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Japan for Sustainability Newsletter #175
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March 31, 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 March 2017 issue of the JFS Newsletter:

- Increase Revenues without Increasing Catches -- How the Sustainable
Sakura Shrimp Fishery in Suruga Bay Does It

- Efforts by Japanese Businesses to Achieve the SDGs

- Excellent Environmental and Social Practices by Junior High, High
School Students in Japan

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Increase Revenues without Increasing Catches -- How the Sustainable
Sakura Shrimp Fishery in Suruga Bay Does It
http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035791.html

We often hear on the news that fish catches are decreasing all over the
world. At the same time, initiatives to realize sustainable fisheries
have been implemented here and there. In Japan, three fisherman's
associations in Shizuoka Prefecture have used a "pooling system" for
more than 40 years to run a sustainable fishery and protect marine
resources. They are in the towns of Yui, Kambara, and Oigawa, facing
Suruga Bay, which is renowned for its sakura shrimp (spotted shrimp)
fishery.

The pooling system is designed to allow all member boats to operate, and
shrimp fishing revenues are distributed evenly to each boat. In the
shrimp fishing season, a fishing control committee discusses the fishing
details of the day, such as catch quota of the shrimp, and fishing site,
before going fishing every day. Each boat reports each yield by radio,
and when the total yields reach the quota set by the committee, the
operation of the day is ended. A sales commission is deducted from the
total earnings, and the rest is split: 47% for boat owners and 53% for
crew members. Each portion is distributed equally based on the number of
boat owners and the number of crew members respectively.

Japan for Sustainability introduced the sakura shrimp fishery in Suruga
Bay through an interview published in its December 2005 newsletter.

JFS Newsletter No. 40 (December 2005): Efforts for Sustainable Fishery
http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id027808.html

More than ten years have passed since that interview. Since then, how
have the initiatives of this fishery changed? We visited Suruga Bay
again to ask Junichi Miyahara, head of the Yui Fisherman's Association,
about the current status and initiatives.

Pooling System Still Ongoing

The pooling system was introduced in 1977, and has continued up to the
present. One change compared to ten years ago is that, from mid-June
through November, fishermen themselves count the number of sakura shrimp
eggs in seawater using a microscope and record the data twice a week, in
order to protect the resource. They used to leave this task to university
researchers, but now they do it on their own. The fishermen send the
results to the Fishery Bureau of the Shizuoka Prefectural Government for
the calculation of sustainable fish catches. Based on the calculated
figures and daily market quotation, the fishing control committee sets
the daily catch quota of the shrimp every day. Miyahara says with a
smile, "It's not so often you see a fisherman using a microscope, is it?"

Also, during the fishing season, fishermen are required to check the
size of shrimps using a net in each fishing area every day. If the size
is small, they are instructed not to fish in the area. In this way,
catch quota and fishing sites are determined based on data in order to
protect sakura shrimps. Setting the fishing off-season is also a method
to protect the marine resource. The fishery is now limited to two
seasons, one in the spring (mid-March to early June) and the other in
the fall (late October to late December), and for the remaining periods
fishing operations are suspended.

Miyahara says, "Even if we have a good idea of creating products and
offering how to eat them, we wouldn't be able to provide anything if
there were no sakura shrimp in the sea. That's why we think we must make
great efforts to preserve the resource. This year is the 123rd year
after the sakura shrimp fishery began in Suruga Bay. It has been handed
down to us from our ancestors and we hope we can hand it down to future
generations."

These efforts have been recognized, helping the fishery in Suruga Bay
acquire the Marine Eco-Label in Japan (MEL Japan) certification in 2009.
MEL Japan is a Japanese scheme to certify fisheries that proactively
protect resources and ecological systems, and to allow their products to
bear the eco-label. The sakura shrimp fishery was Japan's second to
acquire the certification.

Revenues Can Be Increased without Increasing Fish Catch!

