[jfs] Locally Produced Food in School Lunches -- A Challenge by Nyuzen, Japan

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Japan for Sustainability Newsletter #180
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August 31, 2017

Copyright (c) 2017, Japan for Sustainability

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 August 2017 issue of the JFS Newsletter:

- Locally Produced Food in School Lunches -- A Challenge by Nyuzen,
Japan

- 1% Support Program in Ichinomiya City: Citizens Decide How to Use
Their Tax Money

- Japan's Road Traffic Deaths Drop to 1/4 of Peak Level

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Locally Produced Food in School Lunches -- A Challenge by Nyuzen, Japan
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035892.html

Japan has various school lunch programs in effect nationwide that
involve advanced efforts to promote local production and consumption of
food. The Third Basic Program for Shokuiku (food/ nutritional education)
Promotion, effective from FY 2016 through FY 2018, aims to improve the
ratio of locally produced foodstuffs used in school lunches to 30
percent or more from the current ratio of 26.9 percent, with the goal of
promoting the local production local consumption movement through school
lunch programs. The Basic Program for Shokuiku Promotion has been
implemented since 2006 based on the Basic Law on Shokuiku enacted in
2005.

The School Lunch Program Act, revised in June 2008, also stipulates
efforts to use local farm products in school lunch service according to
agricultural conditions in each area and also to promote knowledge of
local food culture, food industries and the natural environment of the
area. The substantial aim of the act is food education through school
lunch programs. At the same time, promoting use of local agricultural
products can also be reliably expected to result in increased economic
circulation in local areas.

The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)
released a guidebook to provide tips on how to use local farm products
in school lunches, describing many existing examples. From these
examples, we can see that a significant factor in successful attempts is
the degree to which an original system can be created which actually
matches the situation in the local area.

I studied all the examples from the view of local production for local
consumption and then divided them into three major classes.

When a school lunch menu is planned, the amounts and kinds of food
ingredients are identified and calculated in advance based on the number
of students before any actual cooking takes place. The first step is
pick items from the ingredients list that can be prepared locally. This
is implemented throughout the nation. The next step is to establish an
original menu plan according to expectations not only of how much of
what items will be needed, but also with an eye on how much and what
kinds of local ingredients can be harvested each season. In some areas,
we see even more advanced cases, which can be called "third step" cases.
There, the lunch planning staff and food ingredient producers confer
with each other about the next year's lunch program beforehand so that
the farmers can draft their work plans and even try raising new items in
response to requests from the cooks.

This month, we introduce the case of a school lunch system practiced by
Nyuzen, a town in Toyama Prefecture, through an interview with Mr.
Yukihiko Tatsujiri, executive director of Nyuzen Agriculture Public
Corporation in Toyama Prefecture.

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Using More Local Products in School Lunches

Tatsujiri gave me the following account of his town's efforts.

"When a social movement to raise the ratio of local food ingredients in
school lunches started in Japan, Nyuzen reacted quickly, setting a goal
of 50 percent, higher than that the prefecture had set. We managed to
reach 42 percent at the peak but the percentage has dropped these years
to around 37 to 38 percent. The ratio of vegetables alone stays at about
48 percent. This year, we want to get the total ratio back to 40 percent.

"We have two junior high schools and six elementary schools in this town
and five of them have school lunch service. The number of children
having school lunches is 1,600 to 1,800.

"Years before, we were procuring vegetables from market via the
designated suppliers, and a large portion of the vegetables we purchased
were not locally produced vegetables. In 2003, we decided to shift to
using locally produced vegetables in the school lunches in order to
support, agriculture, the main industry of this town. At first, the
decision led to conflicts with the suppliers. The town, school staffs
and farms all came together as a team and tried to explain our decision
and policy, so we could finally gain their approval.

"In order to raise the ratio of local food ingredients in school lunches,
we visit farms individually every March, the fiscal year end. During
this visit, we inquire about their possible supply schedule for the next
year, asking what products, how much of each and in which month they can
be supplied to us during the year ahead. When the harvest time
approaches, we visit them again to see how the harvests of their crops
and vegetables are turning out. We may happen to receive 200 kilograms
of an item though it had been planned to be 100 kilograms, or the
opposite may be the case because of poor weather or other reasons.

