Plain Talk
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD JUNE 08. 2018Fighting with plastic garbage in Japan: The Never-ending story by Olivia
You keep throwing it away. But no matter how hard you are trying, it keeps coming back every day. It haunts you in your worst nightmares. You don’t know where to hide from it…
No, it is not a scary story. It is a story of throwing away the plastic garbage in Japan.
The other day I bought some kawaii stationery. The staff at the store asked me if it was for home use. I nodded, hoping to get as little wrapping as possible. However, it wasn’t the case. For some inexplicable reason, I got my purchase wrapped in 2 (!) layers of plastic and received a plastic bag with it. And, ironically, the local authorities keep asking us to reduce the garbage! How on Earth are we supposed to do it if we end up with all that plastic wrapping?
For many housewives like me, the problem of kitchen garbage (nama gomi) is much more bearable than the overwhelming amount of plastic. Although kitchen garbage is collected twice or three times a week, you can get rid of plastic only once a week. For those who are also struggling with plastic garbage, here are several tips for reducing it:
1. As much as I like how everything in Japan is carefully measured and separately wrapped, it is a potential enemy if you are trying to be eco-friendly. For example, each cookie in a box wrapped separately! Then goes natto in 3 separate packs and wrapping, mekabu seaweed (same story). The list goes on and on. To avoid it, my advice is to buy in bulk and repack it in smaller, reusable containers. The downside is that this way the expiry date is considerably reduced. Some foods like cheese can be bought at Costco and frozen, but some can’t.
2. Some supermarkets like AEON, Maruetsu Petit have recycling bins. There you can get rid of some of the plastic containers. Just be sure to wash them before that. There are also recycling bins for milk cartons and beer cans. The downside: takes some time and effort to wash the plastic and bring it to the supermarket, but it is not a problem if you are doing the shopping after.
3. Bringing your own shopping bag just doesn’t work anymore. Learn from the local grannies and try not to bring unnecessary plastic wrapping home. They rearrange the foods into bags and throw away the containers just after they paid for their groceries. I don’t know if that plastic gets recycled or not, though.
4. Don’t eat store-bought obento at home. Try to eat it at the eat-in area and throw it away there.
Nevertheless, plastic garbage keeps creeping into our lives every day. There’s just too much of it.
捨てても捨てても、どんなにがんばって捨てても毎日やってくる。悪夢のようだ。どうしたら逃れられるのか….。いや、怖い話ではない。プラスチック・ゴミを捨てる日本での話だ。
先日、かわいい文房具を買った。お店の人からご自宅用かと聞かれたのでうなづいた。簡易包装を期待していたのだが、ちがった。不可解にも、二重にプラスチッックで包んでくれ、そのうえプラスチックの袋に入れてくれた。皮肉なことに区からはゴミを減らすようにお達しがあったにもかかわらずだ。どうやったらプラスチック包装をなくせるのだろうか。
私のような主婦は、プラスチックゴミの量を考えるとまだ生ゴミの始末はがまんできる。生ゴミは週に２、３回収集してくれるが、プラスチックゴミは週に１回のみだ。プラスチックゴミに辟易している方にどうすれば減らせるかコツを伝授しよう。
１. 日本でのきっちりサイズのあった個別包装を私はとても気にっているのだが、環境に優しい人にとっては、仮想敵だ。例えば、箱に入ったクッキーがひとつづつ包装されている！納豆は３つのパックになって包装されている。メカブもそうだ。そうやって挙げていくときりがない。避けるためには、大量買いして使い切る量に容器に小分けするしかない。マイナス面として賞味期限が下がる。チーズのような食品はコストコで買って冷凍保存しておけるが、できないものもある。
２. イオン、マルエツ・プチのようなスーパーでは、リサイクル用の回収箱がある。プラスチックゴミはそこに捨てられる。捨てる前に流し洗いしておこう。牛乳容器やビール瓶の回収箱もある。マイナス面は、それらを洗ってスーパーまで持っていく時間と努力がいるが、買い物ついでであれば、あまり気にならない。
３. エコバッグを持っていってもあまり効果ない。近所のおばあさんのやり方を見て不必要なプラスチック包装を家に持ち帰らないようにしよう。おばあさん達はレジを通った後、食品を包み直しプラスチック容器はその場で捨てている。そうした物が再利用されるのか私にはわからないが…。
４. 家でスーパーで買ったお弁当は食べない。イートインエリアで食べてそこでゴミは捨てよう。
そうした努力にもかかわらず、プラスチックゴミは、我々の日常生活に忍び寄る。あまりにも多くてどうする事も出来ない。
Plain Talk
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD JUNE 08. 2018Girl Power! Japan's Women Flex Their Muscles At The 2018 Winter Olympics by Patrick Hattman
At the recently concluded Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, Japan's athletes won four gold medals and 13 medals overall, with the 13 total medals representing the country's best-ever performance at a Winter Games. Japan's final medal tally also was a significant improvement on the eight medals earned by the nation's competitors at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Interestingly, the dazzling display by men's figure skating gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu aside, it was the many medal-winning performances of Japan's female contingent at the PyeongChang Games that led to a record-setting medal haul. In fact, the women won eight medals to the men's five podium finishes, and took home three of the four golds.