Setting an upper limit to a fish catch based on the amount of marine
resource means not continuously increasing the fish catch, or even
decreasing it in some cases. If so, you may worry that the revenues will
be reduced accordingly. However, surprisingly enough, the revenues of
the fishery association have been increasing although the fish catch has
not increased. The secret is in the association's new initiatives in
"the sixth industry."* This section introduces three such initiatives:
(1) establishment of a fishermen's market and eatery, (2) product
development by the youth section of the association, and (3) shipments
of live sakura shrimp.

* The sixth industry is a concept of initiatives to expand primary
industries such as farming and fishing, from merely harvesting crops,
fish, etc., into secondary and tertiary industries, such as producing
and selling processed food items utilizing what they harvest as
ingredients. The "sixth" concept derives from the idea of
"multiplying" the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries
(i.e., 1 x 2 x 3 = 6). Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries (MAFF) promotes the sixth industry initiatives.

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Initiative 1: Establishment of Fishermen's Market and Eatery
"Hama no Kakiage-ya" Directly Operated by Fisherman's Association

Yui Fishermen's Association established a fishermen's market, where
marine products are sold, in 1999, and an eatery named "Hama no
Kakiage-ya (meaning "an eatery on the beach serving battered and
deep-fried seafood")" in 2006, which is the first eatery operated by a
fisherman's association in Shizuoka Prefecture. Soon after their
openings, the association faced severe objections from the local
restaurants and middlemen.

Miyahara explains the reasons why the association established the market
and eatery despite the objections: "Until then, the way of doing our
business was just to ship what we caught here straight to the greater
Tokyo metropolitan area because our prefecture, Shizuoka, is very close
to the area. But it meant the local people could not enjoy fresh and
delicious seafood. Delivering fresh catch to customers for them to enjoy
is everything for us fishermen. And we want the local people to enjoy
fresh and delicious seafood and to remember how delicious they are.
This desire drove us to establish the eatery. In 2016, the annual
revenues of the fishermen's market and eatery combined were about 300
million yen (about 2.59 million US dollars ), contributing greatly to
the profitability of our association. On weekends and holidays, many
people from both inside and outside the prefecture come to these
facilities. And now, we are in a more cooperative relationship with the
local restaurants that used to object, and they put out their sign
boards to advertise at our eatery."

The fishermen's market is filled with various marine products including
freshly boiled sakura shrimp and whitebait, which is another local
seafood delicacy from Suruga Bay, and products developed by the youth
section of the association, such as "Okizuke" (sakura shrimp pickled
with special sauce) and "Ryoshi-dama" (boiled fish paste; literally
meaning "fishermen's soul"), described below. The eatery, "Hama no
Kakiage-ya" is in the parking lot of the fishing port and offers a
variety of menu items, such as big "donburi," a bowl with different
kinds of seafood on top of rice, and miso soup with sakura shrimp, in
addition to the most famous "kakiage" (battered and deep-fried sakura
shrimp, in this case). We enjoyed some of the menu items and they all
tasted great!

Initiative 2: Product Development by the Youth Section of the Association

The Yui Fisherman's Association has a youth section, which consists of
fishermen at the age of 50 or younger. Here we give you more details
about the products mentioned earlier, "Okizuke" and "Ryoshi-dama," both
of which were developed and produced by this youth section.

"Okizuke" is a product created by the Youth Section after several years
of trial and error. It is a vacuum-packed freshly landed sakura shrimp
soaked in a specially-made sauce. It is sold at the market and online
and is becoming popular through word of mouth and a good reputation.

"Ryoshi-dama" is a fish cake made from paste using fish that previously
were not sold on the market for some reason -- for example, for being
below standard size. All processes of grinding, forming, boiling and
vacuum-packing the fish are done by fishermen. This is a product into
which fishermen put their soul, as its name suggests. Marine Eco Labels
are affixed to both Okizuke and Ryoshi-dama.