"School lunches are prepared by the cooking staff in each school. Just
after the 10th of each month, detailed information on vegetables to be
supplied the next month is provided to those concerned. Based on that
information, lunch menus for the next month are planned. Around the 25th
of each month, we receive requests from each school for ingredients,
specifying the amounts and supply dates. Then we visit the farms again
to make definitive supply requests. Managed by the board of education,
nutritionists gather every month to plan the menu.

"When we were purchasing food ingredients exclusively from the
designated suppliers, the ingredients were delivered in precisely the
portions that we had ordered for cooking, but we cannot expect exact
amounts if we use more locally-produced ingredients. When the board of
education tells each school, 'This is the amount we could secure this
week, so please keep your use of it to this,' schools voluntarily make
adjustments to their menu saying, 'We'll use this ingredient tomorrow,'
'We'll cook them today,' and so on. If 10 kilograms of a product is the
maximum volume per day from a producer, we deliver it to one school on
the first day and to another on the second day.

"Products are brought into the Agriculture Public Corporation the day
before, and we distribute them to each school after inspecting them. If
we find any unsatisfactory products in our inspection, we ask the
producers to exchange them for good ones. When we have complaints from
schools, we run to the school to solve the problem."

Children's Reactions

Since they started using more locally-produced ingredients for school
meals, children's reactions to school lunches have clearly changed. They
clean their plate, leaving nothing. If any new teachers happen to leave
some food, the children point it out and say, "That's not right."

Tatsujiri says, "At elementary schools in Nyuzen, every student from the
first to sixth grades eats in one lunch room. If the fifth and sixth
grade students find any first or second graders who are struggling to
eat everything on their plate, they tell the younger children, 'I will
have the food you don't want, so take what you want from my plate in
exchange.' This is how they achieve 'no leftovers' from their meal.

"When we ask children how their meals were, they say, ' The local
products we had today were delicious' or 'The food was tasty yesterday
and today too.' We never hear negative words."

Educating Parents and School Cooking Staffs

Vegetables from suppliers are cheaper but not fresh, while locally-produced
vegetables are reassuringly fresh. Vegetables sold at local stores and
markets are rarely damaged or bruised, but local vegetables are
generally delivered before farm insects can be washed off completely.
Children find small bugs that even the cooks missed. They go home and
tell their mothers about the meal, saying "The school meal was delicious
even though I found bugs in my food."

Then, says Tatsujiri, "Their mothers panic and run into our office. I
ask them how the vegetables were when they were children, and they say,
'We often found bugs on the vegetables, but didn't care.' So I say, 'Why
don't you point that out to your children?' In this way we educate
parents.

"When we show the essays written by children about school meals cooked
with locally-produced vegetables to the parents, they are delighted that
their children care more deeply about the local vegetables than they
themselves had. They will remember the taste of meals from childhood
even when they are grown. In addition, more children are interested in
becoming farmers.

"We ask the cooking staff to wash the vegetables more thoroughly and
blanch them if necessary. Blanching them causes most small insects to
rise to the water surface, so we can easily remove them. It is natural
for local vegetables to have wormholes.

"The cooks say, 'Why do you bring in vegetables with wormholes? You can
buy vegetables with no worms or bruises at stores if you pay for them.'
So I tell them, 'Don't you think it is important to buy safe vegetables
from local farmers? Please cook the local vegetables in a way that
brings out the taste so that children can enjoy eating them.' To be more
efficient, I go to the schools to teach the cooking staff how to sharpen
knives. I was first told that knives can be sharpened for as cheaply as
500 yen (about US$4.5) at stores, so I spent one month visiting each
school to teach them the technique, saying 'Who is paying the 500 yen?
Why don't you do what I do?'"

Supporting Farms and Expanding Our Effort

Nyuzen wants to support agriculture because it is the town's major
industry. They ask local producers to put a price on their products, for
example, the price of one onion. Then, referring to the highest market
price, they offer to pay them the highest price throughout the year.
When producers price an onion at 100 yen (US 90 cents), they try to pay
them 100 yen. The producers always have to be the top priority. That's
why Tatsujiri says they determine the price based on the producers'
asking price.

