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Japan for Sustainability Newsletter #181
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September 29, 2017

Japan for Sustainability (JFS) is a non-profit communication platform to
disseminate environmental information from Japan to the world, with the
aim of helping both move onto a sustainable path.

See what's new on our web site: http://www.japanfs.org/en/
E-mail: info@japanfs.org

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In the September 2017 issue of the JFS Newsletter:

- Implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement: A Report on Japan's
Round Table for Studying Energy Situations

- Residents Protect Local Livelihoods by Funding Local Shops: Some
Examples in Japan

- Nishiawakura's Initiative Based on People Discovering Their Own Desires

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Implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement:
A Report on Japan's Round Table for Studying Energy Situations
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035913.html

To launch discussions on the nation's Strategic Energy Plan, Japan's
Agency for Natural Resources and Energy held a meeting of the Strategic
Policy Committee of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and
Energy on August 9, 2017. To determine the future directions of
long-term energy policies based on energy-related forecasts for 2050,
the Round Table for Studying Energy Situations was newly established by
the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and I joined the Round
Table as a member.

In this issue, I'd like to share with JFS Newsletter readers some of my
comments at meetings as a participant in the Round Table, which serves
as a platform to discuss energy policy for implementing the Paris
Agreement.

Roles of Strategic Policy Committee and Round Table

Japan's Basic Act on Energy Policy requires the establishment of a
"Basic Energy Plan" (more commonly referred to as the "Strategic Energy
Plan") and reviewing it every three years. The 18-member Strategic
Policy Committee is in charge of the reviews. The current discussions
are happening because three years have passed since the formulation of
the current Strategic Energy Plan in 2014.

Committee member list and the materials distributed at the meeting (Japanese only)
http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/committee/council/basic_policy_subcommittee/021/
Minutes and streaming video (Japanese only)
http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/committee/council/basic_policy_subcommittee/

As stated above, the function of Strategic Policy Committee is to focus
on the realization of the Strategic Energy Plan and continue discussions
on selected issues. On the other hand, the Round Table I participate in
plays a role in starting to examine and discuss energy topics a bit
further into the future.

(Quote from the website of Agency for Natural Resources and Energy)

In addition, under the Plan for Global Warming Countermeasures based
on the Paris Agreement, Japan decided to aim at achieving an 80%
reduction in existing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as a long-term
goal. Japan should achieve this goal under the fair and effective
international frameworks for the agreement in which all major
countries participate, while leading the globe in encouraging major
greenhouse gas emitting countries to engage in reduction efforts and
balancing global warming countermeasures, taking into account both
their technical capabilities and the need for economic growth.

However, such an ambitious goal may be difficult to achieve if we
only continue current efforts. To overcome this challenge, Japan
needs to achieve technological innovations and reduce emissions
totals through international contributions. To this end, METI
[Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry] will newly establish a
Round Table for Studying Energy Situations under the leadership of
the METI Minister, aiming to bring together a wide variety of ideas
and provide experts with the opportunity to hold discussions based on
the widest range of possible solutions.
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2017/0801_001.html

(Unquote)

While meetings of the Strategic Policy Committee are an official procedure
required under the Act, which stipulates a review every three years, the
establishment of the Round Table is separate and was decided by the
Minister in his own capacity. The Round Table provides opportunities to
learn about industrial and technological innovations as well as overseas
trends toward 2050, in the context of the Paris Agreement. Various guest
speakers will be invited to the meetings for participants' learning and
exchanges of opinion.

One of the Round Table's underlying concerns is that current energy
policies and the business-as-usual discussions may not lead to the
realization of the Paris Agreement. One of its major purposes is to
ensure that the government policies are in line with the Paris Agreement.

Nuclear policy is also to be discussed as one of various energy choices;
however, it is understood that this is in the context of energy policies
being examined from different perspectives to accomplish the highly
ambitious target of an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
by 2050.

I am thrilled for this opportunity to explore all the long-term possibilities
while admitting that there are many uncertainties, such as overseas'
geopolitical trends and technological innovations. I certainly look
forward to discussing the major directions for Japan's energy future.

