Shinryoku means "new green", a noun that expresses the color or phenomena of the trees of this season. From the end of spring to early summer, tree leaves turn into light and juicy green color. A polite way of saying hi will be:
"It is now the season of Shinryoku..."
(Shinryoku no kisetsu ni narimashita)
April 22, 2009
April 17, 2009
Share a Ride
If you are one of the people who hesitate to take a cab in Tokyo because you are afraid of the incredible amount of money you might have to pay, you are not alone. The other 10,000 users on www.takutomo.com are letting Sky-Mint find a solution to their dilemma as well.
Young female entrepreneur Kaoru Iwasaki initiated this Internet portal, accessible through cell phones, for office workers who finish too late for the last scheduled trains to search for partners sharing a taxi. At present, it serves as a matching service for taxi drivers and passengers, possibly strangers to one another beforehand. Here is how it works. Registered users, that is the passengers, post their destination, time and place of departure on the website. Other users with similar plans seeing the post could seek to share the same cab. The information will also be e-mailed to all the taxi drivers registered on the same website.
This way, the drivers efficaciously gain their customers, while the passengers obtain their best bargains. The service is totally free as many as four times a month, whereas it costs 1,050 yen (tax included) for further usage.
So next time when you are about to take a late-night taxi home, would it not be terrific to save your money while at the same time save the earth from excessive carbon emission by using TAKUTOMO.com?
TAKUTOMO.com (only in Japanese)
http://www.takutomo.com
written by Charin
Young female entrepreneur Kaoru Iwasaki initiated this Internet portal, accessible through cell phones, for office workers who finish too late for the last scheduled trains to search for partners sharing a taxi. At present, it serves as a matching service for taxi drivers and passengers, possibly strangers to one another beforehand. Here is how it works. Registered users, that is the passengers, post their destination, time and place of departure on the website. Other users with similar plans seeing the post could seek to share the same cab. The information will also be e-mailed to all the taxi drivers registered on the same website.
This way, the drivers efficaciously gain their customers, while the passengers obtain their best bargains. The service is totally free as many as four times a month, whereas it costs 1,050 yen (tax included) for further usage.
So next time when you are about to take a late-night taxi home, would it not be terrific to save your money while at the same time save the earth from excessive carbon emission by using TAKUTOMO.com?
TAKUTOMO.com (only in Japanese)
http://www.takutomo.com
written by Charin
April 11, 2009
Ecology as Manner
I came across another interesting designing company FunFam.
They are creating table ware for childrens' table manner education. All sets of dishes and utensils are made of bamboo, soft to skin and nice to the eyes. Children can enjoy while learning manner because of the cute icons indicating where to put your fork and knife.
They are now selling in France and some other countries.
After all, ecology is a matter of manner.
Start from when your children are small!
Check out their website
http://www.funfam.jp/
They are creating table ware for childrens' table manner education. All sets of dishes and utensils are made of bamboo, soft to skin and nice to the eyes. Children can enjoy while learning manner because of the cute icons indicating where to put your fork and knife.
They are now selling in France and some other countries.
After all, ecology is a matter of manner.
Start from when your children are small!
Check out their website
http://www.funfam.jp/
April 10, 2009
What is Ecology?
What is ecology?
Literally, it is an academic field, developing into a way of thinking in harmony with nature. Green, ecology, sustainability are frequently mixed up concepts, which I think are too easily used these days.
From an Ecotwaza point of view, ecology (or "eco" in Japanese) is:
Actions stemming from the perception that humans are living within the natural cycle.
It is based on "perception", or philosophy of how to position yourself in this world, resulting in specific "action". However great dream you have about an eco-friendly way of living, it will not move on unless you take action. On the other hand, even if you are using eco-friendly goods for your everyday life, it means so less unless you have ever thought about the reasons, effects, philosophy.
There seems to be no concrete definition to the word ecology, but I hope our idea can be a base to your understanding of this vocab.
Literally, it is an academic field, developing into a way of thinking in harmony with nature. Green, ecology, sustainability are frequently mixed up concepts, which I think are too easily used these days.
From an Ecotwaza point of view, ecology (or "eco" in Japanese) is:
Actions stemming from the perception that humans are living within the natural cycle.
It is based on "perception", or philosophy of how to position yourself in this world, resulting in specific "action". However great dream you have about an eco-friendly way of living, it will not move on unless you take action. On the other hand, even if you are using eco-friendly goods for your everyday life, it means so less unless you have ever thought about the reasons, effects, philosophy.