In return, he says, "We make requests for things such as better
selections in product quality and sorting by size. If they can respond
to our requests, we pay their prices without much negotiation, and may
even raise them to 110 yen (about US$1) if the products are of high
quality.

We even ask elderly people, 'How about delivering products from
your garden, let's say just once next month?' Once they deliver some,
they are pleased to earn a little extra spending money. Then we start
exchanging words like, 'Can I deliver more?' 'Why not?' I sometimes go
around to several farms in town and discuss whether they can grow other
kinds of vegetables. When I look at lists of vegetables grown in the
town, the number of items has been gradually increasing since I started
my current work in 2009.

"We want to give good food to children so we have been working hard with
the farmers. When we see former schoolchildren who are now in their 20s
or nearly 30 years old, they recall that the school lunches were good."

Fureai Lunches

"We host Fureai Lunches," says Tatsujiri, (Fureai means "interaction" in
Japanese). "These enable school children to communicate directly with
farmers over school lunch. We secure a budget to organize it at three
schools per year. The children really enjoy this lunchtime. After the
Fureai Lunch which is just about 30 minutes, they write as much as three
or four pages about it. We can see how happy they are from their
reactions. When the children show their writings to their parents, the
parents say, 'Our children learn things we never thought about -- and
even more' and 'Please have this kind of event more often.'"

"This person grew this vegetable for today's lunch." Farmers are
surprised to be introduced like this, but they are happy. Children give
greater applause and nicer words to the farmers than anyone else, so the
farmers are encouraged to keep going.

The Future of Agriculture in Nyuzen

Luckily, Nyuzen welcomes young people who start to work at farms. Most
of them are young couples who are engaged in agriculture together, so
the town has no problem securing the next generation of farmers.

Young farmers teamed up around 1996 -- when the town bought three
unmanned helicopters with government subsidies. They asked the sons of
local farmers to operate the helicopters, saying "Why not play with them
while working on the farm?" They also paid them wages for it. Since then,
young sons who had been unwilling to pursue agriculture have come
together as one in farming.

At the beginning, it was just for fun for them, but gradually they
started to get new ideas and motivation. Now, the town has about 167
young farmers.

There are about 3,700 hectares of agricultural land in all of Nyuzen.
Farmers cultivate 75 percent of the land under certain contracts. As
time goes by, some old farmers will find it difficult to keep working on
a rice field due to their age or lack of machinery. Tatsujiri says, "We
visit such old farmers and ask them if they know any younger farmers
they would like to appoint as a successor. If they do, we make a phone
call and ask the person. Most of the time, the appointee says 'OK.'

"Therefore, we utilize most of the 3,700 hectares of land. Only 40 ares
are not being cultivated. Even in mountainous areas where boars and
monkeys live, young people such as high school students and members of
youth groups at the town's commerce and industry association try new
things saying, 'As we cannot grow rice here, let's try Japanese
evergreen oak (Quercus acuta) and/or perilla (Perilla frutescens).' They
work on new agricultural products as 'sixth industry'* products.
Agricultural corporations have been launched in the town one after
another, and now we have 126 corporations."

* "Sixth industry" is a concept of initiatives for expanding 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 harvested produce 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
sixth industry initiatives.

From this year, a group about a dozen of young farmers' wives launched
their own attempts to grow new products which haven't been grown in the
town. Tatsujiri sometimes gives them advice while accompanying them to
seedling shops or training programs.

Even people living other parts in Toyama come a long way to buy produce
at the farm markets in this town. The annual total sales last year were
180 million yen (about US$1.62 million). About 450 local farmers come by,
bringing their produce one after another. Their produce is cheap and
fresh, so even if they are piled high on the tables in the morning, they
are almost gone in the afternoon, and the market is empty by evening.
Most of the vegetables are almost sold out as early as nine to half past
10 in the morning.

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In Nyuzen, increased use of local produce in school lunches has gone
smoothly by having the Agriculture Public Corporation act as a
facilitator between the staff in charge of school lunches and the
farmers. Food education through the use of local produce at schools will
have a favorable influence not only on the children but also the parents
and cooking staff at schools. The Fureai Lunch evokes happiness among
the farmers. Efforts to train successors pay off with a playful
challenging spirit that catches young people's hearts. We look forward
to seeing how Nyuzen's school lunch initiative using local produce will
evolve and expand in the future.

