Monday, April 4, 2022 | The Japan Times | 7

sustainable japan

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Japan’s regions offer models for world sustainability
ESG Talk
TOMOKO KAICHICONTRIBUTING WRITER

For the goal of making Japan carbon neutral
by 2050, the Ministry of the Environment
is supporting regional efforts through measures including legislation and subsidies.
Tokutaro Nakai, vice minister of the ministry, says his ambition in his role is to set off a“decarbonization domino effect” on a global
scale by supporting the promotion of successful models in Japan as well as the rest ofthe world.
There is an initiative underway acrossJapan to combine efforts of local governments, businesses and citizens’ groups toachieve “local SDGs” and to create “regionalcircular and ecological spheres.” The concept
was proposed by the Ministry of the Environment in 2014 and was incorporated into
the fifth basic environmental plan approvedby the Cabinet in 2018.
The initiative seeks simultaneous achievement of the social and economic regeneration of the region and its environmental
improvement, such as promoting decarbonization and conservation and regenerationof the natural environment. It encourages
agricultural, mountainous and fishing villages and urban regions to form self-reliant
and decentralized society, and complement
and support one another by circulating local

Nakai joined the Ministry of Finance in 1985
and transferred to the Ministry of the Environment in July 2011. HIROMICHI MATONO

resources, including nature, physical materials, human resources and funds.
It is characterized by its goal of achieving
integrated development of the environmental, economic and social areas, which isa departure from the typical thinking during the period of high economic growth, inwhich either the economy or environmental conservation was prioritized, not both.

of all households in the city, created jobs
not only at the facility itself but also in theforestry industry, helping to revitalize theregional economy.
“Japan’s industry has historically developed on a philosophy of seeking to benefit
not just oneself but all three stakeholders, which are the seller, the buyer andthe community, thereby contributing tosociety,” Nakai said. He believes the SDGs
philosophy of “leaving no one behind”
has many aspects in common with thementality and experiences of the Japanese. “We want to contribute to the rest of
the world by promoting the models thathave proved successful in regions of Japanoverseas, working with large, medium
and regional companies that are behindthem,” Nakai said. “I think they can serve
as models for countries in Asia and Africa,
which paint a scenario of transitioning to acarbon neutral economy while protecting
natural ecosystems.” If successful examples increase, it may be possible to rapidly
set off decarbonization efforts in Japan andoverseas, like a domino effect.

Top use of regional strengths

As technologies, including digital technology, developed and found wider uses,
they helped accelerate the formation of
the regional circular and ecological sphere.
“It has become possible to put regional
strengths to maximum use, including
renewable energy, food and tourism
resources created from the blessings ofnature found in forests, rural areas, rivers
and the sea,” Nakai said.
The bottom-up way of thinking, in which
efforts to achieve the SDGs are led byregional communities, is essential for realizing the local SDGs, he added. “Local communities and individuals are like cells thatform the human body,” Nakai said. “Each ofthem needs to make maximum use of theirpotential and take action to nurse ailingregions and the Earth back to health.”
Nakai also stressed the importance ofregional financial institutions, which havefirmly established their positions in theirareas. They form a “twin turbo engine” combined with local governments, which leadthe effort. While the central government
plans to support local governments throughgrants to promote regional decarbonization efforts, gaining the understanding
and cooperation of private-sector financial institutions, including regional banks
and credit unions, is indispensable. It is thecase especially for realizing a large projectthat involves regional companies, as they
have developed relationships of trust with
regional economic entities over many years.
The government aims to designate at least
100 “decarbonization leading areas” by theTo international contribution

Tokutaro Nakai, vice minister of the Ministry of the Environment HIROMICHI MATONO

end of March 2031 and is inviting local governments to submit requests for grants. The
support will continue to be offered in intervals of five to 10 years, and the government
plans to promote models that prove successful in Japan as well as overseas.

Leading models

There are already examples of leading
models. In the Chiba Prefecture town of
Mutsuzawa, “regional microgrid” was constructed using renewable energy sources
such as solar power and regional resources

such as natural gas. The microgrid canmaintain a stable supply of electricity even
if a blackout is caused by a natural disaster such as a typhoon or earthquake. Inthe Okayama Prefecture city of Maniwa,
where forests occupy about 80% of thearea, a biomass power project, which generates power using wood waste from forest thinning and timber offcuts collectedfrom forestry and lumber businesses, waslaunched entirely on local funding. The
power plant, whose generation capacity
can cover the combined power demand

The so-called Joint Crediting Mechanism(JCM), which aims to contribute to thereduction of greenhouse gases on a global
scale by promoting the use of superior
decarbonization technologies in developing countries, had been used in 205
projects across 17 countries by the endof December. According to Nakai, thegovernment has begun discussions withrelevant ministries and agencies on ways
to promote JCM projects funded by private-sector money, rather than just government subsidies. These projects range
widely, from power generation using
waste materials to renewable energy
development.
Participants in the 2021 U.N. Climate
Change Conference, held in Scotland
in November, in effect agreed to — inNakai’s word — “upgrade” the previous

