Holiday till Jan6

Happy holidays!
Japan is now entering the New Year's holiday week.
eco+waza online will be on holidays till Jan 6th, along with the maker companies.
Please note that all orders between Dec 29 and Jan 6th will be shipped after Jan 7.
Thank you for understanding, and we look forward to seeing you again in 2011!

Free Shipping for Paypal Users (~Jan 31)

http://www.greenjapan.com/ will continue the Free-shipping deal until January 31st.
For orders over 3000 yen paid by Paypal, shipping will be free!
Please make use of this and try out the products from Japan.

Behind the Cover

eco+waza Vol.12 Winter 2010 is now on its way to the bookstores in Tokyo.

The cover will look like this.

We took the photos at a Kominka (old house), in front of an Irori (fireplace).

The featured article is about Green Cleaning.

in Japan, it is a traditional custom to clean all around your home before New Years,

so we asked for green cleaning advice to Ms. Fumiko Nose,

a woman in Koganei-shi who has been active in the "use soap" movement.

Read more on our magazine :-)

So see how small the person on the cover is.

Can you find her? 

Here she is!!



The broom is hand-made by Naomi, our editor.

Now this is one kind of "waza"...

http://www.greenjapan.com/

Find eco+waza at Cafe Hi Famiglia

Beautiful Saturday morning in Tokyo.

I found two editions of eco+waza at Hi Famiglia, a very comfortable cafe in Mitaka.
http://www.hi-famiglia.com/
(About 8 minutes walk from Mitaka station)

Thank you for the U.S. Ambassador's Entrepreneur Award

Founder Reina Otsuka received the "U.S. Ambassador's Entrepreneur Award" on November 22.
Ecotwaza Co., Ltd. was founded in 2006, with the mission of sharing Japanese ecological ideas and products globally.
We are very honored, and wish to be a small but genuine bridge between the U.S. and Japan.

Thank you to EMI, and all who made this happen!

Where do I want to be in 5 Years?

This was the last question the jury of an entrepreneurship award asked me today.
I wasn't really prepared for this question, and rethought about it on my way home, and decided to write on this blog what I couldn't say on the spot.

In five years, I (or we, as eco+waza) want to be a center of knowledge, where people can come to ask for green solutions.
We want to be an initiative, where people can create sustainable innovations.
Japan does have alot of intermediate technologies to share with the world, and we want to act as a catalyst, creating interactive knowledge sharing.

In five years, I think "real" experience will be more valued, in a more virtual-IT-oriented society.
We want to gather people from all over the world to come experience Japan, learn through the variety of layers of time and space.
Maybe around 20 people will be working in our headquarter, and we will be working with various worldwide networked partners.

Okay, time to go to bed.

Have a good weekend!

Check out Ustream in two hours

Panasonic is launching an interesting event yesterday to today.

Earth Lunch Hour
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/earthlunchhour

They are streaming the lunch time from their offices all around the world on the topic of "Ecological lunch."
I will be in their Tokyo streaming center from 7am Japan time as a talk guest
and talk about some green items original to Japan that you can use in your daily life.

Check it out!

Now on my way to Ariake Tokyo on the first train...