In the past, during the off season, fishermen usually worked away from
home. Miyahara said, "For fishermen to work here all year round, we
established a workshop for making processed food products. Since
fishermen make the products themselves, we can just produce the quantity
for the market, but that is good enough for us."

Initiative 3: Serving Sakura Shrimp Alive

Sakura shrimp live between 200 and 300 meters deep in the daytime and
rise to depths of between 20 and 30 meters at night. This is why these
fishermen go out fishing in the evening and fish at night. It is said
that only 2% of sakura shrimp caught are alive when they are landed.
Therefore, in the past, it was only fishermen who had the chance to
see live sakura shrimp. The Yui Fisherman's Association undertook a
joint study with Mitsuru Takasaki of Ishinomaki Senshu University and a
device manufacturer, and successfully developed a technology for keeping
the 2% of live sakura shrimp alive, making it possible to ship sakura
shrimp alive.

Live sakura shrimp taken from trawl nets that are hauled to boats are
rushed to port and put into a special water tank. Sakura shrimp can be
kept alive in water by injecting oxygen. At the same time, however, it
is necessary to remove ammonia generated by live sakura shrimp. To this
end, a special water tank was developed. At the time of the shipment,
the sakura shrimp are put into a cylinder called Rocket containing
bacteria-free water and oxygen. In the Rocket, sakura shrimp can be kept
alive for at least 24 hours without any problems. The fishermen's desire
to have customers eat fresh sakura shrimp was achieved, and live sakura
shrimp became available for sale in a price range several times the
usual price.

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The Yui Fisherman's Association has adopted a sustainable fishery system
without increasing catches unnecessarily so that the next and later
generations to come will be able to harvest sakura shrimp. The reason
why the association's revenues themselves do not decrease even if the
catch is not increased (or in fact the catch may even decrease according
to the amount of marine resources) is that it has successfully created
added value by the sixth-industry initiatives introduced earlier. The
fishery in Suruga Bay demonstrates that sustainability and development
are mutually compatible.

We were really impressed by great efforts by the Yui Fisherman's
Association, but we are also aware that local sustainability efforts are
inevitably affected by global issues. Miyahara became more serious,
saying, "Since we introduced the pooling system and started stringent
resource management, fish catches have remained stable. Recently,
however, the number of sakura shrimp has been declining, and that may be
caused by global warming." He continued, "But the real problem would be
if we just gave up because of global warming, stopped thinking and did
nothing." Pondering his words, we will continue to watch and support the
future efforts of the Yui Fisherman's Association, which is so committed
to moving forward and not stopping.

Written by Yuka Kume, Naoko Niitsu and Junko Edahiro

*This article was funded by a research grant by the Asahi Group
Foundation Ltd.

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What can we learn from them?
Please share your ideas and leave comments!
http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035791.html#comment

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Efforts by Japanese Businesses to Achieve the SDGs

As a successor to the millennium development goals (MDGs) for 2015, the
sustainable development goals (SDGs) were adopted by the UN General
Assembly in September 2015. While the former mainly focused on
improvements among developing countries, the latter target issues such
as climate change, energy, health and employment in all countries, both
developing and developed. The targets are shared by governments,
businesses, civil society and people from all walks of life on Earth.

Sustainable Development Goals and Businesses

The SDGs are a set of 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets
supporting these goals. To promote achievement of the goals, the SDGs
Index and Dashboard was launched to assess progress of 149 countries
toward the SDGs, based on data from the World Bank, the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health
Organization (WHO) and other organizations. It encourages each country
to work toward these goals by comparing the efforts and performance of
each country.

Meanwhile, a new, socially aware form of investment called "environment,
society and governance (ESG) investment" has been gaining popularity
worldwide. This takes non-financial information into consideration based
on environmental, societal and corporate governance conditions. Today,
about 30 percent of asset management balance in the world is said to be
ESG investment. It is especially popular in Europe, where it accounts
for about 60 percent of investment. In Japan, the percentage is still
small, but the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world's
biggest fund, managing the employee and national pension reserves with
about 130 trillion yen (about US$1.12 trillion), ratified the United
Nation-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and
embarked on ESG investment. The percentage of ESG investment in Japan is
expected to increase.