Before taking up his current post, Nakai servedin the ministry as councilor of the minister’s
secretariat and director-general of the waste
management and recycling department, among
other positions. HIROMICHI MATONO

target of limiting the increase in the global
average temperature, from well below 2
degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to below 1.5 C. The world has entered
the “phase where we work to pursue theoutcome of reducing emissions” this year,
Nakai said.
In its April 2021 report on final measurements of greenhouse gas emissions in thefiscal year that ended in March 2020, theJapanese government reported that thecountry’s greenhouse gas emissions pergross domestic product had decreased
for seven consecutive years. Nakai said
Japan’s strength lies in its steady trackrecord of reducing emissions, which has
helped it win trust from the international
community. That, he added, also hasmade him feel responsibility to do a goodjob.
“I want to help promote successful
regional models (of Japan)
overseas andcontribute tothe internationalcommunity,” he said.
The ESG Talk series are interviews with business leaders
who are active proponents ofESG investing and practicesin Japan.

Onbeat magazine: Where all of For president of Lifull, theJapan’s arts and the future meet guiding principle is altruism
ESG/SDGs
MAIKO MURAOKACONTRIBUTING WRITEROnbeat, a semiannual bilingual magazine
for art and culture from Japan, covers awide variety of genres, including art, architecture, crafts, fashion and music. Themagazine has featured interviews andfeature articles with top creators such as
teamLab, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Kohei Nawa,Hiroshi Senju, Kengo Kuma, Tadao Andoand Issey Miyake, as well as popular serial
projects by authors such as Yoichi Ochiai.
Since it does not focus only on a specific
art form, it not only allows you to readabout what you like in both Japanese andEnglish, but also provides serendipitous
encounters with inspiring works in art
categories that are new to you. “The concept is to introduce talented Japanese creators of any genre,” said Hirotaka Fujita,
editor-in-chief of Onbeat and CEO of thecompany of the same name.
He explained that the musical term
“on-beat,” for accenting the first and thirdbeats in a bar of four-four time, which
he took as the magazine’s name, is thetypical rhythm used in music played inJapanese traditional festivals and sacredkagura dance performances at shrines.
“The magazine encourages new kinds ofexpression as a result of updating traditions in modern ways,” he said.

The cover of Onbeat’s 16th issue ONBEAT

It was his encounter with African pop
music that led him to this idea. He discovered that African musicians, insteadof imitating Western music, were rather
keeping the core of their own traditions
and combining them with modern elements to create original music, “an ideal
model of updating traditions to the present day.” He is a musician himself, andcould not stop himself from traveling toAfrica to experience life and music there,
where he made special connections withfamous African pop musicians such as
Salif Keita and Youssou N’Dour.
Behind what Fujita tries to do throughOnbeat is his own experience of rediscovering the depth of the culture of hisown country when he lived in Paris fora few years after his trip to Africa. “WhileI was living in Paris, I was blessed with
an opportunity to visit art galleries andmuseums almost daily, and I realized thatJapanese culture had developed not in ahuman-centric way, but in harmony withnature,” he said.
“But at the same time, I felt that theJapanese people of today are not able
to appreciate their own art and culture
based on their own tradition for themselves and communicate its value tothe people of the world, which is a greatshame.”
He said many Japanese artists have highskills but are not trained to explain theirworks in words, which is partly why it isdifficult to make a living as an artist. “Arteducation in Western countries focuseson training how to illustrate the concept,originality, novelty and significance of
one’s works in art history, because thegoal is to live as an artist,” Fujita said.
That is why he made the magazine
entirely bilingual from the first volume,
which was published in 2014 and focusedparticularly on in-depth interviews.
The next issue of Onbeat, coming up inJune, will be the 16th issue. It will featurearticles on designer Tamae Hirokawa,
film director Naomi Kawase, architect
Junya Ishigami and contemporary artist
Yukinori Yanagi and Makoto Aida.
Fujita said the company is starting newprojects outside the magazine and art
books, leading up to its 10th anniversary
year in 2023. Onbeat has signed a partnership agreement with Jeane Inc., based inUnraveling Japanesecompanies
TOMOKO KAICHICONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hirotaka Fujita, Onbeat editor-in-chief and CEOONBEATTokyo’s Shibuya Ward, which provides
digital marketing support services andoperates the Yugen Gallery, a contemporary art gallery. “We will utilize the online
and offline Yugen Gallery as a platformto sell and promote contemporary art,”
Fujita said.
Onbeat has also started a collaboration
named Nanotech Meets Art Project withJapan Nano Coat Co. Ltd., a company inTokyo’s Taito Ward that specializes in theresearch, development and manufacturingof nano coating agents. “Applying nanotechnology in arts and crafts will enable
better preservation and use of new materials. As the first collaboration under thisproject, our nano coating technology wasused in a new work by sculptor Kohei
Nawa, which is to be exhibited for a few
years in Marunouchi Street Gallery, as an
open-air gallery in Marunouchi from lateMay,” Fujita said, with construction by Be
Factory Co. Ltd.
Onbeat is also promoting Ronin | Globus| Onbeat Artist-in-Residence, a programthat promotes cross-cultural dialogue bygiving young and midcareer Japanese artists the opportunity to stay, create andexhibit in New York City.
“We aim to go beyond making magazines, becoming a hub that connects various kinds of arts and artists, regardless ofgenres, to make an impact on society,”
Fujita said.
This section highlights theenvironment and a sustainable society. For more information please visit www.
sustainable.japantimes.com