Written by Junko Edahiro

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Does this article spark any ideas that might apply in your own community?
Please share your ideas and leave comments!
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035892.html#comment

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1% Support Program in Ichinomiya City: Citizens Decide How to Use Their
Tax Money

In many communities, activities are carried out by citizens for citizens,
such as community cleaning, safety patrols, health promotion and
hobby-related activities. Some of our readers may take part in such
activities in their own communities.

Many local governments provide grants for community activities, and in
many cases it is the local governments that decide how much funding will
be given and to which organizations. Ichinomiya City of Aichi Prefecture
in central Japan has implemented a unique scheme since fiscal 2008; its
residents can vote to choose which organizations get support. This scheme,
the "Support Program for Community Activities Chosen by Citizens,"
is called the "1% Support Program" for short.

How does this scheme work? Why is it called 1% Support Program? In this
issue of JFS Newsletter, we introduce this initiative.

Ichinomiya City's 1% Support Program -- Support Program for Community
Activities Chosen by Citizens

Ichinomiya is located near Nagoya, the capital city of Aichi Prefecture,
and has a population of about 390,000. In the 1% Support Program,
residents aged 18 or older can vote for up to three community activity
organizations, and eligible organizations can receive funding in
proportion to the number of votes they received. This voting is separate
from the municipal election cycle.

The municipal government of Ichinomiya calculates the funding per
resident by dividing one percent of the city's total revenue from
individual city residents' tax by the number of residents aged 18 or
older (in fiscal 2016, for example, it was 640 yen or about US$5.77).
That's why the scheme is called 1% Support Program. The concept is that
residents themselves can decide how to spend one percent of the resident
taxes they have paid.

The following is how citizens' organizations are chosen to receive
funding and the funding amount are determined. First, community activity
organizations wishing to get funds submit to the city authority their
project plans and the amount they would like to receive. After
confirmation that requirements are met, information about project plans
is published on the city's official newsletter and website. Based on the
information, city residents aged 18 or older can vote their choice to
support up to three organizations, via postal mail or online. Residents
who want to support community activities as a whole instead of a
particular organization can opt for the Community Activity Support Fund.
Depending on the voting outcome, funding is provided to organizations
after they complete their projects.

Two main factors determine the funding given to each organization: the
amount calculated by dividing one percent of the total of individual
city resident tax revenue by the number of residents aged 18 or older
(the amount of funding per resident), and the number of votes received.
But there is one more factor: the number of organizations each resident
votes for. Each resident has a right to choose up to three organizations
and when a resident votes for only one organization, the full amount of
funding per resident (in 2016, the 640 yen mentioned above) is the upper
limit of the amount funding from that resident provided to the
organization. When a resident votes for two groups, however, the maximum
amount of funding per resident for each group is a half amount of the
funding per resident. In the same manner, when three organizations are
chosen, one third is the upper limit that will be distributed to each of
those three groups.

Let's imagine a scenario in which funding per resident in a year is 600
yen (about US$5.4), a group requests 150,000 yen (about US$1,350), and
200 residents vote for this group only, 100 choose two including this
group, and 300 choose three including this group.

In this scenario, according to the following calculations, the maximum
amount of funding distributed to this organization is 210,000 yen (about
US$1,892).

a. 200 people multiplied by 600 yen (full funding per resident) is
120,000 yen. (about US$1,081)
b. 100 people multiplied by 300 yen (a half of funding per resident) is
30,000 yen (about US$270)
c. 300 people multiplied by 200 yen (a third of funding per resident) is
60,000 yen (about US$541)

Out of the 210,000 yen calculated according to the voting, this
organization will receive 150,000 yen as it requested, and the remaining
60,000 yen will be pooled in the Community Activity Support Fund. If the
amount calculated according to the voting is below the requested amount,
the group will receive the calculated amount.