Past Turning Points in Japan's Energy Choices and Emission Reduction Targets

At meetings of the Strategic Policy Committee and the Round Table, the
secretariat provides a summary of data and issues as the basis for
discussion. For the most recent Round Table meeting, a one-page document
showing the major past and future turning points in Japan's energy
choices was published online as a reference material.
http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/en/committee/council/basic_policy_subcommittee/pdf/data170901.pdf

The document lists the following eight important factors that are in a
state of flux and where forecasting will be crucial:

- Decline of oil and renewable-energy prices
- Developments in storage batteries
- Some countries are phasing out nuclear power, but many countries still
use it
- Market liberalization, growth of renewable energy, worsening
investment environment
- No changes seen in energy trends even after United States' withdrawal
from the Paris Agreement
- Continuing growth in global energy and electricity demand
- Rise of emerging companies; significant influence of financial
industries
- Growing geopolitical risks: strategies are needed to address them

The paper also refers to the Paris Agreement, saying, "Developed
countries share very ambitious, high-level goals for decreasing
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050." It lists the targets of major
countries including the United States, Canada, Germany, and France, and
shows Japan's 2050 target of an 80% reduction compared to 2013.

Regarding a long-term goal of Japan to tackle global warming, in 2008,
prior to the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit, the Council on Global Warming
Issues (an advisory panel called the Panel on a Low-Carbon Society) was
created to address the issue of global warming under the office of
then-Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. As a member of that panel, I
participated actively in the discussion.
http://japan.kantei.go.jp/hukudaphoto/2008/03/05tikyuu_e.html

I remember several "battles" of words between representatives of the
business and industry, who wanted to set the goal as low as possible,
worrying about negative impacts on the competitiveness of the economy,
and our side -- the representatives of citizens -- who insisted that we
should aim at setting an ideal emission reduction target to prevent or
mitigate global warming.

In the end, a proposal was submitted that states "Japan should pursue a
60-80 percent reduction from the current level as a long-term goal by
the year of 2050."
http://japan.kantei.go.jp/hukudaphoto/2008/06/16proposal.pdf

Although a long-term strategy to cut emissions 80 percent by 2050 was
approved by the Cabinet, Japan has failed to submit it to the United
Nations as a formal national goal. Apparently, this delay is partly
because of unsolved internal disagreements within the government,
including differences of opinion between the Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry and the Ministry of the Environment.

I think this will be one of the big topics of debate at the upcoming
Round Table meetings. I would like to learn more about the points of
view of respective ministries, as well as data and perspectives on which
they are basing their policies, share this widely, and keep thinking
about these issues.

1st Meeting of Round Table for Studying Energy Situations

The first meeting of the Round Table was held on August 30, 2017.

Materials distributed at the meeting (Japanese only)
http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/committee/studygroup/ene_situation/001/
Streaming video (Japanese only)
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/107407139

Below I would like to share some excerpts of my presentation to the
meeting. It was based on materials I had submitted, which are available
at the following link.
http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/committee/studygroup/ene_situation/001/pdf/001_007.pdf
(Japanese only)

(Quote)

Today, I would like to introduce myself, as well as my personal views
on participating in this Round Table. I have prepared some materials,
so I will briefly explain them and then would like to add some comments.

To contribute meaningfully to this Round Table, I would like to
participate in each meeting with three points in mind.

The first point is, needless to say, the perspective of "the
environment." I understand that this Round Table itself was
established to respond to the Paris Agreement, so I suppose many
discussions will probably be held regarding the amounts of emissions.
But emissions are not the only environmental issue that energy brings
about. So I keep that in mind when I join discussions.

The second point is the perspective of "community," which seemed to
be missing from introductory explanations.

If we think about energy issues as an extension of Japanese energy
policies so far, there is a big tendency to have an import-based
mentality. In other words, the discussion ends up being about how to
import energy. This is because the energy consumed in Japan until now
has mainly been imported from other countries. So the major part of
the briefing materials seemed to be from the perspective of
geopolitical risk and so on.

On the other hand, the energy we are capable of producing here in
Japan is renewable energy. Large sources of renewable energy for
industrial and commercial uses may still not be feasible, but at the
level of the community or individual household, energy
self-sufficiency with renewables is already possible.

I stayed at my friends' house in Okayama Prefecture recently. It is
completely off-grid, powered by their own solar panels and storage
batteries, and the family is living without any inconveniences. I
have heard that there are about 100 off-grid houses like this in
Japan.

Technologically and institutionally, how can we to help produce
energy locally and avoid geopolitical issues? This is a very
important perspective, and it was not included in the summary we
heard earlier in the meeting, but I believe we should think about this.

