood dotted withhistoric temples. The sukiya teahouse-styleinterior features a counter facing earthen
walls decorated with flowers grown in thefront garden by owner Yasunori Kitajima.
Kitajima sharpened his skills as a chef
during 16 years at the prestigious Japaneserestaurant group Wakuden, absorbing theJapanese aesthetic in Kyoto.
“When I opened a restaurant in Kamakura,I didn’t intend to make Kyoto-style food. If
I’m not serving food that can only be madein Kamakura, it’s meaningless,” he said.
He began by searching for the very best
ingredients. Not limiting himself to local
sources, he reached out to producers andsuppliers with top-notch reputations inother prefectures as well. Among them wasHiroki Hasegawa, a seafood broker in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, with a nationalreputation. “The fish Mr. Hasegawa selects ison a different level than fish from the store.
Since he was also in the same prefecture asme, I decided to put his fish at center stage,”
Kitajima said.

Hasegawa’s base is a fish market thatsells live seafood in Yokosuka’s Nagai port
on Sagami Bay. There, fish are killed bysevering their spinal cords so as not to subject them to stress. This results in a clear,unmuddled flavor, the flavor of the fish itself.
With Hasegawa as a powerful ally, Kitajima
launched Kamakura Kitajima in May 2021.
He found that the same types of fish hehad used in Kyoto tasted completely different in Kamakura. “Take hamo (pike conger).
Unlike hamo from Awaji, which is preferredin the Kansai region, hamo caught here feedon squid, giving it a different flavor,” he said.
The akahata (blacktip grouper) served as
sashimi is speared, Kitajima explained. “Thefish that win out in the struggle for existenceswim upward in search of food. Good hata
are found in water less than 20 meters deep.
They taste best when they are speared witha single thrust through the head.”
The charcoal-grilled kue (longtooth grouper) is also speared. Cooked with carefully
modulated moisture and heat atop a lacquerware hibachi carved in the Kamakura-boristyle, the fish has a tender texture and a surprising depth of flavor.
Although Kitajima’s affection for local
fish has grown steadily stronger, he does notserve Kamakura’s famous shirasu (whitebait).
“Shirasu are what small fish feed on — theraw materials that make up the fish in thesea,” he said. “Given that fish stocks havebeen falling recently, I don’t want to use shirasu. ”The omakase set menu, the only option
available, starts at ¥22,000 ($170), with prices
dependent on the cost of seafood.

Jarman International’s Austin Auger (third from left), Paul Walsh(fourth from left) and Emi Onishi (sixth from left) with Shizuoka
representatives at their seminar on “Nurturing Globally Minded
Personnel” for Shizuoka Prefecture. JARMAN INTERNATIONAL

Serbian Ambassador
Aleksandra Kovac
with Steinway Artist
Aisa Ijiri and Steinway & Sons Japan
President Yuriko
Akiyama at a concert
marking 140 years offriendship between
Serbia and Japan onAug. 22. EMBASSY

Mexican Ambassador Melba Pria
receives Toru Matsui,
executive director ofMitsui & Co. Ltd., atthe Embassy ofMexico to talk aboutprogress and new
business opportunities in Mexico.
EMBASSY OF MEXICOOF SERBIA

TAKASHI MATSUO
MAYOR OF KAMAKURA

We would like to extend ourheartfelt congratulations
to Kamakura Kitajima forbeing selected as one of The
Japan Times’ Destination
Restaurants 2022.
Kitajima offers dishes that can only beenjoyed in Kamakura, using seafood fromSagami Bay and pesticide-free vegetables.
We hope that at Kitajima you will enjoy
Japanese cuisine unique to Kamakura while
experiencing the richness of nature as wellas the temples and shrines of the ancient
capital of Kamakura. We are looking forward to your visit to Kamakura.

Jamaican Ambassador Shorna-Kay Richards stands with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shunsuke Takei at The Okura Tokyo hotel on theoccasion of Jamaica’s 60th Anniversary of Independence Reception,
where he delivered congratulatory remarks on behalf of the government of Japan. EMBASSY OF JAMAICA

Strong ties between Slovenia and Japan were confirmed at a meeting ofTina Vodnik, charge d’affaires a.i., with Ichiro Aisawa, chairman of theJapan-Slovenia Parliamentary Friendship Association. With them isMatjaz Florjanc Lukan, secretary at the Embassy of Slovenia.

On Sept. 9, the annual ACCJ Chubu Charity Golf Tournament took place.
Proceeds went to the Chubu Children’s Fund, which empowers, educatesand inspires children residing in foster homes. CHUBU WALKATHON

The bicentennial of Brazil’s independence was celebrated in Tokyo
with a concert in Meguro Persimmon Hall, performed by the Villa
Lobos-Association of Japan, on Sept. 6. EMBASSY OF BRAZIL/BRUNA LUISEPAGE: 9EMBASSY OF SLOVENIA