An interesting and inspiring first talk of 2025 here with the amazing Alex Kerr who has spent his entire life focused on a better Japan through his book writing, consulting, business projects. Also, in recent years has also added a love of design, traditions and life in Thailand to his life focus. In this episode, Alex takes us through the design a…

Sustainable travel connections in this podcast from the MEDIUM article: Kamikatsu, Omishima, Kyoto, Nagoya. And traditional areas like Kyoto where Waka poetry is preserved - an important element of the spirit of Japan. It’s January 2025 which is a perfect time for me to share some goals for this year of the snake as well as highlight positive insig…

So excited to finally get the podcast version of this seek-sustainable-japan talk with Rowie up and include some of the fun clips from my visit to her lovely "funky cottage". Going through these old clips really made me want to revisit this lovely area! It's another reminder that there are so many lovely areas of Japan worth exploring and worth thi…

Tove & JJ wrap up their favorite sustainable short-takes of the year and give suggestions for great organizations to support, great blogs to read and shopping mindfulness as we enter the holiday season. Enjoy! TELL mental-emotional support Best of Sustainable Japan events Fabric Regenerative Biz event BCCJ Gender Equity event Hiroko Yoda Blog Impor…

Obsessed with the sounds of Japan whether they be natural or wacky electrical, lead composer-producer artist Facundo Arena has dreamed of coming to Japan for over 10 years as he has been making music inspired by the country. Facundo joined the Seek Sustainable Japan talkshow-podcast to share insights about their Japan-inspired ambient musical journ…

Dr.Donna Weeks joins us again on the Seek Sustainable Japan talkshow to give us her insights on some of the key issues since the latest 2024 Japan election which created a government party, leadership and power dynamics reshuffle. Dr.Weeks has been following Ishiba's career over her political science career of 30+ years and has lots of great histor…

Tove & Joy are both focused on sustainable issues in work across Japan doing consulting, training, educating, advising & developing sustainable strategy for business, events, organizations and tourism. Tove Kinooka is cofounder of Global Perspectives & Enteleco Consulting: https://www.entelecoconsulting.com/ JJWalsh is founder of Inbound Ambassador…

I had a great opportunity to talk with kids in 5th grade this month about sustainability and sdg's to simplify the key concepts- it was a great reminder that simplification is the standard I use use for all talks - especially for the sustainable tourism and travel talk I am giving to a general audience at the beginning of next year. Let's keep issu…

So grateful for the beautiful colors of autumn this time of year and family and friend gatherings over amazing foods- a time to show KANSHA gratitude for Japan's amazing farmers- especially those who are also regenerating the land, educating those eager to learn, reusing old AKIYA houses and rebuilding dying rural communities! Read the MEDIUM artic…

Introducing Hiroshima's sacred island of Miyajima latest sustainable product, Miyajima Salt as written about on GetHiroshima.com GetHiroshima article about Miyajima Salt 3-min SHORTS version on YouTube Sign your name of support for the campaign to reduce Hiroshima ocean plastic pollution #miyajima #craft #salt #hiroshima #entrepreneur #japan #susta…

Our Monthly Sustainability focused talk by two sustainable business & tourism consultants in Japan- Tove Kinooka and Joy JJWalsh 00:00 Welcome 00:30 No Snow Mt.Fuji 02:00 Climate Change Gov 03:00 Fabric KK B Corp 06:25 WE EXIST docu-series 08:40 Gender-Focused Investing 11:00 Allies for Diversity 13:20 BentonHomestead on CNBC 14:40 CapGemini IT eve…

Felicity Tillack is a filmmaker based in Kyoto Japan now working on a documentary series about inclusion and diversity of the LGBTQ+ community in Japan. Tiffany Rossdale produces and stars in this documentary-series titled WE EXIST a focus on LGBTQ+ lifestyles and issues in Japan. Please Support the film "We Exist" via kickstarter: https://www.kick…