Lifull Co. operates Lifull Home’s, one of
the largest real estate and housing information websites in Japan. It also operates
businesses in other wide-ranging areas,
including regional revitalization, nursing care and support for women in raising children and training for jobs, andengages in initiatives to help develop newmarkets, including efforts to promotesmall-lot real estate investments using
blockchain technology.
As its corporate message says, the company aims to make “every life full” byresolving social issues through its business. Company President Takashi Inoue
got together with serie’s host Naonori
Kimura to discuss about his ultimate goal.
Personally, he would like to contributeto realizing world peace and the wellbeing of all humanity. “I want to makethe world a place where all its 7.8 billion
inhabitants can feel safe and happy. If you
make someone happy, happiness will
come back to you” said Inoue, who cited
altruism as the company’s credo and his
key guiding principle since he started his
first business at age 26.
In the area of regional revitalization
alone, for example, the company concurrently engages in as many as 10 projects.
One of them is LivingAnywhere Commons, which aims to co-create a lifestylein which people can live anywhere theywish, doing anything they choose, without being bound by restrictions of where
their home is located.

Takashi Inoue, representative director andpresident of Lifull Co. THE JAPAN TIMES.

PAGE: 7

Under thefields including
project, thedrones, self-driving
company turns
cars, recyclingunused proporiented anderties acrossautonomous
Japan, including
decentralized
disused corutilities, nextporate resort
generation energy,facilities andtelemedicine andabandoned
food tech.
schools, intoInoue said hefacilities withplans to take innoboth work andvations born inliving spaces
Nasucon Valley towhere indiLivingAnywhere
Lifull is a company that mainly operates a realvidual andCommons facilities
estate information service in 63 countries.
corporate users
to seek opportuniLIFULL
can stay forties for using themextended periods.
to help regional revitalization and resolve
For individual users, the company offerssocial issues in developing countries.
a subscription service that lets them stay
“We aim to increase the well-being ofwhenever they like and for as long as theyeach individual and use technologies tolike for a monthly fee of ¥25,000 ($200),
accelerate (the development of ) social
which covers the costs of water, lighting,systems,” Inoue said. “If we can maximize
heating and communications.
this multiplying impact, we might be able
“You can stay in the facilities for evento make our society full of happiness anda year as long as you can afford to pay
realize world peace. I want to do whatever¥300,000 (in annual fees) and for food,”
I can as an entrepreneur to change ourInoue said. “In the future, if technology
society and I will
reduces the marginal cost close to zero, youkeep doing what I
will be able live comfortably even with low
do until I turn 100
living expenses.”
years old.”
Inoue said he aims to increase the number of these facilities, which currently total
32 nationwide, to 100 by the end of 2023,
NAONORI KIMURA
and hopes to help revitalize regional comINDUSTRIAL GROWTH PLATFORM, INC.
munities using them.
(IGPI) PARTNER
In October 2021, Inoue founded theNasucon Valley Council in a joint initiaIt is really wonderful that ative with businesses, including Nippon
grand vision and unwaverParking Development Co., and local goving values are firmly estabernments, and was appointed its first replished not only in Lifullresentative director.
President Inoue but also
The council uses Nasucon Valley, a priacross the company as thevately owned tract of land 170 times larger
basis for judgments.
than the Tokyo Dome stadium in theCo-creating many types of social value
Tochigi Prefecture town of Nasu, as a testwith an altruistic attitude toward stakeing ground for next-generation technoloholders — the corporate culture thatgies to help them find practical use.
drives this in a pure, honest manner is theBusinesses participating in the initiaessence of sustainability management.
tive have been increasing. They currently
include Fujitsu Ltd.; Prime Life TechThis section highlights thenologies Corp., a joint venture between
environment and a sustainPanasonic Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp.;
able society. For more inforHakuhodo Inc.; and Rakuten Group Inc.
mation please visit www.
Currently, projects are underway insustainable.japantimes.com