Ski jumper Sara Takanashi got Japan off to a flying start with a bronze medal in Women's normal hill individual. The diminutive fan favorite is also the most decorated female ski jumper in the history of the sport with her dozens of World Cup wins and World Championships victories.
Next, speed skater Miho Takagi captured silver in the 1500 meters, followed by bronze in the 1000 meters a couple days later. She was bested in the 1000 meters by compatriot Nao Kodaira, who garnered the silver. Kodaira later took gold in the 500 meters, becoming the first Japanese to be known as the world's fastest female skater.
Also, the talents of Japan's top female speed skaters were on display in the Women's team pursuit as Miho Takagi, her sister Nana, Ayaka Kikuchi and Ayano Sato became Olympic champions, winning a thrilling final versus the Netherlands. And on the penultimate day of the PyeongChang Games, Nana Takagi earned another speed skating gold for Japan in the mass start event.
Finally, Japan's women's curling squad triumphed over Great Britain in the bronze medal match. Led by skip Satsuki Fujisawa, and featuring Yumi Suzuki, Mari Motohashi and the Yoshida sisters Chinami and Yurika, they showed great skill and sportsmanship, as was the case with Japan's women throughout the 2018 Winter Olympics.
What’s App With You?
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD JUNE 08. 2018
Letterboxd:
Letterboxd is a social app for people who love films. Sign in and you can see what friends have been watching, bellyache about the latest Hollywood blockbuster that totally offended your viewing sensibilities, and comment on other people’s reviews. Or if that fills you with horror, you can ignore the social bit entirely, and just use Letterboxd as a really savvy movie tracker. Search for films and add them to your watch list; once you’ve seen one, give it a rating. That way, you won’t end up 30 minutes into a cinematic disaster before realizing you’d already suffered through it before.
JigSpace:
JigSpace is an education app that reasons we learn things better in 3D, on the basis that this is how we experience the real world. And that’s a good point. It’s all very well to learn how a car’s transmission works by reading about it, or even pore over an exploded illustration in a book. But being able to fiddle around with a real engine is much more helpful. This app isn’t quite that level of magical, but it does use iOS’s augmented reality smarts to project various objects onto a flat surface. These can then be explored and fiddled around with, in a manner that hints at the future of anything from repair manuals to textbooks. And even though you’ll perhaps exhaust the items on offer fairly quickly, JigSpace is a nicely immersive educational experience while it lasts.
Tokyo Voice Column
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD JUNE 08. 2018
Big Man, Small Car By Mardo
I have finally been converted to small cars. I may be 6 foot tall and almost as wide, but my wife was right, and I am now borrowing her car all the time. Not just because of the cost of fuel, but because it is so much easier! Don’t get me wrong, I love my large cars for the long haul drive, but I just don’t drive for referee games of football 80km away every weekend, or go to the capital as often as I used to, large engines for short drives don’t make sense, but still this is not why I like my wife’s small car. It’s just so easy to park!
In Japan I hated the Kei cars, my friends who lived in apartments had them, and if I tried to drive my knees would hit the gear stick, or my head would hit the roof, they were not fun. I have always had big cars. So my head wouldn’t hit the roof. This made me popular in college, and parking was easy! since in the rural area I went to college there was plenty of parking. Nowadays though, everywhere is trying to squeeze more cars into less space.
The small toyota my wife loves has enough head and legroom for me, a major factor, but when I need to go buy something quickly I don’t have to search around for a wide space, or even reverse park, it’s short enough I can drive straight into any space! At festivals where parking is cramped, I can fit anywhere. Why did I have a large car for so long? I always needed to plan my shopping trips by who had the best parking not the cheapest prices. I could never park outside a restaurant if picking up food and now I can do all this easily… My wife complains I drive her car more than mine!
Japan, you were right all along. Compact is practical. And as my wife also says, quite cute.