Use of the Program

How many residents actually participate in the voting in Ichinomiya? In
fiscal 2016, 36,908 out of 320,066 people (the total population aged 18
and higher in the city), or 11.5 percent, registered to vote on funding
(of those, 34,582 were valid). Since the amount of funding per resident
for projects of fiscal 2016 was 631 yen (about US$5.70), a total of
almost 22 million yen (about US$198,198) was paid to 64 organizations
that requested funds and to the Community Activity Support Fund.

As mentioned, 11.5 percent of the residents participated in the voting
that year. If more residents join the voting, the amount of funds for
community activity organizations will also increase.

The funded amount each organization received in fiscal 2016 was
approximately 250,000 yen (about US$2,252) on average, but there are
differences depending on organizations, from tens of thousands of yen to
over 1.5 million yen (about US$13,514).

In fiscal 2016, an organization that provides sports lessons in the
region received the most funds, approximately 1.9 million yen (US$17,117).
This organization's project garnered 3,133 votes in total.

The organization holds lessons on sports, such as soccer and kendo (a
Japanese martial art), in schools, gyms, and other facilities in
Ichinomiya. In fiscal 2016, a total of some 1,000 citizens benefited
from this project. The funds were used for honorariums for instructors,
fees for the use of facilities, and expenses for producing flyers, etc.

Also in the same year, about 1.1 million yen (about US$9,910), the
second largest amount, were given to an organization that helps homeless
people and others in need to live independently. A total of 2,384
residents voted for this organization. Its project is designed to
provide job assistance and counseling for daily problems, operate
shelters, and conduct food bank activities, and expenses for these
activities are partly covered by the fund.

In fiscal 2016, 64 organizations received funds, including organizations
that offer music instrument workshops for elementary and junior high
school students, and activities such as firefly breeding, festival
operations, disaster prevention, and neighborhood patrols.

Citizens Decide How to Use Their Tax

Ichikawa City in Chiba Prefecture had a similar "1% Support Program"
from fiscal 2005 to 2015, and Yachiyo City in that prefecture has been
running one since fiscal 2009 (there are some differences in how their
programs are run). Other local governments have introduced similar
programs (but without "1%" in the name) in which residents select
community activities to support through voting.

This kind of 1% support scheme by local governments in Japan originates
in the Percentage Law enacted in Hungary in 1996, which enables
taxpayers to donate one or two percent of their income tax to
non-governmental organizations and others. This Hungarian law was
adapted to the programs of the local governments in Japan.

Another example of schemes in which citizens can decide how to use taxes
is known as "participatory budgeting." More than 3,000 cities around the
world, including New York, Boston, and Paris, have adopted this idea.

There are various types of participatory budgeting. In Paris, five percent
of the budget for construction and repair of public buildings and other
facilities in Paris is appropriated for participatory budgeting. (In 2015,
this came to a total of approximately 10 billion yen, or about US$90
million.) Paris residents can propose projects that will be carried out
using this budget and the projects to be adopted are also determined
by voting.

Participatory budgeting and 1% support programs make it possible to more
directly reflect citizens' wishes for how to use their own municipalities'
budgets. Participatory budgeting in Paris allows residents to propose
projects to be carried out by the city's budget and determine which
projects are adopted, while 1% support programs are regarded as being
more familiar to residents since they allow residents to determine which
community activities will receive support and how much money they will get.

Does the region where you live have any unique scheme that allows
citizens to directly determine how to use the municipality's budget?
If you have any information on such schemes, please let us know at JFS.
We are interested!

Reference website:
Ichinomiya City "Support Program for Community Activities Chosen by
Citizens (1% Support Program)"
http://www.city.ichinomiya.aichi.jp/kurashi/chiiki/1010093/1012340.html
(in Japanese)

Written by Naoko Niitsu

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Japan's Road Traffic Deaths Drop to 1/4 of Peak Level

According to data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in
2015, there were about 1.25 million road traffic deaths globally in 2013,
nearly the same level as the 1.24 million in 2010. The WHO has been
calling on nations to take concrete actions, insisting that safety
measures can steadily decrease the number of fatalities.

The National Police Agency of Japan (NPA) reported that traffic accident
fatalities in 2016 dropped by 213 from the previous year to 3,904. The
figure is one fourth of the peak level in 1970, and the first time
below 4,000 in the 67 years since 1949. The number of fatalities has
decreased by about 40% during the past decade. In this issue of the JFS
Newsletter, we introduce efforts that have been taken in Japan to
prevent traffic accidents.