Efforts and performance toward achieving the SDGs are being used as
criteria for evaluating ESG investment. In that way, and because
companies make efforts in business development and corporate social
responsibility (CSR), considering issues all human beings face,
companies' sincere efforts toward trying to achieve the SDGs will be
more and more important.

We often hear businesses complain, however, that they do not know how to
use the SDGs, even though they understand how important they are.

It is in this context that Seiya Yokoyama, a student of Japan for
Sustainability's chief executive, Junko Edahiro, who teaches at the
Faculty of Environmental Studies at Tokyo City University, investigated
the SDGs and published his graduation thesis titled "Response to the
SDGs - Comparison between Japanese and Overseas Businesses." This
newsletter article introduces good examples of efforts by Japanese
companies to achieve the SDGs, revealed by the results of his study.

Selection of Subject Companies for the Study

The basis for selection of Japanese companies was Toyo Keizai's CSR
Ranking, the only one of its kind in Japan, and for overseas companies,
the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World" (Global 100
Index), compiled by the Canadian firm Corporate Knights and announced at
the World Economic Forum (commonly known as the Davos Forum). A total of
100 companies, the top 50 from each ranking, were selected as targets
for the study.

The number of companies working toward the SDGs is rather small because
they are still so new. Therefore, the study chose companies in Japan and
overseas with high ratings environmentally, socially and economically
according to external evaluations.

Levels of Companies' Efforts towards the SDGs

As a preliminary survey, SDG-related business information on Japanese
and overseas companies was collected and, based on this information, the
companies were classified into six groups, as below. If a company fell under
two or more groups, it was classified in the highest group among them.

0: Makes no mention of the SDGs.
1: Mentions the SDGs as a key word.
2: Describes how the SDGs relate to business activities.
3: Attaches importance to the SDGs or uses them in formulating CSR
strategies or assessing the materiality of issues.
4: Picks out one or more of the SDGs and describes specific efforts
toward them.
5: Mentions specific efforts toward the SDGs and describes specific
outcomes or goals of the efforts.

Differences between Japanese and Overseas Companies

A summary of the survey results is presented below.

A graph is available (see the link below) showing the results of classifying the
Japanese and overseas companies into the six groups. Compared with
overseas companies, Japanese companies fall more into Groups 1 and 3,
with fewer in Groups 2, 4 and 5.
http://www.japanfs.org/en/files/nl_170410_01_en.jpg

Points were assigned to the companies in each group from 0 to 5, with 0
points given to Group 0 and 5 points to Group 5. The average points
earned were 1.96 points among the Japanese companies and 2.5 among the
overseas companies. This shows that overseas companies make stronger
efforts than Japanese companies.

Other findings were that the level of efforts towards the SDGs depended
on the size of the company, regardless of whether they were Japanese or
overseas; and that Japanese business-to-business (B2B) companies such as
those in energy, materials and machine industries ranked extremely low
in average points while overseas B2B companies showed no such tendency.

As a result, Yokoyama concluded that, compared with overseas companies,
Japanese companies in general make fewer specific efforts, mention top
commitment to the SDGs less frequently, and use the SDGs less frequently
in formulating CSR strategies. He recommended that companies review
their efforts from an SDG perspective and organize efforts for each SDG,
concluding that they could use the SDGs in various aspects of business,
including appeals to consumers and investors and education of their
employees.

Leading Examples

In his thesis, Yokoyama points out the best practices of domestic and
foreign companies that he saw during his research, hoping that they
would serve as models and hints to other companies. Let me introduce,
now, two Japanese companies, the Ajinomoto Group and Saraya Co., which
are proactively engaged in the SDGs.

