At this SDGs café, we finally talked about “Climate Change”. The timing and choice of topic couldn’t have been more appropriate, as Japan had been hit by one of the biggest typhoons in history just a few days before the event. Our guest speakers were Ms. Kanako Oku from the Association for Re-Designing Earth’s Future (地球の未来をリデザインする会), Ms. Ikuho Kawauchi from Kanazawa University, and Ms. Mariko Aoumi from Kanazawa Eco Life Club. The facilitator was Ms. Mikiko Nagai from UNU-IAS OUIIK.
According to Ms. Kawauchi, surprisingly, there are still many people who are skeptical about whether human activities are causing climate change. However, the data shows that the increase in CO2 over the past few decades has been leading to rising ocean temperatures. Mass use of fossil fuel is the biggest cause of increasing CO2 levels. “We are now at the point of no return” Ms. Kanauchi said.
Currently, 80% of energy is generated by fossil fuel on Earth, but the cost of solar panels or wind turbines are getting lower and lower, and it is technically possible to cover all the energy we need with renewable and sustainable energy such as solar, tidal, wind, and geothermal. Ms. Aoumi followed “I want everyone to think about what we can do about this issue.” At the end of the day it is a problem for everyone who lives in this planet. One’s actions can have an impact on someone else, and little by little they could change the future of the Earth.
IMAGINE KANAZAWA’s 6th SDGs café was about “Community Development with Culture”. Mr. Atsushi Ura, director of the NPO Shuto Kanazawa, was invited as the main speaker. At the event, we discussed how we can use Kanazawa’s culture and tradition in community development for the sustainable future of the city.
Mr. Ura said that “Kanazawa’s traditional art, knowledge, and culture have been preserved and transmitted orally from one generation to another. However, preserving such cultural traditions has been a difficult task for those who live in mountainous areas where the aging and shrinking population is a serious issue. We should be glad that we have a sustainable system to preserve culture in Kanazawa for now, and we should take care of it.”
The Japanese-style garden workshop, which was the idea of OUIK’s research associate Juan Pastor Ivars, was implemented as part of a model sightseeing tour.
Kanazawa City was approved as an SDGs Future City by the Japanese government in 2020, and Kanazawa SDG experience model tours have been carried out under the theme of “responsible tourism”. This time, the garden workshop was incorporated into a model tour. During the tour, participants learn about little-known functions of Japanese-style gardens, such as provision of a green infrastructure for preserving biodiversity, and alleviation of the heat-island phenomenon. Also, they gain an understanding of the value of Japanese-style gardens through the tea ceremony and garden maintenance work.
As garden maintenance is hard work for the elderly garden owners, this workshop also aims to create a platform for learning for both residents and visitors, and to establish a new scheme for the maintenance of gardens, involving a variety of people. The model tour was realized through Juan’s wish to create a tour that enables people from all over the world to participate in the preservation of Kanazawa’s Japanese-style gardens.
The tour started with a stroll along the spiritual road called “Heart’s Path” (kokoro no michi), which passes through the Mt. Utatsu temple area near the Higashiyama chaya area. The participants were professional tour guides with a good understanding of the various needs of tourists. They said that tours that include interacting with local residents are by far the most popular. While sharing narrow streets with local residents, they listened to Juan’s explanations, before arriving at the destination, Eikyu-ji Temple.
With a history of over 250 years, Eikyu-ji Temple used to be the Maeda family’s official place of prayer. First, Mr. Hongo, who is in charge of temple management, explained the temple’s history and the problems with regard to garden management. Then, participants started tidying up the garden. They worked hard to remove marsh marigold, an invasive species that spreads in the spring. There is a tall zelkova in the garden; participants measured its circumference and participated in a survey with regard to possible registration of the tree for preservation by the city.
Participants commented that they were excited about the work, since it was something that tourists can’t normally do. They removed more than ten bags of weeds in one hour. After weeding, while enjoying Kanazawa’s twig tea and sweets, they shared their impressions of the workshop as a tour activity.