Wonderful news that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bomb Survivor HIBAKUSHA group called NIHON HIDANKYO won the Nobel Peace Prize this year, but is a future without nuclear weapons a possibility? Talking about stories from guiding in Hiroshima in combination with this news of the award and current stance of the Japanese PM Ishida about the reality of …

Tove Kinooka and JJWalsh are both sustainability focused consultants, educators, advisors and advocates for sustainable business and strategies in Japan. Tove is based in the Tokyo area around the capital and Joy is based in Hiroshima city. Join us for the next live talk on Oct 28th at 8:30 Japan time: https://www.youtube.com/live/Fg2f4paE9f4?si=Bo…

Global Sustainable Tourism Council manager Emi Kaiwa talks about her work in Africa with eco-tourism and strategies for how to train guides and managers in Japan to raise awareness of the value for travel that is in better balance with the needs of people, planet and profits. #sustainabletourism #sustainabletravel #gstc #interview #tourism #travel …

Dr.Donna Weeks - longtime friend of Seek-Sustainable-Japan - gives insights on the top-7 candidates in Japan's LDP presidential election this month (who will be the country's prime minister) based on her 40 years of research and engagement with Japanese politics as a psephologist. TOPICS covered in this talk: Politics & Sustainability? How did your…

James Hollow and his team at Fabric have set up 10 great strategies in their workplace to give them first-hand insights that inform their consulting work & passion to live a more sustainable life. Read the MEDIUM article here. == See all the short videos of James Hollow introducing these strategies here == So much of what James is putting in place …

Great to catch up after the summer break with fellow sustainability-focused consultant Tove Kinooka on our monthly series Sustainable Japan short-takes. It was a lively discussion of connections across topics that help us find better ways to balance the needs of people and planet with profits. Read about this podcast on MEDIUM | See the video of th…

Wonderful interview with the inspiring carpenter-educator-writer Douglas Brooks about more of his projects in Japan, and around the world, to preserve and celebrate the traditional wooden boats of Japan. Watch the interview here on YouTube to add visuals to the images we are talking about. As always, big thanks to Casey Bean for the opening and clo…

Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima Peace Memorial park are difficult places to visit, but also important destinations to maintain and allow people to consider wartime choices and their consequences. This year, I had the chance to visit Pearl Harbor on Hiroshima day August 6th and attend a peace light-up event at Pearl Harbor again on August 7th to commemor…

In early spring 2024, Tom Miyagawa Coulton and I traveled on a 24h ferry from Tokyo to some of Japan's most remote and not well known tropical nature reserves called the Bonin or Ogasawara islands. YouTube video of this talk here Tom is a talented photographer and is always a great collaborator on writing and consulting projects like this around Ja…

The entire 500th Episode of the "Good People Doing Great Things" Seek Sustainable Japan episode - so many fun and interesting people and insights here to enjoy.Por JJWalsh

Andrew Russell is originally from Scotland, but has been living and brewing sake in Japan for more than 8 years. In winter, Andrew is busy brewing sake from Oct to Mar each year, but during the off-brewing season, he gives excellent Sake tours in the famous brewing region of Nada in Hyogo. This is the third sake brewing area in Japan where he has w…

JUNE topics: Refugees | Same-Sex Couples Equality | Koike vs Renho Tokyo Gov | Big Garbage Reuse by Gov on Mercari app | Compost Toilets & Sustainable Travel | Peace Ed & Gaza from Hiroshima | Mountain Ecosystem Tokyo Event | BCCJ event Exploring Japan Corporate Diversity LINKS: ==Renho vs Koike for Tokyo Gov== https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/202…

I have a great love for the sustainability of Japanese indigo. It can be grown without pesticides while capturing carbon and restoring the soil, it can be used without damage to the people who work with it and it can be put down the drain without damage to the environment and waterways- a perfect solution to our modern textile needs. Aizome also ha…