Ajinomoto, one of JFS's corporate members, is among those classified in
Group 5, the highest level. Saraya, on the other hand, was not included
among the survey subjects, but used as a reference in classifying target
companies for his thesis.

The Ajinomoto Group (a food manufacturer)
http://www.ajinomoto.com/en/activity/csr/pdf/2016/ajinomoto_csr16-en.pdf

"Ajinomoto Group Sustainability Data Book 2016" devotes four pages to
describing the group's involvement in the SDGs and relevant activities.

Under the heading of "Ajinomoto Group Materiality," it says, "The
Ajinomoto Group has consistently debated the relationship between
business and global issues, starting with efforts to help resolve issues
facing 21st-century human society. In light of the SDGs, the Group
decided to review the issues and its own approach, and began surveying
and discussing with external experts to help clarify how to frame
business activities vis-a-vis SDGs."

The data book also refers to a questionnaire survey targeting external
experts. It says, "The survey asked experts which items, from among the
17 goals, the Ajinomoto Group should focus on helping to solve, what
contribution it should make, and if there were any materiality items
that should be revised in light of the SDGs. The opinions have been
shared internally to further future debate."

Mentioning nine goals (Goals 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 17) as
"SDGs closely linked to Ajinomoto business," the data book introduces
Ajinomoto's initiatives for each of these goals.

As just described, Ajinomoto utilizes the SDGs as a framework for
considering its policies. While examining the relationship between the
17 goals and its business, Ajinomoto integrates the SDGs into its major
initiatives. That's why Ajinomoto is considered to have one the best
practices.

Saraya Co. (a consumer goods manufacturer)
http://www.saraya.com/csr/report/images/report2016.pdf(available in
Japanese)

Under the title of "Saraya's Policies" in the first section of its
"Sustainability Report 2016," the company states that it promotes the
SDGs for their contribution to both its business and society. This
section also contains an SDG Comparison Table, in which 14 of the 17
goals are listed as SDGs that are material to Saraya. For each of those
14 goals, the table gives "Proposed Goals Related to Saraya," and
"Relevant Products, Services, Projects, and CSR." What is remarkable
about this table is that specific levels in the supply chain (upstream,
Saraya, downstream) are indicated for each of the SDGs.

With the SDGs as part of its basic policies, Saraya examines the
relationship between its business and individual goals, and tries to
promote the SDGs not only by itself but also through its entire supply
chain. This attitude can serve as a model for other companies.

Conclusion

Finally, we would like to cite a statement from the conclusion of Yokoyama's thesis.

He says, "Currently, only a small number of Japanese companies are
engaged in concrete activities associated with the SDGs. It is necessary
for them to recognize how the SDGs pertain to them. They should find
what is missing with the help of leading examples such as Ajinomoto,
which draws on advice from external evaluations, and Saraya, which
considers the SDGs throughout its entire supply chain.

"If many companies around the world were to use the SDGs in their
business operations, the SDGs would mean a great deal as universal goals.
The companies' involvement would have enormous significance because
they could work with various other entities, such as national and local
governments, non-governmental organizations and citizens' groups.
Efforts by each individual company would constitute a big step toward
the achievement of these universal goals. "

Written by Seiya Yokoyama and Junko Edahiro

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Excellent Environmental and Social Practices by Junior High, High School
Students in Japan

The Faculty of Environmental Studies at Tokyo City University, where
Junko Edahiro, representative of Japan for Sustainability (JFS), works
as a professor, has held a contest each year to award junior high and
high school student groups for outstanding practices in environmental/social
activities since 2013. The contest was launched with the aim of
supporting student initiatives in environmental conservation.

JFS became one of the partner organizations for the fourth contest, held
in 2016. At the awards ceremony on October 22, 2016, four student groups
won the Award of Excellence and one group was selected among the four
for the Grand Prize.