There seems to be no concrete definition to the word ecology, but I hope our idea can be a base to your understanding of this vocab.
April 9, 2009
Sakura
Spring has come again.
The cherry blossom trees in Kunitachi are blooming, creating a long archade of white-pink flowers. The weather was cold this March, resulting in late bloom, and luckily lasting flowers. Sakura trees are planted all around Japan. Hope you got to enjoy the beautiful Sakura in your neigbor!
April 8, 2009
A Month Back in Bangkok
A Month Back in Bangkok, and What I learnt from the Past Lessons: Part III
Written by Charin Polpanumas
Back in Tokyo were fresh air, consumable tap water, clean streets, and state-of-the-art train system. Pick the most crowded (aka ‘polluted’) street in Tokyo, walk it and you would feel as if you were strolling down the park in Bangkok. Japanese corporations, public and private alike, whether accidentally or otherwise, have flexed their muscles in the way that benefits the environment. Here in Kunitachi, a supermarket retailer, SEIYU, offers a 2-yen discount to each customer with his or her own shopping bags. Even Japan’s world-renowned automobile industry is producing its new lines of hybrid cars. I tried to rationalize this development with Japan’s advanced economy, but I realize it runs way deeper than that. Especially from working with Ecotwaza, I have not seen big corporations but rather very small ones, even family businesses, who hold pride in making their products eco-friendly and socially responsible. Corporate social responsibility—despite how saintly they might appear—could not function as a marketing strategy unless the people embrace it. Whether because of their experience with environmental pollution during the 1960s or the cultural background, it has made the people think more than twice before littering, and when they do, they meticulously separate among PET bottles, cans, combustible and incombustible garbage. It could be said that Japanese have a very conscious mindset when it comes to dealing with the environmental issues.
Written by Charin Polpanumas
Back in Tokyo were fresh air, consumable tap water, clean streets, and state-of-the-art train system. Pick the most crowded (aka ‘polluted’) street in Tokyo, walk it and you would feel as if you were strolling down the park in Bangkok. Japanese corporations, public and private alike, whether accidentally or otherwise, have flexed their muscles in the way that benefits the environment. Here in Kunitachi, a supermarket retailer, SEIYU, offers a 2-yen discount to each customer with his or her own shopping bags. Even Japan’s world-renowned automobile industry is producing its new lines of hybrid cars. I tried to rationalize this development with Japan’s advanced economy, but I realize it runs way deeper than that. Especially from working with Ecotwaza, I have not seen big corporations but rather very small ones, even family businesses, who hold pride in making their products eco-friendly and socially responsible. Corporate social responsibility—despite how saintly they might appear—could not function as a marketing strategy unless the people embrace it. Whether because of their experience with environmental pollution during the 1960s or the cultural background, it has made the people think more than twice before littering, and when they do, they meticulously separate among PET bottles, cans, combustible and incombustible garbage. It could be said that Japanese have a very conscious mindset when it comes to dealing with the environmental issues.
April 7, 2009
A Month Back in Bangkok
A Month Back in Bangkok, and What I learnt from the Past Lessons: Part II
Written by Charin Polpanumas
My friends were not the only Thai who left me a reluctant impression on environmental issues; in fact, compared to the Japanese, or even to Americans, almost anyone did. Despite all the hypes going on here in a developing country about reusable shopping bags and water bottles, I suspect most Thai could not careless about taking plastic bags and dumping plastic bottles, into the same bin with newspapers and wet garbage. The only people who participated in the eco-friendly campaign seemed to be either those highly educated, or those following as if into a fashionable trend. If that is what you are thinking, ‘No, we are not simply a simple-minded, selfish race.’ Think about how many people are blessed enough to get a copy of ‘The Inconvenient Truth,’ let alone reading it, while they have to work 10 hours a day in a 35-degree-Celcius environment at the same time—no weekends. True, environmental breakdowns are hurting us as stingy as they do the rest of the world; however, poverty and down-to-earth standard of living are also at our throats. As far as my experience and common sense go, the government is definitely trying, albeit at its pace, and a large portion of the country are willing to trade in their rights in clean air, water and a healthy lifestyle for 150 yen an hour. This has opened for such corporate exploitations as the allegedly intentional toxic leakage from Mae Moh electricity-generating facility. On the big scale, it will be unlikely for Thailand, and I doubt any developing countries, to change. But on the small scale, the slowly and gradually increasing number of people participating in the eco-friendly hypes could contribute to a more vivid renovation in our ways of thinking and doing. And for once in my life, I appreciate Thai people’s being overly susceptible to fashion.