The comments from the participants included: “Tourists visit a place because they love it. They look for opportunities to interact with local residents, and for something to do to make the place better.” “This tour has value as an opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of Kanazawa’s culture and history.” “This tour gave me an opportunity to really think about SDGs.” “Care must be taken to avoid the misunderstanding that this is an event associated with a certain religion.” “Thought should be given to how to allow elderly people to participate in garden maintenance.”
We will continue to explore how garden workshops can be part of sightseeing tours, so that many more people will be able to participate in them.
With the theme of What Kind of Corporate Management Does Society Want in 2030? My Company Wish List!, the 5th SDGs Café event was held in collaboration with the Work Style Reform Advocacy Project in Kanazawa: Summer Seminar 2019 by the Kanazawa IKUBOSS Company Alliance.
Two university students with ties to Kanazawa, Tatsuyoshi Nakanishi (2nd year student at Kanazawa University, native of Taito, Tokyo) and Reo Togami (4th year student at Meiji University, native of Kanazawa City) were asked to imagine how they will be working in 2030.
Nakanishi said, “I want to work on a job that pays well for the effort! This doesn’t mean wanting to take it easy on the job. For me, a job that pays well for the effort means work that results in higher levels of happiness, and a sense of growth and learning.” He also believes that having a satisfactory private life is important, which for him means not just pursuing hobbies but also valuing self-expression through spending time with family and contributing to the community.
On the other hand, Togami said, “I want to help boost the earning power of the community.” He said that a model case for Kanazawa and Ishikawa Prefecture that leads to the development of the urban hub of the future should be created and developed. To that end, he believes that starting up attractive new business ventures and growing them, or in other words creating earning power, is the key, and if this is channeled into a system, then the outflow of young people to Tokyo may be stopped. He relates that to do this, he will need to gain the necessary life experience and practical business skills in the next 10 years.
Next, the audience listened to a talk by Katsuya Nomizu (Fellow at the Office of the CEO at Cybozu, Inc., native of Kanazawa). Cybozu has been included in the annual list of Great Place to Work for six consecutive years. Attendees working in companies in the city were all ears to his response to the question: How can a company be great even with low pay? Nomizu said, “In Cybozu, each person has their own personal work style.” He confided that job applicants started pouring in when they let employees craft their own career plan and decide for themselves how they want to work over the course of their lifetime. Furthermore, he said “Most students personally want to acquire skills. To what extent can companies provide them the means to gain those skills? The best standard for work motivation is whether they will take the business in new directions. Too many companies can’t seem to be able to do this.”
In the ensuing talk session, he answered the question “What kind of corporate management does society want?” by saying, “The same as the triple-win management philosophy of the Omi merchants of old, where everyone benefits — buyer, seller and the public. In other words, it’s good for you, your customers and society. It also means that it’s for the sake of Kanazawa and Ishikawa, customers and yourself.” He concluded by saying, “If you keep on doing this all the time, then your company will be one that society respects.”
The book covers the unique properties of Japanese Gardens in Kanazawa city – and how they shape and are shaped by the society around them. Over 40 researchers, garden owners and other stakeholders were involved as authors in this booklet and their experience, knowledge, challenges and hopes are shared. It is also explaining the public sector’s policy and strategies for preserving the gardens and nature for the future.
Corresponding author and editor of this booklet is OUIK’s research associate Juan Pastor-Ivars and his community rooted garden preservation activities are introduced as models of sustainable urban nature preservation.
In the symposium, a presentation about Kanazawa’s traditional gardens and 2 talk sessions followed after Juan’s book introduction speech. More than 140 people participated to deepen their understanding of the importance of gardens, nature preservation and Kanazawa’s sustainable future throughout the sessions.
This SDGs Café was organized as a continuation of the previous event’s theme of “What Education can be Expected Today?”—“Who are going to be the bearers of the year 2030?” This time, the Headmaster of Kanazawa University High School, Mr. Yamamoto, was invited to IMAGINE the future education in Kanazawa with regard to the year 2030. Before that, the 5 guidelines of the IMAGINE Kanazawa 2030 SDGs Project were presented.