In this follow-up episode with Miroslav Bachura, an architect design and urban planning insider based in Shizuoka - we discuss some key issues of good, more sustainable (people-planet-profits in balance) urban design with examples from Kyoto, Shizuoka and other areas. Miroslav Bachura joined us last month to talk about his renovation projects in Sh…

Japan needs the diverse perspectives represented in the creative performance arts & Aya tells us the how and why theatre, acting and performance helps us live healthier and happier lives. Aya Kawakami Murray is a university educator who founded the Theatre Iridescence in Nagoya and will give us insights on her backstory, vision for the theatre, a b…

Double the fun in one episode of our April and May live talks in the Sustainable Japan short-takes series with consultants Tove Kinooka and Joy Jarman-Walsh. April 2024 Episode: 00:30 Bring Your Own Bottle 01:00 Refill with MyMizu 01:45 Singaport Hilton tap water sign 02:40 What is MyMizu? 03:15 Is Plastic Recycled? 04:05 Plastic Waste Export Crisi…

David Caprara is an American journalist who has been based in Japan since he first came as a JET in 2012. David has worked as a writer, researcher, director and producer with major broadcasting companies both inside and focused on Japan from the US. Some of his interesting film projects give us a new perspective on travel and community issues in Ja…

Miroslav Bachura is an architect-designer who is originally from Slovakia, now based in Shizuoka Japan. Here he talks about how to properly reuse Minka traditional Japanese houses and materials to be both stylish, cost effective, safe and more sustainable. Watch the talk with Miro here to see all the great pictures we refer to in this talk. Miro is…

Bonus podcast of my MEDIUM article Celebrating Rural Japan at the 3rd Annual Minka Summit in Hanase Village. Read the full article here: https://medium.com/@jjwalsh/celebrating-rural-japan-life-reuse-of-old-houses-at-minka-summit-24-1e496d5bc357 This year was the 3rd annual Minka Summit and we went back to the beautiful Hanase Village in rural Kyot…

2024 is set to be the biggest year yet for international visitors coming to Japan and while most news articles focus on overtourism and the bad apples in the crowd- I’d like to highlight how inbound tourism is having a positive influence on the local people, planet, proactive mindset and a more sustainable economy. Also, ideas for how we might appe…

As a part of the 2024 Minka Summit in rural Kyoto, we had the chance to visit the stunning KAYABUKI thatch roof MINKA traditional home and atelier art studio of talented design team 2m26 Mélanie and Sebastien. Here Mélanie talks about the process of changing their roof from metal and tile back to natural straw thatch roof over the last year. 2m26 a…

Vancouver based Brigitte Gemme is a mom and researched professional who has been spreading her love of vegan eating and sustainable lifestyles with an international audience through her blogs, podcasts and workshops. In spring 2024, Brigitte traveled Japan with her family and has some advice for vegan eaters who want to enjoy the experience. 00:00 …

Tove & Joy talk about the latest sustainability focused projects, news and entrepreneurship around Japan for March of 2024 that are on our radar. Tove Kinooka is co-founder of sustainability focused consultancy and training business in Tokyo: ENTELECO: https://www.entelecoconsulting.com/ https://jp.linkedin.com/in/tove-kinooka-35a39323 Joy Jarman-W…

Brett works on Ojika island (Nagasaki) and elsewhere in Japan (new project in Nagano) under the business name “Okibi”. Here he talks about the ups and downs of fixing up old houses, reusing local materials, being as sustainable as possible with renewable energy, natural materials, community building and even beach cleanup activities as a part of hi…

The Noto peninsula was rocked by one of Japan's strongest earthquakes on Jan 1, 2024. Bernd Schellhorn and Mitsue Nagase are residents of the Noto peninsula area who chose to move there from Kyoto and make it their home. Bernd and Mitsue have been on the Seek-Sustainable-Japan talkshow before sharing insights about Shojin-Ryori and Photography. Thi…