Written by Charin Polpanumas
My friends were not the only Thai who left me a reluctant impression on environmental issues; in fact, compared to the Japanese, or even to Americans, almost anyone did. Despite all the hypes going on here in a developing country about reusable shopping bags and water bottles, I suspect most Thai could not careless about taking plastic bags and dumping plastic bottles, into the same bin with newspapers and wet garbage. The only people who participated in the eco-friendly campaign seemed to be either those highly educated, or those following as if into a fashionable trend. If that is what you are thinking, ‘No, we are not simply a simple-minded, selfish race.’ Think about how many people are blessed enough to get a copy of ‘The Inconvenient Truth,’ let alone reading it, while they have to work 10 hours a day in a 35-degree-Celcius environment at the same time—no weekends. True, environmental breakdowns are hurting us as stingy as they do the rest of the world; however, poverty and down-to-earth standard of living are also at our throats. As far as my experience and common sense go, the government is definitely trying, albeit at its pace, and a large portion of the country are willing to trade in their rights in clean air, water and a healthy lifestyle for 150 yen an hour. This has opened for such corporate exploitations as the allegedly intentional toxic leakage from Mae Moh electricity-generating facility. On the big scale, it will be unlikely for Thailand, and I doubt any developing countries, to change. But on the small scale, the slowly and gradually increasing number of people participating in the eco-friendly hypes could contribute to a more vivid renovation in our ways of thinking and doing. And for once in my life, I appreciate Thai people’s being overly susceptible to fashion.
April 5, 2009
A Month Back in Bangkok
A Month Back in Bangkok, and What I learnt from the Past Lessons: Part I
Article by Charin Polpanumas
I was rushing down the stairs from BTS Sky Train, Bangkok’s only above-the-ground mass transit railway, to ironically enough, a Japanese restaurant, where my high school mates were waiting. I was late. Since the meal could be considered done for, we decided to go to the movie. That was when I was utterly awestruck. We traveled a mere five-block distance, through the city usual 15-minute-at-a-time-traffic-jam, by cars—cars, almost one for each of my friends! I kept the surprise to myself yet could not help wondering why these people, who in their high school years took the buses and Chao Phraya express boats as I did, were not able to do the same thing once they are in universities. I suspected they were not the only college kids doing so. On the other hand, it is quite understandable; it almost literally suffocates you to walk five blocks in Bangkok, and the open-air buses do very little to help you with that.
Most of the Thai I met said the distance the Japanese cover on foot every day always surprised them. The vicious cycle began from Thailand’s undeniably poor public transportation. Tokyo has more than 100 train lines serving its metropolitan area; Bangkok has two. Of course, the government has promised more to come, but none has yet to make it as far as reality.
*Picture 1—BTS Sky Train
*Picture 2—Hopewell Train Project, initiated in 1990, never finished
Article by Charin Polpanumas
I was rushing down the stairs from BTS Sky Train, Bangkok’s only above-the-ground mass transit railway, to ironically enough, a Japanese restaurant, where my high school mates were waiting. I was late. Since the meal could be considered done for, we decided to go to the movie. That was when I was utterly awestruck. We traveled a mere five-block distance, through the city usual 15-minute-at-a-time-traffic-jam, by cars—cars, almost one for each of my friends! I kept the surprise to myself yet could not help wondering why these people, who in their high school years took the buses and Chao Phraya express boats as I did, were not able to do the same thing once they are in universities. I suspected they were not the only college kids doing so. On the other hand, it is quite understandable; it almost literally suffocates you to walk five blocks in Bangkok, and the open-air buses do very little to help you with that.
Most of the Thai I met said the distance the Japanese cover on foot every day always surprised them. The vicious cycle began from Thailand’s undeniably poor public transportation. Tokyo has more than 100 train lines serving its metropolitan area; Bangkok has two. Of course, the government has promised more to come, but none has yet to make it as far as reality. *Picture 1—BTS Sky Train
*Picture 2—Hopewell Train Project, initiated in 1990, never finished
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