ついに小型車に変えた。僕は１８２センチで横幅も広いが、妻は正しかった。今では妻の車をしじゅう借りている。ガス代が安いからではない。乗りやすいからだ！正しく言うと、長距離運転では自分の大型車が好きだが、毎週フットボールの試合のために８０キロを運転したり、昔よく行っていた首都には大型車では行かない。短距離では大型エンジンの効率は悪い。でもなぜ妻の小型車が好きかについて、そうした理由はあてはまらない。つまり、単に駐車しやすいからだ。
日本では、僕は軽自動車を嫌っていた。アパートに住む友人が軽に乗っていたので、僕が運転しようとしたら、膝をギアスティックに、頭を天井にぶつけてしまった。軽は楽しくなかった。これまでずっと大型車に乗ってきた。従って頭を天井にぶつけてこなかった。これにより大学では僕はみんなに知られた存在だった。駐車は簡単だった！ 郊外にあったので、駐車スペースは十分にあった。現在はというと、どこへ行っても車が多くぎゅうぎゅう詰めで駐車しないといけない。
妻の大好きなトヨタの小型車は僕でも頭や足をぶつける事なく十分なスペースがある。もちろん重要だ。しかし素早く何かを買いたい時には、十分な駐車スペースがないか、後ろ向きで並列駐車ができないかまわりを探さないといけないが、簡単に言えば、どこでも駐車できる！ 駐車する車で込みあうお祭りに行っても、どこでも車を停められる。なぜこれまで長い間大型車にこだわっていたんだろう。買い物に行く時はいつだって、値段が安い所ではなく、駐車がしやすい所をあらかじめ探しておく必要があった。食べ物を取りにいくのにレストランの外には駐車しなかった。でも今では簡単だ。妻は僕が自分の車よりも妻の車にばかり乗っているので不満を言っている。
日本よ。君は正しかった。コンパクトカーは実用的だ。それにつけ加えて、妻はかわいいと言う。
Strange but True
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD JUNE 08. 2018
Got milk?...
From almond to soy, hemp to hazelnut, milk isn't just about cows anymore. Cow's milk remains by far the biggest in the business but as the global population grows and sustainability increasingly questioned, some are looking elsewhere for traditional food sources. After all, cows － all 1.5 billion of them － are the most damaging thing on the planet right now. More than cars, planes or nuclear testing. Which is why people are milking cockroaches. They're cheap, rice in nutrition, and take up hardly any room. Some people are really drinking cockroach milk as a dairy alternative now. The milk is derived from 'cockroach crystals', a part of the insect found in its gut. According to scientists, these crystals are 'like a complete food', rich in essential amino acids and protein. A researcher from the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India claims the nutritional value of the cockroach product is much higher than other milks. What's more, apparently it tastes no different from cow's milk...
Special Delivery
Demi Sweeney, a 22-year-old criminology student at Bournemouth University, spotted a huge spider outside her room last week. She felt trapped in her room as the spider might drop onto her if she passed by. She decided to get KFC. Twenty minutes later, her fried chicken arrived and Demi ran downstairs to her saviour. Unfortunately, the driver was also scared of spiders, but eventually captured it although there was a moment of panic when the spider dropped onto the floor and started running away. The driver flushed the spider down the toilet, which left Demi too afraid to sit on it for much of the day. If you are scared of spiders or cockroaches, ordering the take out should save you…?
What’s App With You?
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD JUNE 08. 2018Letterboxd:
Letterboxd is a social app for people who love films. Sign in and you can see what friends have been watching, bellyache about the latest Hollywood blockbuster that totally offended your viewing sensibilities, and comment on other people’s reviews. Or if that fills you with horror, you can ignore the social bit entirely, and just use Letterboxd as a really savvy movie tracker. Search for films and add them to your watch list; once you’ve seen one, give it a rating. That way, you won’t end up 30 minutes into a cinematic disaster before realizing you’d already suffered through it before.
JigSpace:
JigSpace is an education app that reasons we learn things better in 3D, on the basis that this is how we experience the real world. And that’s a good point. It’s all very well to learn how a car’s transmission works by reading about it, or even pore over an exploded illustration in a book. But being able to fiddle around with a real engine is much more helpful. This app isn’t quite that level of magical, but it does use iOS’s augmented reality smarts to project various objects onto a flat surface. These can then be explored and fiddled around with, in a manner that hints at the future of anything from repair manuals to textbooks. And even though you’ll perhaps exhaust the items on offer fairly quickly, JigSpace is a nicely immersive educational experience while it lasts.