Trends and current status of traffic accidents in Japan

In Japan, the number of motor vehicles owned and people with driverfs
licenses started to increase in the 1950s, and nowadays, cars are an
essential form of mobility in our daily lives. Tracking the increased
dependency on cars, the number of annual traffic accident fatalities
increased significantly and reached 16,765 in 1970.

After that, traffic safety measures were enhanced, including
improvements in traffic safety infrastructure. As a result, fatalities
dropped temporarily to half of the 1970 number, reaching 8,466 in 1979.
In 1980s, however, it increased again, exceeding 10,000 for eight
consecutive years from 1988.

Then, the number started to decrease again, remaining below 10,000 since
1996. According to the NPA's White Paper on Police, which compiles
statistics on the status of traffic accidents status, from 2005 to 2015
there were 4,117 traffic fatalities in 2015, a decrease of about 40%
from 2005.

The breakdown by age shows that traffic fatalities of people aged 65 and
older decreased by only 24%. People aged 65 and older accounted for
42.6% of traffic fatalities in 2005 and 54.6% in 2015, an increase of 12
percentage points.

The number of fatalities per 100,000 people decreased by more than 40%
in 2015 from 2005 in all age groups, including people aged 65 and older.
The death toll of people aged 65 and older remains at more than twice
the level for all age groups. In 2015, the number of fatalities per
100,000 was 3.2 for all age groups and 6.8 for people aged 65 and older.
The figure has been decreasing as a whole, but traffic accidents
involving seniors are a serious issue in Japan, where the further aging
of society is anticipated.

Traffic Accident Prevention Measures

One of the characteristics of Japanese traffic accidents, compared with
the United States and European countries, is that the percentages of
fatalities of pedestrians and cyclists are remarkably high. Of all the
victims who died within 30 days after the accident, the percentage of
fatalities from pedestrian or bicycle accidents was 19.4% in France
(2014), 31.3% in the UK (2014), and 16.7% in the US (2013), while in
Japan it was 52.9% (2015).

Various measures have been taken to reduce the number of pedestrian and
bicycle accidents. With their success, 2016 traffic accident fatalities
of pedestrians decreased by 12%, and cyclists by 14%, while the numbers
for car drivers or motorcyclists were almost flat. According to the NPA,
the comprehensive measures it has taken so far are a major factor in the
decrease of pedestrian and bicycle accidents. So, let's have a look at
what kinds of measures have been taken.

1. Measures to Reduce Pedestrian Accidents

Two measures have been taken to ensure safer mobility for pedestrians
and others by improving the road traffic environment.

1-1. Zone 30

Japan has been promoting something called "Zone 30" to ensure safer
mobility for pedestrians and others on residential streets in urban
areas. Zone 30 is an area where the maximum speed is limited at 30
kilometers per hour and side strips are established or widened.
Depending on actual conditions of the road traffic in these zones,
traffic regulations such as a closure to vehicle traffic are implemented,
or speed bumps are installed to force drivers reduce speeds. Measures
like these are being used to control speeds and calm or prevent
through-traffic in the Zones.

1-2. Barrier-free Traffic Signal Equipment

For safer street crossings for the elderly and the mobility-challenged,
the installment of barrier-free traffic lights and signs is being
promoted.

"Barrier-free" traffic signals include various types of equipment being
installed, such as audio signaling to indicate what is being displayed,
traffic lights that show pedestrians the elapsed time, waiting time or
remaining time to proceed, and pedestrian/vehicle separate traffic
lights to prevent traffic accidents by separating the time for
pedestrians and bicycles versus the time for vehicles.

Regarding traffic signs, more easily viewable and understandable road
indicators and signage are being installed with features such as bigger
signs and the use of materials that better reflect vehicle headlights.
Also, tactile paving is being used on pedestrian street crossings to
increase safety and convenience for the visually-impaired.