The following seven criteria were used for evaluating the applicants' performances:
- content and approaches of environmental/social activity
- results of environmental/social activity
- degree to which other students are involved
- degree to which other entities are involved
- degree of satisfaction/learning among participating students
- social impact
- potential for the activity's independent development and continuity

Edahiro was among the five members of the evaluation panel.

Here, we introduce the winning groups and their activities.

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Students' Own Resourceful Forest Conservation Efforts

The Global Environment Club, part of the non-profit organization Green
Dam Kitasagami won the Grand Prize. This group also won the Award of
Excellence for its outstanding environmental communication performance.

This group's members are students and graduates of junior high and high
schools in Tokyo, including the Tokai University-affliated Bosei Senior High
School, Takaido Junior High School in Suginami City, and Dai-ni Junior High
School in Mitaka City. They practice every step of forest management by
themselves, from investigating and planning, to implementing their plans
in a forested parcel of land located on Arashiyama, one of the foothills
surrounding Lake Sagami in Kanagawa Prefecture. Their thinning and
pruning skills are advanced enough to be acknowledged by forestry
professionals.

They have also adopted the Geographic Information System (GIS) in their
activities. This enables them to manage all basic information about the
forest such as locations and amounts harvested as integrated digital data.
In Japan, many owners of private forests face the problem that there is
no way to identify borders between forests. This makes it hard for
forest management to advance. The Global Environment Club is willing
to provide solutions to this problem through their GIS-based accomplishments.
It has launched a project for that purpose, along with working for forest
protection, jointly with Azabu University.

The group has conducted several events to openly appeal to the public on
the importance of forest protection. At these, they have displayed miniature
mock-ups of the Tokyo Station building and the Angkor Wat temple complex
constructed from wooden blocks made out of thinned timber. They created
these marvelous works using only their imaginative talent and three
kinds of blocks, with no adhesive materials. Participants viewing their
works directly admired their high degree of demonstrated skill.

Judge's comment:
The judges gave the group high marks for how the students from different
junior high and high schools could voluntarily and autonomously work
together in forest management activities. Collaborating with a university
and other entities, this club has developed an advanced forest
management system utilizing forest GIS, which makes this group
and its activities sustainable. We highly anticipate the group's efforts
having a strong impact on society.

Soil Restoration Using Mushroom and Paper Sludge

The Mushroom Study Team at Fugakukan High School, Shizuoka Prefecture,
was selected for the award by the chair of Restoration Ecology and Built
Environment Department at Tokyo City University. This team developed an
agent to rehabilitate soil damaged by salt due to seawater intrusion as
a result of the tsunami from the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011.

The phenomenon in which a ring shape appears in grass on a lawn, where
it grows thicker and greener than the surrounding grass, is commonly
referred as a "fairy ring." Researchers at Shizuoka University have
published results of a study on this phenomenon showing that certain
kinds of mushrooms generate a plant growth regulator which facilitates
grass growth. The study also revealed that the same substance gives some
plant species resistance to certain kinds of environmental stress. Based
on these results, if the plant-growth regulator can be proven effective
at ameliorating stress from salt and dry weather, which cause problems
during disaster reconstruction, the team expects to utilize it for
greening levee slopes and restoring salt-damaged rice paddies in
disaster-affected areas.

The students succeeded at extracting plant-growth regulator
2-aza-8-oxohypoxanthine (AOH) from Marasmius oreades, known as "the
fairy ring mushroom," and then developed AOH chips utilizing paper
sludge generated by a local paper company as a medium. They tested the
chips to see if they would work in salt-damaged rice paddies in Tohoku,
verifying increased rice yields in salt-stressed paddies. They also
observed the chips' effect at helping plants grow on levee slopes along
the Naruse River in Miyagi Prefecture. In addition the team succeeded at
restoring the vigor of cherry trees damaged by the tsunami along the
same river.

Judge's comment:
The students extracted substances from mushrooms on their own and
developed a soil restoration agent using paper sludge from a local paper
company. Using the materials they developed, they worked to restore and
green the disaster-affected areas damaged by salt. The judges highly
credit the group with trying to implement scientific research in
practical applications.