Tokyo Voice Column
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD JUNE 08. 2018Big Man, Small Car By Mardo
I have finally been converted to small cars. I may be 6 foot tall and almost as wide, but my wife was right, and I am now borrowing her car all the time. Not just because of the cost of fuel, but because it is so much easier! Don’t get me wrong, I love my large cars for the long haul drive, but I just don’t drive for referee games of football 80km away every weekend, or go to the capital as often as I used to, large engines for short drives don’t make sense, but still this is not why I like my wife’s small car. It’s just so easy to park!
In Japan I hated the Kei cars, my friends who lived in apartments had them, and if I tried to drive my knees would hit the gear stick, or my head would hit the roof, they were not fun. I have always had big cars. So my head wouldn’t hit the roof. This made me popular in college, and parking was easy! since in the rural area I went to college there was plenty of parking. Nowadays though, everywhere is trying to squeeze more cars into less space.
The small toyota my wife loves has enough head and legroom for me, a major factor, but when I need to go buy something quickly I don’t have to search around for a wide space, or even reverse park, it’s short enough I can drive straight into any space! At festivals where parking is cramped, I can fit anywhere. Why did I have a large car for so long? I always needed to plan my shopping trips by who had the best parking not the cheapest prices. I could never park outside a restaurant if picking up food and now I can do all this easily… My wife complains I drive her car more than mine!
Japan, you were right all along. Compact is practical. And as my wife also says, quite cute.
ついに小型車に変えた。僕は１８２センチで横幅も広いが、妻は正しかった。今では妻の車をしじゅう借りている。ガス代が安いからではない。乗りやすいからだ！正しく言うと、長距離運転では自分の大型車が好きだが、毎週フットボールの試合のために８０キロを運転したり、昔よく行っていた首都には大型車では行かない。短距離では大型エンジンの効率は悪い。でもなぜ妻の小型車が好きかについて、そうした理由はあてはまらない。つまり、単に駐車しやすいからだ。
日本では、僕は軽自動車を嫌っていた。アパートに住む友人が軽に乗っていたので、僕が運転しようとしたら、膝をギアスティックに、頭を天井にぶつけてしまった。軽は楽しくなかった。これまでずっと大型車に乗ってきた。従って頭を天井にぶつけてこなかった。これにより大学では僕はみんなに知られた存在だった。駐車は簡単だった！ 郊外にあったので、駐車スペースは十分にあった。現在はというと、どこへ行っても車が多くぎゅうぎゅう詰めで駐車しないといけない。
妻の大好きなトヨタの小型車は僕でも頭や足をぶつける事なく十分なスペースがある。もちろん重要だ。しかし素早く何かを買いたい時には、十分な駐車スペースがないか、後ろ向きで並列駐車ができないかまわりを探さないといけないが、簡単に言えば、どこでも駐車できる！ 駐車する車で込みあうお祭りに行っても、どこでも車を停められる。なぜこれまで長い間大型車にこだわっていたんだろう。買い物に行く時はいつだって、値段が安い所ではなく、駐車がしやすい所をあらかじめ探しておく必要があった。食べ物を取りにいくのにレストランの外には駐車しなかった。でも今では簡単だ。妻は僕が自分の車よりも妻の車にばかり乗っているので不満を言っている。
日本よ。君は正しかった。コンパクトカーは実用的だ。それにつけ加えて、妻はかわいいと言う。
Strange but True
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD JUNE 08. 2018Got milk?...
From almond to soy, hemp to hazelnut, milk isn't just about cows anymore. Cow's milk remains by far the biggest in the business but as the global population grows and sustainability increasingly questioned, some are looking elsewhere for traditional food sources. After all, cows － all 1.5 billion of them － are the most damaging thing on the planet right now. More than cars, planes or nuclear testing. Which is why people are milking cockroaches. They're cheap, rice in nutrition, and take up hardly any room. Some people are really drinking cockroach milk as a dairy alternative now. The milk is derived from 'cockroach crystals', a part of the insect found in its gut. According to scientists, these crystals are 'like a complete food', rich in essential amino acids and protein. A researcher from the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India claims the nutritional value of the cockroach product is much higher than other milks. What's more, apparently it tastes no different from cow's milk...
Special Delivery
Demi Sweeney, a 22-year-old criminology student at Bournemouth University, spotted a huge spider outside her room last week. She felt trapped in her room as the spider might drop onto her if she passed by. She decided to get KFC. Twenty minutes later, her fried chicken arrived and Demi ran downstairs to her saviour. Unfortunately, the driver was also scared of spiders, but eventually captured it although there was a moment of panic when the spider dropped onto the floor and started running away. The driver flushed the spider down the toilet, which left Demi too afraid to sit on it for much of the day. If you are scared of spiders or cockroaches, ordering the take out should save you…?