The third point is the perspective of "citizens." I participated in
the former Fundamental Issues Subcommittee to discuss the nation's
energy policies under Japan's previous administration. In terms of
gender diversity, men were significantly over-represented, and it is
the same in this Round Table too. At that time I wanted all the
members to know women's perspectives, so I organized a meeting where
about 100 women gathered to discuss their own energy issues, and
submitted a report on that meeting to the Subcommittee.

As for generational diversity, most the Subcommittee members were
older. When thinking about energy issues in 2030 and 2050, we need to
ask how we can reflect the ideas of people who will be the mainstream
of society then. So I also held a meeting of young people at that
time, and reported the results to the Subcommittee.

This time as well, I would like to report on the discussions at this
Round Table via Internet, and if possible, I would also like to
organize meetings both in person and online, where a diversity of
people can discuss the topics. I hope I will have the opportunity to
report to the Round Table on this in the future.

My final point is to ask how we think about energy. We hear about the
acronym of 3E+S (Energy Security, Economic Efficiency, the
Environment, and Safety), but discussions so far have been focused on
which one of these things is the most important.

Of course all of them are important, but I would like to focus on how
to find a balance between cost or economic efficiency in the short
term versus resilience in the mid to long term. And how we should
discuss these things.

When we think about the future in 2050, we tend to concentrate on
things like the future we "want" or the future as it "should be." But
in this Round Table I would like to focus on the future that is
"possible." I will make use of the scenario planning method, for
example, and various simulations based on system dynamics to think
about balance between energy and the environment.

In addition, I would like to touch on several points that came up in
a previous presentation in this meeting.

Mr. Sakane (a previous speaker) said earlier that even 2050 is a
short time from now. When thinking about the years from now to 2030,
nuclear power plants have been promoted due to costs and a lack of
energy options. But when we think about 2050 and beyond, will we
really need nuclear power? Even if renewables can provide most of our
energy needs, and many problems related to renewables can be solved?
We certainly need to discuss things like this.

(Unquote)

In my messages to the Round Table, the points I wanted to make are as follows:

(1) When we think about long-term energy policies, Japan needs to escape
the import-based mentality that has dominated thinking until now.

(2) The local perspective is especially important. (From the perspective
of resilience, how can we create as many communities as possible that
are energy self-sufficient?)

(3) Should nuclear energy be considered in the context of energy policy?
Or in the context of science and technology policy?

So far, nuclear energy has been dealt with as energy policy in Japan,
due to a lack of energy and nuclear's purported low cost. However, I
often felt that some voices at the Subcommittee were strongly saying
that it is necessary to maintain the nuclear plants for the technology
of decommissioning of reactors and for nuclear science.

If in the future we have sufficient energy and no cost-related problems
even without nuclear power will nuclear be unnecessary (looking at
global trends, by 2050 renewable energies could possibly replace nuclear)?
Or even so, will people say that we still need nuclear for science and
technology reasons? And even if that is the case, we wouldn't need
dozens of reactors, would we?

In the first Round Table meeting, several members including myself
expressed their views, but actual discussions will start at the next
meeting. I would like to devote my efforts to make this Round Table a
place for good discussions and hope that the discussions will lead to
good results.

Written by Junko Edahiro

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Do you have other ideas on what Japan should consider for its long-term
energy policies? Please share your ideas and leave comments!
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035913.html#comment

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Residents Protect Local Livelihoods by Funding Local Shops:
Some Examples in Japan

Imagine all the shops disappearing from where we live; what could we do
on such an occasion? In rural areas of Japan, many grocery shops have
closed their doors, suffering from a dwindling, aging population. This
month's JFS Newsletter introduces the reality of population decline and
aging in rural areas and efforts by local people to fight against the
closing of shops.

Rural Areas with Decreasing, Aging Populations

During the period of rapid economic growth from the mid-1950s to 1973,
Japan underwent a major industrial shift away from primary industries
such as agriculture toward secondary and tertiary industries such as
manufacturing and the service sector. With such changes in society,
young people, who formerly would have remained in their hometown and
worked as farmers, moved to urban areas as factory workers after
graduation. Fewer young people means fewer babies to be born, so rural
areas are suffering from population decline and aging.

According to data released by the Japanese government in April 2017,
while the population of underpopulated districts accounts for only 8.9
percent of the nation's total, the land area of these districts accounts
for nearly 60 percent of Japan's national territory.