Floral Power to Decontaminate Indoor Environments

Team Flora Photonics at Nakui Agricultural High School in Aomori
Prefecture was awarded for its excellent school practice in utilizing
plants to improve the indoor environment, where people spend most of
their time every day.

Using advice from a seed company, a measurement device manufacturer and
graduate students, Team Flora Photonics is working locally in
collaboration with Hachinohe City, Nambu Town and various facilities to
improve the indoor environment. From experiments with several leafy
plant species, the students found that SunPatiens (an impatiens hybrid
developed by a seed breeding company) can clean the air, and is
especially good at quickly removing substances that cause sick building
syndrome indoors.

The group also studies stress relief effects by growing aromatic plants
indoors, which produces more natural conditions than using essential
oils, and also consumes less electricity. Members of the group work with
hospitals, kindergartens, nursing homes and other facilities in the area
to promote their activities. To reduce indoor pollutants in the rooms of
newly-built temporary housing which people moved into after the Great
East Japan Earthquake, the group occasionally checks pollutant levels,
offers plants for enjoyable flowers as well as clean air in rooms, and
interacts with local residents by planting flowers together.

Judge's comment:
This group's activity is unique, utilizing the physiological and
ecological features of plants and flowers. They also address human
health issues related to the indoor environment, including stress and
sick building syndrome. Their abilities in practice and collaboration to
improve local well-being are also highly rated, for example, their
conference presentations of study outcomes, promotional activities in
cooperation with local communities and active involvement in the
disaster-stricken areas.

Conservation of Endangered "Japanese Azalea" Species

The Local Collaboration Award was given to "Team Flower's" of the Oita
Prefectural Kusumiyama High School. At the request of the town of Kusu,
the group is tackling Japanese azalea conservation. This is the town
flower and a designated endangered species in Oita Prefecture.

This conservation activity has been handled by local farms in Kusu, but
labor shortages due to lower birthrates and the aging population are
making it difficult for them to continue. Team Flower's conducted
research at the town's request, and found conditions unfavorable to the
azalea, such as drying soil, roots being crowded by invading bamboo
grass and lack of sunlight due to unkempt and overgrown woods.

The group also tried to increase the azalea's population on school
grounds, successfully propagating its seedlings. Approaching related
authorities to obtain permission for planting in protected zones, the
group members are also working on planting the species outside the
protected zones. Wanting to help the Japanese azalea recover, the group
now plans to expand its range of activity by promoting the conservation
movement among the area's residents.

Judge's comment:
This group has continued to implement activities to conserve and
propagate the prefectural flower, Japanese azalea, for the past seven
years. Their activities are closely connected to the local community,
and their findings are shared with local residents through lecture
visits to elementary schools and postings on local offices' websites. We
expect their activities to continue and the area to become the Japanese
azalea's "hometown."

------------------

The participating schools are making consistent and steady efforts,
receiving advice from specialists, firms and colleges on points
requiring expertise, and continuously building cooperative relationships
with them. Every initiative is based on contributing to local
communities or the people still suffering from the 2011 disaster. We
hope their activities will be continued by up-and-coming younger student
members.

JFS will keep an eye on further efforts in environmental conservation by
this year's award-winning schools as well as other junior high and high
school students in Japan.

Written by Noriko Sakamoto
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[JFS Web Site Additions of the Month]

- This month's cartoon:
Slipping confidence in safety (2017/03/10)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/manga/manga_id035772.html

- JFS Newsletter No.174 (February 2017)

Investment to Help Disaster-affected Areas -- Initiative of
Disaster Area Support Funds Initiative(2017/03/24)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035766.html
Sustainable Community Building by Residents:
Kirari Yoshijima Network(2017/03/12)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035767.html
Toward a Sustainable Society - Learning from Japan's Edo
Period and Contributing from Asia to the World(2017/02/28)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035761.html

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