2. Measures to Prevent Bicycle Accidents

In about 80 percent of bicycle accident fatalities, the cyclist broke
some traffic regulation. In many cases the cyclist had failed to confirm
the safety of the situation or did not handle the bicycle properly, so
it is crucial to have proper and orderly bicycle traffic. For this, four
measures are being implemented, as described below.

2-1. Improving the traffic environment for bicycles
Improvements are being made to create an environment where pedestrians,
bicycles and automobiles can co-exist, by ensuring traffic safety for
cyclists when they ride on roadways and pedestrians when they are on
sidewalks. In addition, spaces are being developed exclusively for
bicycles, such as bicycle lanes and paths, and there is a review of
specific places where traffic regulations allow bicycles on sidewalks.
In all of this, an effort is being made to ensure safety for both
cyclists and pedestrians.

2-2. Raising cyclist awareness of traffic rules

Awareness programs try to familiarize cyclists of all age groups with
traffic rules for bicycles, including rules that bicycles should
basically travel on roadways; bicycles should keep to the left side of
the street; and pedestrians have the priority on sidewalks.

In recent years there have been many cases in which the cyclist caused
the accident. Awareness programs are thus emphasizing the penalties for
not following the rules, the dangers of traffic accidents, the seriousness
of responsibility when one causes a traffic accident, and the need for
cyclists to have third party liability insurance. In addition, to reduce
damage and injury programs promote helmet use for cyclists, and
seatbelts use for young children in bicycle child seats.

2-3. Bicycle safety education

Programs also promote bicycle safety education for children and students.
They try to provide good educational content, including using stuntmen
to replicate traffic accidents, holding participative, hands-on and
practical bicycle classes using bicycle-simulators, and so on.

For high-risk bicycle riders, training sessions are provided. Riders who
repeatedly commit a certain traffic violation are asked to take
educational classes to make them realize the importance of safe cycling,
in order to prevent traffic dangers.

2-4. Traffic guidance for cyclists

Based on occurrences of traffic accidents between bicycles and
pedestrians, as well as complaints and requests of local residents,
1,791 priority areas and roads were designated nationwide as special
zones for bicycle traffic guidance and education as of December 31, 2015.
Warnings are issued when cyclists ride without a light, ride double,
ignore red signals, and fail to stop. For egregious and dangerous
traffic violations, arrests and other rigorous measures are taken.

Future challenges
In 2016, 54.8 percent of all traffic deaths were of people aged 65 and
older. This ratio is the highest since statistics began. As mentioned
above, the need to reduce traffic accident mortalities among seniors
will continue to be a major issue as the ratio of Japan's elderly
population increases in the coming years.

Despite the absolute statistics , the number of deaths per 100,000 of
the population is dropping at the same rate in all age groups and for
people over 65, so we know that the current measures are indeed being
effective for people over 65. We hope that the implementation of
measures focused on reducing the number of accidents involving the
elderly will continue to reduce the accident mortality rate for seniors.

Written by Nobuhiro Tanabe

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Japan for Sustainability Celebrates Its 15th Anniversary
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We would like to take this opportunity to appreciate your interests,
encouraging feedback and continuous support to our activities for the
past 15 years since the establishment of JFS on August 26, 2002.

Thanks to your support, we have delivered more than 4,300 articles
and 180 newsletters to over 7,600 subscribers around the world.

We will keep moving forward to contribute to sustainability for the
world. We would be happy to collaborate with you, and welcome your
feedback at any time.

JFS accepts donations from around the world, by Justgiving,
a secure web payment system. http://japangiving.jp/c/15217

We would greatly appreciate your support to help us keep going
for 16th anniversary and another decade.

Our warmest regards,
Japan for Sustainability

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[JFS Web Site Additions of the Month]

- This month's cartoon:
"We need to train disaster waste processing professional
staff ASAP" (2017/08/13)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/manga/manga_id035885.html

- JFS Newsletter No.179 (July 2017)

Learning from Pollution Experience, Kitakyushu Now Promotes
Sustainable Society in Asia(2017/08/22)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035880.html
Seikatsu Club: Japanese Cooperative Managed
by Members' Will to Confront Social Problems(2017/08/11)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035882.html
Aiming to Build New Communities in Earthquake-Stricken Areas:
Ishinomaki Jichiren's Initiatives(2017/07/31)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035874.html

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