As a preview for the 3rd annual Minka Summit on April 19-21 this year, I had the chance to talk with author and Japanese house design expert Azby Brown (who is this year's keynote speaker) about some of the ideas he will be presenting to the audience of over 500 traditional Japanese house enthusiasts from across Japan who will gather in rural Kyoto…

Carole Fuchs is an impressive endurance athlete who has climbed Mt.Everest, she works at the British Embassy as a climate advocate, and is an entrepreneur who launched Feel Run - a sustainable business focused on promoting sustainability in sportswear, events and sports. The sportswear she makes reuses waste plastics and bamboo fibers - the company…

Ayumi & Uberto are an international couple living in Fukuoka who know a lot about earthquake resistant traditional Japanese buildings. Ayumi wrote an excellent Medium blog about it and another about how Japanese students are educated and trained to survive an earthquake. They have been renovating and living in an old Japanese house KOMINKA after ma…

The 3rd annual Minka Summit will be held once again in Hanase Village (about an hour from Kyoto station). In this preview talk about this year's event, Lauren, Andrea and Stuart join to give insights on the special speakers, minka mall, minka tours, locals and the village, and how the event has changed over the last 3 years. Key Takeaways They are …

Originally from the US, Dani & Evan Benton have bought properties and land to live and run a guest house and to do natural farming in rural Japan. The Bentons have been so generous in sharing their knowledge on YouTube by documenting and sharing a variety of useful information about how to get a Japan business and startup visa, buy a house, renovat…

Nori is an inspiring entrepreneur, working mother and sustainable business expert based in Tokyo - this time Nori joins us to introduce HUE - a new kind of foodie / map app to share your favorite eateries with likeminded users in Japan and beyond. The Pod-Save-America episode I reference in the beginning of the show on being sober & community conne…

How can you enjoy deeper experiences at temples and shrines and religious places in Japan? Nathan Jishin Michon has been studying and practicing Buddhism for the past 20 years and is based in Kyoto where he offers deeper, more meaningful guided tours to international visitors. Kyoto is one of Japan's top travel destinations but without a good guide…

Alex Kerr is a living treasure of knowledge about all things Japan- especially Japanese culture, traditional houses, community development, village life and the arts. In this talk, Alex shares insights about his latest book which features unknown destination gems in Japan which still retain their traditional charms - called HIDDEN JAPAN. Alex Kerr …

Catching up with craft-beer brewmaster & insider Sakamichi Brewing co-founder Matthew Boynton. Matthew shares his North to South Japan top craft breweries and tap-room top-10 list with us - so many great examples of how these businesses take care of their local communities and environment while running a successful business! #craftbeer #japan #sust…

In this episode, Tove talks about the executives they took to Kamikatsu for a entrepreneurship & sustainability mindset business trip training program. Joy talks sustainable tourism strategies in action to reduce crowds and waste while getting more income and catering to customers. Tove talked about HR training & sustainable development for better …

== Enjoy JJ's Ad-Free Seek-Sustainable-Japan Videos all winter == Ava Grauls, Makiko Shimizu Harris & Megumi Ohata talk here about their beautiful and fascinating artwork which they displayed together in Hiroshima, Japan at Gallery G this summer (2023). These 3 talented humans share insights about their work as well as advice for budding creatives …

Writer James Clark and filmmaker Robbie McKain have joined forces to do a fundraiser for a film about the Michinoku Coastal Train (MCT) in Tohoku - a 1000 km trail that was created to bring more visitors to the area to enjoy the beautiful coastal hike while supporting the communities still rebuilding after the 2011 Earthquake-Tsunami-Nuclear Power …

Travel and volunteer work often goes hand in hand and Nathan Jishin Michon shares his experience of traveling to Tohoku after the tripe disaster of 3/11 and his book collecting stories and insights from other Buddhist voices about crisis care. I met Nathan recently in Kyoto when I gave a talk on PRIDE at the Creative Mornings event. Nathan's soft-s…