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sustainable japan

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Azby Brown: Student of Japan’s sustainable past
Roundtable
TIMOTHY SCHULTZCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Azby Brown is one of those energetic,
curious Western intellectuals who cometo Japan and become experts about asingle aspect of its society. There seems tobe one for any subject, from crime (JakeAdelstein) to construction (Alex Kerr); if areader is interested, there awaits a book,a podcast or a Twitter account ready to“go deep.” Often ensconced in a university
post or website newsroom, these gaijin
otaku, or “gotaku” (hey, look — I madeup a new term!) vary in quality. Someare huckster Japanologists, promoting
only the positive aspects of Japan simply
because, well, that is what their employees (and readers) want to hear. Other
gotaku are more like gadflies, stinging thesides of a slow-moving society with aninformed and cutting pen, advocating forimprovement with a mixture of frustration and genuine care for their adopted
home.
Brown’s lifework here has been on twosubjects, which he eloquently explains
are one: architectural design and sustainability. He was the latest guest on theJapan Times Roundtable, an eclectic series
in which Ross Rowbury cheerfully interviews a list of intellectuals, activists andwriters. Rowbury, an informed gotaku
himself, has a knack of setting his guests
at ease and finding insights in their anec-dotes. This latest interview with Brown
was no exception, and it was fascinating
to hear his story.

Craftsmanship, sustainably

Brown’s first book, “The Genius of Japanese Carpentry,” is a beautiful, largeformat book that deserves a spot on
any bookshelf in Tokyo. As he related in
the Roundtable, he wrote the book two
decades ago, after spending three years on
a building site with the famous miya daiku(temple carpenter) Tsunekazu Nishioka.
The master had first offered to make the28-year-old Brown a formal apprentice.
But “I was warned that I’d have to put
everything aside for eight years … eight
years of pure obedience! So instead, I
humbly asked if I could return and document his building sites, as an observer andstudent.”
The link between craftsmanship andsustainability was there from the beginning. “They have an oral teaching calledkuden, which are the written sayings oftemple carpenters. One of them says:“Don’t buy timber. Buy a mountain.”
Brown explained that this is about selecting the right wood for each part of thebuilding, based on how the source tree
lived. Support pillars require trees grownat the tops of mountains, while northfacing exteriors are cut from north-facing
trees. “Almost every question I asked
him, he would circle back to the environment, how it shapes wood as it is growing,
and how it will affect it after it has been
Brown’s writings on
traditional Japanese
carpentry, compact
housing and traditional sustainable
practices havebrought these fields tothe awareness ofWestern designers.
YUICO TAIYADistinguished author Azby Brown YUICO TAIYA FOR PHOTOMATE

used in a building.”

Teaching lessons of the past

After publishing his seminal work, Brown
studied Japan’s compact housing, linking
the current challenges of urban designers to the sustainable practices of Edo
Period Japan. This subject of sustainability
brought new relevance to Japan’s traditional crafts. “After speaking at a sustainability conference in Sun Valley, I realized

the rest of the world was ready to learn
more about how the Japanese had faced
having limited resources and how they
had developed the circular economyof the Edo Period — the maximizingof resources; the environmental management of forestry, water, agriculture;
the urban design; the subjects of waste,energy. These separate aspects link up
and work together, and were a great starting point.” Rowbury also pointed out thatthese historical practices illustrate thetraditional Japanese mindset of wastingnothing, an everyday form of sustainability still avidly practiced in most Japanesehouseholds (Don’t throw away that wrapping paper!).
It is rare that a gotaku author can create
seminal works on two subjects; usuallya single opus will do. That Brown is also
the author of “Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan” is quite
an achievement. Published in 2013, thebook describes the everyday life of Edo
Japan through easy-to-read narrative stories. “There were so many great Japanese
researchers working on their specializedareas, and I was able to pull this together
with my own fieldwork. I wrote the book
as a travelogue: If you were there at thetime, what would you see? In the book,we visit a farming village, a carpenter living in a row-house tenement and a lowranking samurai in Edo.” As the Amazon
reviews never fail to mention, there arealso many, many illustrations — highly
detailed, almost technical drawings ofthe homes, tools and water systems thatallowed the people of the Edo Period tothrive with extremely limited resources.
The book also provides the context forthe challenges they faced. “Prior to theEdo Period, there was massive deforestation. Clear-cutting can cause so many
problems … from deforestation all theway to total famine... but (the Edo people)
managed to forestall those dominoes
falling.”

Circular to digital economies?

