Monday, November 27, 2023 | The Japan Times | 7

sustainable japan

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Water-refill platform mymizu succeeds with fluid ideas
Roundtable
KERRY FURUKAWACONTRIBUTING WRITER

When Mariko McTier and her co-founderstarted the water-refilling platformmymizu four years ago, they were trying to change minds, but to do so, they
didn’t go out and try to convince shops toregister on its app. In an unusual businessmodel that McTier says has proven effective, they relied on word of mouth, theinterest of a community already attuned
to sustainability, and the influencing
power of early adopters.
Within two months of sending out feelers into this community, 70 shops had
signed up as places where people could filla bottle of water free of charge. A crowdfunding campaign based on the samemodel followed, and 500 people expresseda shared frustration with the overabundance of single-use plastics by supportingthe campaign. That saved mymizu thework of wrangling with people who weresimply not interested. It is a lesson McTier
believes other entrepreneurs can learn, as
she told host Ross Rowbury and the audience at the 35th Japan Times Roundtable.
“It’s really important to think carefully
about whose mind you’re trying to change
and how you do that. We often try to getpeople to see our perspective and to adopt
a new way of doing things because wethink it’s better. But there are fundamental

underlying issues why they do what they
do and why they see things as they do. And
on the flip side, you probably have allies …
who are keen for things to change. They
just don’t see how to make that possible.
I very much believe that as a culture, wechange from the minority,” McTier said.

ally launch a venture of her own. Later on,
in a role at the British Embassy in Tokyo
supporting innovation and startups, she
noticed an absence of deep public conversation about sustainability. In 2017, she cofounded Social Innovation Japan to offer
education on social and environmental
issues. Mymizu was started “from years offrustration” in order to provide a practicalexample of the principles she was teaching, and to prove that a free water-refill
app could work.
“[Entrepreneurs] are people who’ve
decided they’ve found something thatthey care enough about to focus on andupset people in the process of trying, buta dedication as well to say, ‘I know this isgoing to be hard, and in a different way,for ’intrapreneurs’ where you have to fightso much corporate bureaucracy.’”
Building something also requires a belief
that it will succeed, but McTier often
found that many people with an idea
were overwhelmed with hopelessness.
“They couldn’t see, where is that 0.001%
chance that this could change? And so we
wanted to build something to show thatit’s possible. [mymizu] is scrappy. We’renot perfect. There’s still so much to do,but one of the things I’m most proud of isshowing that it’s possible to do things in adifferent way.”

Catalyst for change

In mymizu’s case, members of its community have helped drive growth byapproaching businesses — sometimes
with only beginner Japanese skills —about being listed on the app. Individuals
passionate about sustainability withincompanies have also pushed for listings. The result is that listing on the app
becomes a starting point for businesses toadopt more sustainable practices.
“They start to have conversations withpeople who come to the shop for a refill
and they realize that there’s this wholeconversation that’s not happening with
their customers, and they recognize that
there’s a value there. We’ve interviewed
shops that started off just refilling, but thenthis led to them looking at their whole
supply chain and being like, how do wechoose our vegetables or chopsticks,
whatever it is. For them, that becomes likea cultural shift within the organizationbecause suddenly sustainability isn’t just athing they have to do, but it provides value
to them as a company, as branding, as away to differentiate themselves. And thenthey become these beacons,” McTier said.
Mariko McTier andhost Ross Rowbury
chat before the startof the Roundtable on
how important theestablishment ofmymizu was inhelping reduce theuse of plastic bottles,
a daily necessity inJapan. YUICO TAIYA

Mariko McTier is the co-founder of mymizu, a water-refilling platform. YUICO TAIYA

Currently, of the 12,000 refill spots
across Japan, 2,400 are businesses, and theremainder are public places, such as parks.
McTier says mymizu itself is not a service,as it depends on its community being proactive and contributing spots.
“We’re providing the means for people
to contribute and also to benefit fromwhat they’ve built together. It doesn’t
work for everything, but I think that’s
going to be a really interesting businessmodel for people to use going forward.
Because what we’ve realized is that there
are people who are looking for a way to
not just contribute, but to play a role inTimes Gallery

redesigning their future.”
One of the platform’s hopes is tobecome a catalyst for users to tackle
big problems. It is important, McTier
explained, for people to feel that they havethe agency to change something they feelpassionately about, whether through theirday jobs or by becoming entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur dedication, hope
McTier started her career as a journalist at a Japanese newspaper in London,
where she grew up. She was fascinatedby the stories of the entrepreneurs she
interviewed, and was inspired to eventu-

Scaling for the futureBut there have been what McTier
describes as “many unnecessary barriers”
along the way, and too much time spenton paperwork.
“We’ve also struggled because we wereoften working with companies who’ve
never worked with an organization of ourscale. We’re a nonprofit organization, too.
So it’s like, how do we structure this? How
do we fund this? I think it’s unnecessarily
difficult to start something in Japan andthen to scale it and to get the support.”
As it moves into the future and tries
to build on lessons learned, McTier said