The University High School is special in the sense that the Ministry of Education has appointed it as a pioneering worldwide model school for placing great importance on sustainability-related education. Furthermore, the school has a commitment to international exchange, and has received visits from various institutions and corporations on several occasions.
As was discussed in the previous SDGs Café, Japan’s schooling system needs to be reevaluated. The University High School places a great deal of importance on personal research and development alongside exam-oriented content, in hopes that the combination of both traditional education and a more personal and creativity-orientated education can result in a truly sustainable education system.
Following the conclusion of the SDGs Dialogue Series on 23rd March, 2019, the UNU IAS-OUIK started the ‘SDGs Café’, a new series of seminars and educational meetings on the topic of SDGs, in April 2019. As the name states, learning and discussions are done in a loose atmosphere, where snacks and beverages are provided, in order to establish a relaxed environment of interaction between speakers and participants.
In the second SDGs Café event, efforts were made to provide easy access to information on the platforms of the recent local elections’ candidates, information which is often hard to understand if readily available at all. It is hoped that these efforts may lead to citizens gaining a better understanding of regional politics and increase their willingness to participate in the electoral process.
The challenge of providing equal access to information for everyone was also discussed at this event, with a particular focus on the role of technology and its accessibility to every citizen. The overall goal of these endeavors is to facilitate the collective process of ‘IMAGINING’ a sustainable city of Kanazawa for 2030. Different IT-based tools were presented which allow access to current national political and economical matters. In the event of a disaster, for instance, accessibility to technology is not merely desirable; it is indispensable, as casualties can be dramatically reduced with access to faster and better information flow. However, providing equal access to information through technology is a challenge in its own right, as some people (such as elderly or handicapped people) may not be equally capable of integrating these new means of information acquisition. Accessibility means not only the mere availability of information, but also the provision of explicit and understandable means to concretely access it.
In March 2019, a collaborative project called “IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030” was launched by the United Nations University OUIK, Kanazawa City, and the Junior Chamber International Kanazawa to promote a sustainable Kanazawa through partnership. As part of this initiative, SDGs meetings have been held, bringing together diverse stakeholders across different positions and generations to envision the ideal future of Kanazawa and brainstorm ideas, resulting in the creation of the “Kanazawa Future Scenario.”
On June 29, 2020, to achieve the SDGs, this Promotion Meeting was established to facilitate collaboration and action among various entities through the “Kanazawa Future Scenario.” Members representing industries, education, government, finance, and civic organizations participated, exchanging opinions and building a cooperative framework.
The meeting elected Kanazawa City Mayor Yamano as chair, with Kanazawa Chamber of Commerce Chairman Tsuruya and the Director of the UNU-IAS OUIK, Watanabe, serving as vice-chairs. The auditors were selected from the Junior Chamber International Kanazawa (JCI Kanazawa), Koyanai, and the Director of the Kanazawa City Accounting Division, Tokuda.
Furthermore, reports on past efforts were presented by the JCI Kanazawa, UN University OUIK, and Code For Kanazawa。
The final part of the meeting fostered an exchange of advice and diverse ideas for future activities, creating a platform for communication that transcends positions and generations.
Details of the meeting and presentations are also available in the following YouTube video.
We are looking for partners to jointly address local challenges through the SDGs. Issues that have been difficult to resolve can potentially be tackled by bringing together people and companies from various backgrounds, each with their unique strengths, to collaborate. If you are interested, please contact the IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030 Secretariat.
UNU-IAS collaboration with Kanazawa City, Japan on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contributed to the selection of the city as an “SDGs Future City 2020” and a “Municipal SDGs Model Project” in July 2020, under a scheme of the Government of Japan. The goal is to create a sustainable city where citizens and visitors can share in the beauty of the city based on biological and cultural diversity such as nature, history, and culture, while the number of tourists increases.