Underpopulated areas suffer additionally from aging problems. Data from
2010 show that senior citizens aged 65 years or older accounted for 22.8
percent in Japan overall, but 32.8 percent in underpopulated areas, 10
percent higher than for the whole nation.

In such areas, various kinds of problems occur: closed hospitals,
discontinued train and bus services, and closed shops. If nearby shops
are closed, people have to go a long way by car to buy things. This is a
big burden for old people. To solve these problems, some areas protect
their local shops by founding citizen-funded shops. This time, we talked
by phone with the staff of five shops to gather information.

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1. 'Ohari Bussan Center Nandemoya' in Marumori, Miyagi Prefecture,
Delivering Food to 'Shopping Refugees' using Mobile Stalls

Located in a mountainous district at a distance of 10 kilometers from
Marumori's town center, the Ohari District in Marumori, Miyagi
Prefecture has a population of 800-odd. Since the last retail store in
the district closed in 2002, it had been difficult for the inhabitants
to buy even daily necessities.

To cope with the problem, some local volunteers got up and opened a
joint-financed outlet in 2003 with the backing of the local inhabitants.
The outlet was named Ohari Bussan Center Nandemoya (meaning
"whatever-you-want store" in Japanese). So far the outlet has accepted
an investment of 2.6 million yen (about U.S.$23,000) in total: about 2
million yen (about U.S.$18,000) from about 20 local investors, about
400,000 yen (about U.S.$3,600) from 200 local households, and the rest
from other sources.

As its name implies, Nandemoya sells everything from everyday
miscellaneous goods, locally cultivated vegetables and packed lunches,
to commonly-enjoyed dishes and farm equipment. The outlet contributes to
the community by selling everyday necessities from a mobile stall to the
elderly who might otherwise become "shopping refugees."

2. 'Furusato Center Yamada' in Takayama, Nagano Prefecture Attracting
Young People by Looking like a Convenience Store

Furusato Center Yamada was established in September 2007 to sell food
and everyday necessities to about 400 households in the Nakayama
District of Takayama, Nagano Prefecture.

The decision of JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) to abolish its Suko
Yamada Branch was the impetus for establishing the center. Facing
protests from local inhabitants against the abolishment, JA offered to
sell shares at 30,000 yen (about U.S.$270) a piece in June 2007,
collecting 7.74 million yen (about U.S.$70,000) from 150 inhabitants.
With the funds, Furusato Center Yamada, a joint-stock company, was set
up in July 2007 and the shop started operating in September 2007. The
shop has a space where local old-timers can rest and enjoy talking
together.

The center was reorganized in April 2016, resuming its operation as Y
Shop Furusato Center Yamada. Y Shops are community-based shops organized
by the Yamazaki Baking Co. The convenience store-style shop attracts
young shoppers with children.

3. Residents Help Restore a Community Base: 'Community Ukisato Minna no
Mise' in Matsuzaka, Mie Prefecture

Yunohara, located about 30 minutes by car from the center of Matsuzaka
in Mie Prefecture, has a population of about 80. The town's inhabitants
have had to overcome various difficulties such as plans to abolish the
route bus in 1988, withdrawal of the JA outlet in 2003 and closure of
post office in 2007.

When abolishment of the route bus was under consideration, the residents
opened an "early bird market" to sell fresh vegetables to visitors from
urban areas. When the post office and JA outlet were closed, the
residents' association started operating a simplified post office,
accepting business from Japan Post.

In July 2007, every household in the residents' association invested
10,000 yen (about U.S.$90) to operate Community Ukisato Minna no Mise.
Other money needed for its operation was provided by the residents'
association or contributed. The facility sells food and clothes to
residents and posts area maps of the district for sightseeing visitors.

4. 'Yorozuya' and 'Aburaya' --- Initiatives by Kawane Promotion
Committee in Kawane, Hiroshima Prefecture

Over 300 people live in the Kawane district of Akitakata, Hiroshima
Prefecture. Faced with the withdrawal of the local JA outlet, the Kawane
Promotion Committee started operating a store called "Yorozuya" and a
gas station, "Aburaya," in 2000 with funding from residents to support
people's daily lives. The committee received investment funds from about
250 households in the area, each of which contributed 1,000 yen (about
U.S.$9).