Learning from the past is one thing, but
how can today’s Japan practice sustainability? Rowbury made the point that over
60% of people now consider themselves a“belief-driven buyer,” in that they will only
purchase goods and services from companies whose values align with their own.
“It’s as if they’ve given up on governments
and are now voting with their pocket-

The Genjo Sanzoin complex at Yakushiji Temple
in Nara was built by Tsunekazu Nishioka andcompleted in 1991. AZBY BROWN

book.” Is this the answer? Brown agreed,and voiced a surprising optimism. “Thelocal food movement is a big part of that!
Sustainable clothing. Free-trade coffee.
People have alternatives and choice now.
And as we as individuals demand morechoice, things will get better.”Positive change and outlook

Here in Japan I have found that a gotaku’s
optimism is often correlated with theirage. The young 25-year-olds breathlessly
covering subjects like music, medical
research or economics are often stark contrasts with the more cynical 50-year-olds
who have written about the same thingfor years but have seen only stagnation in
their field.
Brown does not suffer from this bitterness. Instead he sees the lessons of the past
becoming the practices of today. His books
are instructive, his optimism is inspiringand his message is clear: Take action. Learn
more. Demand sustainable options. Likethe master craftsman he once learned
from, or the people of Edo, together we
can all live a little more thriftily.
Roundtable is a monthly series of Englishlanguage events organizedby The Japan Times Cube.
For more information visit
https://sustainable.japantimes.com/roundtable

Art triennial revitalizes rural
Echigo-Tsumari region
Tamaki said.
HarukaKuwabara, thecurrent mayor ofTsunan and theMAIKO MURAOKA
youngest town
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
mayor in the history of Japan, isThe 16th Satoyama Cafe, a talk session orgaone of the resinized by the Japan Times Satoyama Condents whose lives
sortium and moderated by its secretariat
were changed bychief, Yuto Yoshida, was conducted online
the triennial. Sheon May 8 featuring two women involved in
was a second-year
the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, a uniqueParticipants in the 2018 Echigo-Tsumari art festival get together in thehigh school stuart event and a major trigger for regional
closing ceremony. YANAGI AYUMI
dent when she felt
revitalization that started in the rural
greatly inspired by the event, especially aEchigo-Tsumari region of Niigata Prefecture
here.’ They were afraid of outsiders, andspeech by Sadako Ogata, the first female
in 2000.
they didn’t want anyone to mess with their
United Nations high commissioner for refuThe regional festival showcases artworks
lives. They thought that they had nothing togees, who had been invited. The experience
inspired by the local landscape and culture,
do with the event, and the event would notmade her proud of her hometown.
created by both Japanese and internationalchange anything or bring young people,”
The local people also started to change
artists scattered across 200 locales in the area.
she said. But it did bring their pride back.
as they engaged with artists, organizers
Yukiko Tamaki, director of NPO EchigoThe communication and collaboration withand other people who run the event. TheTsumari Satoyama Collaborative Organizaoutsiders helped them realize the quality ofunique part of this art triennial is that sometion, has been part of the event since 2003.
life they are endowed with.
of the works involve the participation ofAccording to Tamaki, Echigo-Tsumari, aThe last triennial, in 2018, attracted more
local residents during the process of crewide area covering the city of Tokaichi andthan 540,000 visitors. Kuwabara said many
ation or performance, such as installing
the town of Tsunan, is one of the snowiest
people got to know about Echigo-Tsumari
works with artists on their own premises,
regions on Earth, with rich beech forests
through the event and started to visit thetelling stories about old times to inspire
and terraced rice fields, and faces the issue ofarea repeatedly to enjoy exchanges withan artist to write a poem, or performing as
depopulation and aging.
the local people or help work in the riceactresses at a theater restaurant.
“The purpose of the event was to solve thefields. “There are also people who support
Tamaki noted that yukimi gozen (snowexisting issue and promote regional revitalthe region by becoming owners of terraced
viewing meal), a special lunch served at aization,” Tamaki said. However, she explained
rice fields. Many companies and celebrivillage house by wives from the area durthat the plan initially received nothing butties are also supporting the event, and theing the triennial, symbolizes the action ofobjections from council members and local
national government also recognizes thisconnecting with the outside world throughpeople who wanted hospitals and roads
event as a successful example of regional
one’s own creation. “Actually, many of theminstead of modern art. “But the former mayor
development,” Kuwabara said. There areoriginally come from other towns and theyof Tsunan said: ‘We have tried many things,
also foreign facilities such as Hong Kong
blended into the community, bringing
but nothing solved our problem. Why not
House or Australia House that showcase artsome unique tastes from their own hometry this one, when we won’t lose anythingworks by their artists and serve as venues
towns,” she explained. Yoshida, the moderamore?’ and with this, things started to roll,”
for cultural exchange programs. “We also
tor, said, “It means
have new residents playing active roles inthat those women
preserving the communities. We have new
had the power toshops, too. These are visible changes in thecross boundaries,”area,” Kuwabara said.
stressing that thisTamaki said the key for success in revitalizis exactly what ising a region through interactions with people
needed to open up
from outside is to maintain a weak and opena region.
connection that allows anyone to join in.
Kuwabara said
the local people had“Sustainable Japan” features issues related tolost confidence inthe environment and a sustheir town before
tainable society, and highlights
the triennial started.
ESG and satoyama activities.
“They thought,
More information at www.
‘There is nothingsustainable.japantimes.com
The opening of Hong Kong House in 2018 TSUNAN-CHOSatoyama~Authentic
Japan

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