Posts Tagged ‘education’

Currently over 1 billion people in the world are living without access to safe drinking water, and 6,000 die every day from illnesses caused by insanitary water. Villages in southern Africa that do not have centralized water supply rely on shared water sources such as rivers. These same rivers that provide drinking water are also used for washing and bathing, often leading to sickness, or death.
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From simple dice game to games about “life” that teach you the ins and outs of growing up, there are probably games you have memories of from when you were a kid with your friends and family. Recently, we are starting to see less and less video games and more and more portable video game machines like the PSP and the Nintendo DS, and it seems that site of boardgames are even less common. I hope we can make more memories like the ones we had when we were young, so I would like to introduce you to a board game that both kids and adults can have fun playing and learn about the environment at the same time. (more…)

Whether you grow plants like Tokyo’s everyday gardens, Japan’s rooftop gardens, or even in an old book, you may never look at them quite the same again. Meet Midori-san, a chatty plant that via sensors relays information about temperature, light, humidity, and…ready for it? The chemistry between you and it if you touch it! (Flirtatious? Maybe. Fascinating. Undoubtedly.) (more…)

What does a parent look for when choosing day-care facilities for their child? Location, cost, opening hours… while priorities may vary from person to person, the one thing all parents want is to be sure that their children are safe. One woman has taken this concern to heart, and set up a truly safe day-care center in Azabu Juban, Tokyo.

‘PEEK A BOO Organic Kids House’ is a day-care center in the quiet upper class residential district of Azabu Juban. The cool concrete façade hides a warm, tranquil interior especially designed for children and their parents to enjoy safely. (more…)

Having small kids in a big city like Tokyo must be difficult, with so little “real” nature where they can play and enjoy wild things. I can’t imagine how parents manage…

Yesterday I had the great fortune to visit KEEP in Kiyosato, Yamanashi prefecture. It is just a couple of hours on the train from Shinjuku and there are places to stay. What’s so great about KEEP, and why should you bring your kids? (more…)

We’ve all heard of fast food, but… fast fashion?! That’s right, cheap and convenient, perfect for the modern urbanite; fast fashion tempts customers with new models of cheap clothing everywhere they turn. This trend towards cheap, fast fashion has lead to concerns of fostering a ‘disposable clothing’ market.

One project has begun to tackle this trend head-on by asking ‘what is a sustainable way of enjoying fashion?’ Let’s see what the Uniform Project: One Dress, 365 Days is all about. (more…)

The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has released an interesting and very informative look at some of the problems surrounding food and being an island that relies on 60% of food from abroad. Who would have thought that 80% of the ingredients in something as Japanese as Tempura Soba are not from Japan? (more…)

Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved. Photo by jurvetson

There is no shortage of societies in this world, but did you know there was one specializing in this sort of research?
The Japan Toilet Labo is an organization that was set up to propose and bring to fruition ideas for how toilets should be, in order for all people on earth to enjoy healthy lives, in peace of mind.
Launched in July 2008, the idea behind this organization “Japan Toilet Labo”, is to approach social issues from the toilet seat. As long as they are alive, people will need to go. And if you go 5 times in a day, that works out to 1,825 times a year! We spend our whole lives indebted to the can.
In fact, you could say that the toilet is an indicator of that person’s lifestyle environment. Toilet environments around the world are incredibly varied, and according to “Japan Toilet Labo”, some 2.6 billion people around the world don’t have access to a hygienic toilet. There seems to be no end to children losing their lives to diarrhea due to unhygienic lifestyles and poorly equipped toilet facilities. And even in Japan with its clean toilet environment there are many problems, such as issues relating to water saving and drainage, and provision of facilities for the elderly and disabled people.

“Japan Toilet Labo”

Against this backdrop, “Japan Toilet Labo” was established. Its predecessor, the Japan Toilet Association (founded in 1985) was involved in all sorts of activities including toilet symposiums and research associations, investigative research, also collaborating with government departments and regional public bodies to undertake environmental, educational and also overseas projects supporting developing countries. As well as carrying on this momentum, the Japan Toilet Labo has stated its desire to expand the business and its activities so as to bring about social reform and make an international contribution from the toilet seat.
One of their projects is an on-demand class,The “Shit Seminar”!