Kawane has launched various initiatives, including a "One-Yen Donation
per Person per Day" campaign, to support food delivery to the elderly.
Such activities have their root in the devastating damage caused by
massive flooding in 1972, which accelerated the area's depopulation.
With a sense of crisis, residents started working proactively and have
been continuing their activities, with the Kawane Promotion Committee
playing a key role.

5. Omiya Sangyo Retaining its Store Despite Population Shrinkage ---
Omiya, Kochi Prefecture

The Omiya district of Nishitosa in Shimanto, Kochi Prefecture, is
located near the border with Ehime Prefecture. The population of Omiya
was about 500 in the 1970s, but has decreased to about 300 now. The
ratio of people aged 65 and over to the total population in the district
is very high, about 50 percent. This is where Omiya Sangyo Inc. is
located. Omiya Sangyo, which operates a store equipped with a gas
station, was established in May 2006 when JA closed its Omiya branch.

Local residents were against the JA branch's closure, saying, "Without
the JA branch life will be inconvenient." They launched an opposition
campaign, collecting signatures, but the branch's closure was formally
settled in 2005. In response to this, 108 residents invested a total of
7 million yen (about U.S.$63,100) to establish their own company, Omiya
Sangyo Inc. The company's facilities, including a gas station, grocery
store and warehouse for agricultural materials, took over the JA branch
facilities.

In the early stage of its operations, Omiya Sangyo held advisory
meetings with representatives from each area several times a year to
improve the selection of goods and sales methods. The company has made
various efforts to contribute to the local community. Although it is
difficult to maintain the store in the midst of population decline,
Omiya Sangyo launched liquor sales in 2017.

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As shown by these five examples, diverse forms of resident-funded stores
exist suited to current conditions and the historical background of each
area. The amount of investment varies from 1,000 yen (about U.S.$9) per
unit to tens of thousands of yen depending on the presence or absence of
subsidies from the local government and differences in initial costs
incurred. In some cases, investment by all the households in the
community has created a sense of "our store" even though the amount
invested was small.

At any rate, keeping stores open will be a major challenge in an aging,
depopulating society. In Europe and the United States, there are
examples of residents establishing cooperative associations to retain
community stores. Crowdfunding, a way of raising contributions from
large numbers of people through the Internet, may enable children and
grandchildren living away from home to provide funding for a store in
their hometown.

If you have any examples of keeping a community store around you, please
share your information with us using the contact form.
https://www.japanfs.org/en/contact/index.html

Written by Naoko Niitsu

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Nishiawakura's Initiative Based on People Discovering Their Own Desires

Nishiawakura is a "village" (Japanese "mura," essentially a rural
district) located at the northeastern edge of Okayama Prefecture where
it borders Hyogo and Tottori prefectures in Japan. The village covers
57.97 square kilometers and has a population of 1,490 (as of August 1,
2017). Through the center of the village flows the Yoshino River, with a
long, narrow flat plain extending along it. About 95 percent of the
village is forested, with Japanese cedar and cypress dominating. At the
northern edge of the village, a wakasugi (young Japanese cedar) native
forest, which is rare worldwide, reflects the splendid changing scenery
of the four seasons.

In 2004, Nishiawakura decided against merging with neighboring
municipalities, though that was a large-scale trend throughout Japan,
from 1999 through 2010, but to remain an autonomous village. After that,
in a joint effort involving both villagers and non-villagers, the village
considered how to advance its efforts for autonomy. In 2008, it
established the "Nishiawakura Village Initiative with a 100-year Vision
of Forests." This initiative aims its sights on 50 years in the future.

Why does the name of this initiative include "100-year vision," though
it focuses on 50 years in the future? Looking back on the past, 50 years
ago there were also people who acted in consideration of the village's
future. They planted trees, and the trees are 50 years old now. That is
why the initiative's name includes "100-year vision," implying their
wish to pass along the hopes of their ancestors to the future. Moreover,
Nishiawakura hopes to develop not only forests but also the village
itself and the local people.

In this issue, we introduce Nishiawakura's initiatives, including those
based on their own desire to achieve what they want to do in the region.

Nishiawakura Local Venture School

When talking about regional revitalization, we sometimes describe
people's personalities in terms of three behavioral principles: hunting
type (based on ambition), nomadic type (based on curiosity), and
agriculture type (based on desire for security). Nowadays, more and more
hunting-type people are moving to Nishiawakura, with the number arriving
exceeding 100 in total. Also, 13 start-up companies have been launched
there, and the combined total of their annual sales amounts to slightly
over 800 million yen (about US$7.2 million). To organize this trend and
make it sustainable, the village began holding courses at the
Nishiawakura Local Venture School (LVS) in 2015.