The UNU-IAS Operating Unit Ishikawa / Kanazawa (OUIK), located in Kanazawa City, has been working with the city to achieve the SDGs, starting with the SDGs Ishikawa–Kanazawa Dialogue Series in 2018. A joint declaration was signed in March 2019 between Kanazawa City, the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Kanazawa, and UNU-IAS OUIK, launching the Kanazawa SDGs project “IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030”. In order to deepen understanding of the SDGs and regional issues, the “SDGs Café Series” was initiated as a forum for communication where local people can easily talk about the future of Kanazawa and regional issues, and “SDGs Meetings” held to discuss regional issues. UNU-IAS OUIK worked with various local stakeholders to create the “Kanazawa Future Scenario” by exchanging ideas.
“Environmental Model Cities” and “Environmental Future Cities” of Japan
In 2008, the Japanese Government adopted a system to select “Environmental Model Cities” and “Environmental Future Cities” with the aim of achieving a sustainable economy and society. Kanazawa City was selected as an “SDGs Future City” in addition to the “Model Cities for the Environment” and “Future City for the Environment” to propose initiatives to achieve the SDGs with the aim of further promoting regional development. Up to 30 cities each year have been selected since 2018, and in Ishikawa Prefecture, Suzu City (FY2018), Hakusan City (FY2018), Komatsu City (FY2019), and this year Kaga City, Nomi City, and Kanazawa City were newly selected. Kanazawa City is the first municipality in the prefecture to be selected as a “Municipal SDGs Model Project”. These cities were selected based on an evaluation in terms of SDG 17, and are expected to proactively develop their projects to achieve the goals.
Future Plans
OUIK will continue to collaborate with Kanazawa City and the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Kanazawa on a variety of activities such as raising awareness and publicising the SDGs and building a community of co-creation based on the cooperative framework. In particular, in developing attractive SDGs tours, which is an important element of the model project, UNU-IAS OUIK will make use of its practical experience in workshops and other activities to consider “Japanese Gardens and the Sustainability of Kanazawa” and the results of its research on the Noto’s Satoyama Satoumi GIAHS (Globaly Important Agricultural Heritage System) and Mount Hakusan Biosphere Reserve, which have been cultivated through OUIK’s research over the years. UNU-IAS OUIK will provide advice on how to make use of green infrastructure for tourism and SDGs tourism in the wider region.
The event started off with an introduction by OUIK office manager Mikiko Naigai, explaining the purpose of the SDGs Café-Series, which started in April 2019. In this 3rd event, the documentary film “Most Likely to Succeed” was shown and then discussed among the participants. The focus of the event was education, and in this context the California-based ‘High Tech High-School”, which proposes an educational model which makes the traditional exam orientated education seem obsolete, was discussed.
These topics are particularly relevant in modern times, as existing educational models are based on a worldview of 120 years ago, when mass industrial production and fast economic growth were still a viable end-goal. Since the second half of the 90s, when rapid technological progress and fierce competition between corporations took place, the availability of jobs has continued to diminish, and traditional university graduation does not necessarily lead to stable jobs anymore. Within a rapidly changing world-economy, current schooling systems are quickly becoming obsolete, and Japan’s is no exception.
After watching the film, a general discussion was held between all participants where they shared their first impressions, their doubts about the current system, and new insights they encountered. Then, after a tea-break, the participants split into groups of 4-5 in order to take part in a workshop where 3 different key-aspects were investigated: 1) What needs to be preserved in Japan, 2) Where is the problem, 3) What needs to be tried or implemented. It also bears mentioning that the Californian model serves as an inspiration, but at the same time it cannot simply be applied to the Japanese educational system since Japan has its very own particularities, positive as well as negative. For example, many attendees considered it to be important to preserve Japanese social codes and customs of respect and politeness. On the other hand, some expressed concerns that children cannot express their uniqueness within too-rigid social structures.
Participants agreed on the importance of collective discussion rather than the mere criticism of the current system in order to make change in the future.