An award-winning entrepreneur and consultant, McTier finds creative ways to engage people
in redesigning systems for a circular economy.
YUICO TAIYA

mymizu will devise ways to share its
knowledge with other sustainability
startups. And while its model has largely
centered on organic partnerships, theplatform will aim to be more deliberate as
it considers how to have the biggest possible impact. The end goal, however, is tospark a mindset shift.
“I think one of the biggest things holding Japan back right now is that notenough people have that sense that theycan make things change. If I can [show]
that, A, there’s interesting, unusual, unconventional ways you can do this, but also
B, here are some things that we’ve learned
that when you get stuck, you can try tounstick yourself and
not give up because
you failed at the firsthurdle, that’s ultimately what I want
to see,” McTier said.
Roundtable is a monthly series of Englishlanguage events organized by The Japan
Times Cube. For more
information or to assist to aRoundtable scan the QR codeor visit https://sustainable.
japantimes.com/roundtable

OtowaFrench restaurant connects cuisine with society

Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Japan, Robert Takata, presents
his credentials as a nonresident ambassador to Indonesian President Joko
“Jokowi” Widodo, becoming the first Dominican ambassador to do so inIndonesia, on Oct. 23. EMBASSY OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Argentine Ambassador Eduardo Tempone (center) prepares to present
his credentials to the emperor on Oct. 4. Accompanying him are Grand
Master of the Ceremonies Junichi Ihara (third from left) and representatives from the embassy. EMBASSY OF ARGENTINAThe Spanish Chamber of Commerce
presents its yearly
award to the Hitachigroup for its contributions to strengthening commercial
relationships
between Spainand Japan.

Franciacorta President Silvano Brescianini came from
Italy for the company’s Tokyo winetasting event on
Nov. 7. THE JAPANTIMESEMBASSY OF SPAIN

The Albania-Japan Friendship Parliamentary Group conducts an intensive
working visit to Tokyo. A meeting between two groups of members ofparliament was the first such consultation in the history of the two countries, and the high moment of the visit. EMBASSY OF ALBANIA

Greek Ambassador Dimitrios Caramitsos-Tziras confers state
decorations to Taro Kono, Shuji Kawakami, former secretary-general of
the Japan-Greece Society, and artist Masaaki Noda on Oct. 27 EMBASSY

Jamaican Ambassador Shorna-Kay Richards joins 7-Eleven Japan’s
President Fumihiko Nagamatsu for the launch of Seven Cafe’s Blue
Mountain Blend coffee. EMBASSY OF JAMAICA

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s new ambassador, Lukumwena
Nsenda, presents his credentials to Vice Foreign Minister MasatakaOkano on Oct. 19. EMBASSY OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGOOF GREECE / JUNKO NAGATA

Address
Nihonryori Yukimoto
2-43 Towa-cho, Iida,
Nagano Pref. 395-0086
https://yukimotohanare.com/TAKEO TERAOCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Utsunomiya, the capital of Tochigi Prefecture
and the home of Otowa Restaurant, can bereached in 50 minutes from Tokyo Stationon the Tohoku Shinkansen line. The city isbest known for its gyoza, fried dumplings.
In a city famous for gyoza, the presence of aFrench restaurant is surprising, and the factthat this restaurant has been passed throughgenerations seems almost miraculous.
Founder Kazunori Otowa continues todemonstrate his skills as the restaurant’sowner-chef. Otowa trained with the late
Alain Chapel (a three-Michelin-star Frenchchef and leading figure of the 1970s culinaryscene), Michel Guerard and others. Otowa
said, “The restaurants where I trained were, ofcourse, outstanding — but what impressedme equally was seeing the local residents
taking pride in their towns, so I decided toopen a restaurant in Utsunomiya, the citywhere I was born and raised.”
Starting with the bistro-style restaurant
he launched in 1981, Otowa expanded hisbusiness with a deli and restaurant weddings. In 2007 he opened Otowa Restaurant,
the guiding principle of which is “local gastronomy.” Having grown up watching theirfather, Otowa’s children decided to follow in

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his footsteps and join the world of French
cuisine. Thus, the entire family is involved
in offering French cuisine that conveys asense of Japan’s identity. While travelingaround Japan and sometimes collaboratingwith chefs from other countries, the family
showcases the appeal of food products from
Tochigi Prefecture, and contributes actively

to society through food-related projects
including food education in elementaryschools. Nonetheless, Kazunori Otowa said,“We need three generations’ worth of time todo more of the things we want to do.” With aview to passing the baton to the generation
to come, Otowa Restaurant continues on its
chosen path.

TOMIKAZU FUKUDA
GOVERNOR OF TOCHIGI PREFECTURE

EIICHI SATOUTSUNOMIYA CITY MAYOR

I am immensely proud tohave Otowa Restaurant
selected for Destination
Restaurants 2023. Tochigi
Prefecture has many kindsof delicious produce, such as strawberries,of which it is the largest producer in Japan,
and Tochigi wagyu beef, one of the best
brands nationwide. Otowa Restaurant has
been loved by the locals for its specialties
made with these local ingredients.
I hope that this will be an opportunity
for more people to visit Tochigi Prefectureand enjoy its delicious cuisine and beautiful
tourist attractions.

I would like to extend myheartfelt congratulations toOtowa Restaurant for being
selected as one of The Japan
Times’ Destination Restaurants 2023. Thank you for the hospitality you
continue to provide to the beloved visitors ofUtsunomiya city with your excellent cuisine.
Besides dumplings, jazz and cocktails, Utsunomiya has many fascinating tourist attractions, such as the Oya “stone village,” which
has been recognized as a Japan Heritage site. I
hope that guests are able to enjoy the beautyof our city as well as the wonderful food atyour restaurant.