“Shit Seminar”

In 2007, together with their predecessor the Japan Toilet Association cooperate with oji nepia co.,ltd. that they began offering on-demand seminars at 5 elementary schools in the Tokyo Metropolitan area designed to learn about health and environment through a manure medium. Seminars are designed to be both fun and educational, and range from basic lectures outlining the importance of toilets and feculence, to activity-based classes including making “poopy pencils” and writing “dung diaries”.
Check out this link to get a better idea of what the “Shit Seminar”.In here you can see the candid reactions of children who have learned about the fecal fundament.

“Before, I’d sneak off to the toilet when no-one is looking, but now I’m really open about popping off for a dump”
“I realized that far from being a dirty thing, a brown boulder is super important for your body”

Comments like these came in thick and fast from delighted mothers. For their children, it appears that a fundamental shift regarding the concept of a crap had taken place, changing from something “dirty” and “smelly” to “an important thing”.
This seminar has also taken place in East Timor. In a situation where 400 children were sharing one toilet, learning about the toilet environment and importance of excreta seemed to be a big hit. Further details of this episode are available here
Be sure to check out the children’s bright and smiley faces!

Japan Toilet Labo also has opened a special website, disaster Toilet information network and Toilet support network in developing countries.
disaster Toilet information network is a website set detailing how regional self-governing and other bodies are putting out information in “normal times” on implementing measures regarding toilets in the event of a disaster, including information about earthquake-resistant toilets and examples of toilet initiatives that have worked in the past .

Over at Toilet support network in developing countries, you can read about information accrued throughout past activities related to toilets in developing countries, including examples of aid that has been given. A very precious source of information for organizations delivering aid.
And not forgetting their most impish initiative,

campaign web site

While this campaign seems at first to be stating the obvious, for example not wasting toilet paper and water and leaving the toilet clean for the next person, it has pegged a unique development:
Putting up this witty poem dedicated to making toilet paper last, in these cubicles public facilities and stores in the whole of country

one of the witty poem

All God’s children wipe their bums
The Finance Minister wipes his bum
High School Girls wipe their bums
Wives and Mothers-in-Laws wipe their bums
Train Guards wipe their bums
Cabin Attendants wipe their bums
You wipe your bum
The next guy wipes his bum
Toilet paper is the shared treasure of
all humanity

Incidentally, all of these 9-verse poems can be used as wallpaper, so go ahead download by all means. At a glance, some of them are not obviously toilet poems so how about using this wallpaper with an added awareness-reforming dimension? You can also download some cool blogparts here
The activities of “Japan Toilet Labo” are designed to remind of us of the important role of going to the toilet, something we take for granted.
The world, the environment, your own body. So much knowledge waiting right there in the toilet.
Next time you find yourself in the toilet, I want you to cast your mind back to this article. You never know, you may end up changing the world from the bottom upwards.

This article has been translated from the original Japanese post　

Over at Treehugger, we introduce some of the drawings made by kids around Japan, dealing with environmental issues and “planet  living” (Wa no kurashi). Many of the images show the deep concerns that kids in Japan have about pollution issues, global warming and the future. Let’s hope many adults are inspired by the stories told by these children.

Wa no kurashi

Manga is serious business. The International Manga Summit began in 1996 as the East Asia Manga Summit. Manga artists from Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan held conferences and joint exhibitions in order to share their feelings, exchange cultures, and discuss copyright issues.

The theme for the 2008 Kyoto Convention was Environmental Innovation.

This theme was appropriate given that Kyoto was the site of the United Nation’s Convention on Climate Change. They wanted to boost awareness of “global warming prevention”, “dietary education”, and “The 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)”, while advocating the passing of the torch of a promising culture to the children and young people responsible for the next generation.

Well… not quite so but yes. It’s a giant-size remake of the good old “Snakes and Ladders” children board game to educate children (and adults) about the importance of protecting the ozone layer.

Said to originate from 16th century India by the Jain name Gyanbazi, and widely known as Moksha Patamu, Snakes and Ladders was probaby invented by Hindu spiritual teachers to teach children about the effects of good deeds as opposed to bad deeds. The Ladders represented good virtues such as generosity, faith, humbleness, etc., and the Snakes represented evil virtues such as lust, anger, murder, theft, etc. (more…)