LVS courses are offered on the assumption that each school participant
will start up a new business based in the village. Participants who pass
the final selection are provided with training opportunities, a subsidy
and other support.

In the first selection, carried out in Nishiawakura, participants can
receive feedback directly from residents. Also, to make more concrete
plans, each participant works in a team with village officers to solve
problems quickly and visits sites suitable to his or her business. After
a brush-up period, the final selection is carried out and those who pass
it can start business.

One of the LVS's notable features is that everything depends on "the
individual's own desire." Participants are repeatedly asked, "Is that
really what you want?" Every time they are asked this, they adjust their
business plans by looking back at themselves again. A sense of unity is
generated not by starting with an action for the sake of the region or
Japan or society, but by the process of awaking each participant's
passion and having village residents experience this passion by means of
the selections.

Nishiawakura Local Life Laboratory

A challenge to foster human resources step by step in the village has
also been undertaken under a program called Nishiawakura Local Life
Laboratory (LLL). In this program, agriculture-type people can develop
themselves while learning about the village, unlike hunting-type people,
who are involved in the village from the start as entrepreneurs.

Participants in this program seek their future while learning about the
village as apprentices for one year. After the program is completed, the
participants can choose their own future at their discretion. If they
want to start a business, they can seek to create a business using the
LVS. They can also find a job and continue living in the village. They
can even choose to "graduate" and leave the village.

Eels from the Forest

Daisuke Maki, who has been actively playing a main role in implementing
the LVS and LLL since their inception, conducts his own business
activities in the village through his company, "A0 Co., Ltd." He runs an
eel aquaculture farm in the former gymnasium of an abolished elementary
school. His eels are sold under the name "Eels from the Forest." He
tries to maximize the available natural capital by utilizing wood waste
generated from lumber processing factories in the village as fuel for
the heating system to keep temperatures optimal in his aquaculture farm.
Since chemicals are used as little as possible to raise the fish, the
eels produced by his culture method are safe to eat.

Maki also pays particular attention to managerial aspects: maximizing
the value of each eel. In the conventional process, starting from
production (aquaculture), processing, distribution and retail, and
finally leading to consumers, the heads of eels are discarded during
processing. Eel heads, however, are known to contain large amount of
collagen, and his farm is now trying to find a way to make good use of
them, as they would otherwise be treated as waste. To deliver tasty eels
for consumers to enjoy, the farm is also particular about its freezing
technology. Instead of using expensive techniques, the farm looked into
developing a low-cost freezing technique, which it is using now.

Maki hopes that his eel culture business will play the role that cattle
used to play in linking mountains and agricultural fields in the past.
Wood waste generated from processing lumber harvested from the mountains
is already used as fuel, and now he is attempting to grow grains and
vegetables using nutrients generated from eel farming as fertilizer in
farmlands. These are some of the creative ways to make the forest, which
is the villagers' pride, indispensable to many people through business
activities, instead of just preserving it as something to be appreciated
like a museum.

Activities for regional revitalization are gaining steam and many people
are working hard to support those activities across Japan. On the other
hand, burnout among these people is a possible issue. Planning a
business based on one's true desires could be one solution to this issue.
Having a venue to share one's own passion for one's business directly
with people in the community could lead to a future co-created by "I"
and the community.

Furthermore, in the modern era when we feel pressed for time,
opportunities to get to know a community and re-examine oneself in an
environment where people are loosely linked may be invaluable.
Nishiawakura is a village, retaining the warmth to embrace not only
people who want to take on new challenges but also people who still
can't figure out what they want to do.

Written by Yuta Hashimoto

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[JFS Web Site Additions of the Month]

- This month's cartoon:
Let's create an eco-community! (2017/09/11)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/manga/manga_id035904.html

- JFS Newsletter No.180 (August 2017)

Japan's Road Traffic Deaths Drop to 1/4 of Peak Level
(2017/09/25)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035901.html
1% Support Program in Ichinomiya City:
Citizens Decide How to Use Their Tax Money(2017/09/11)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035899.html
Locally Produced Food in School Lunches ----
A Challenge by Nyuzen, Japan(2017/08/31)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035892.html

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