RAIN Resources for Building Community Investing in Community Energy Entrepreneurs Ecological Design Special Feature: The Other Japan Spring 1986 (Now quarterly) Volume XII, Number 2
Page 2 RAIN Spring 1986 RAIN Volume XII, Number 2 Spring 1986 Coordinating Editor F. Lansing Scott Managing Editor Ralph Coulson Contributing Editors Steve Johnson Stephen Schneider Circulation Manager Alan Locklear Intern Julia May Contributors Rob Baird Jeff Brown Verena Burkolter-Trachsel Donald J. Clark Carlotta Collette Madeline Dalrymple John Ferreli Margie Gardner Dan Hemenway Karin Herrmann Jenny Holmes Mimi Maduro Chuck Matthei Takeshi Murota Kris Nelson Michael Philips Jeff Strang Kirby White Shin Yoshida Graphic Design Consultant Susan Applegate Printing; Argus Printing RAIN magazine publishes information that can help people make their communities and regions more self-reliant, and build a society that is more participatory, just, and ecologically sound. RAIN is published quarterly by the Center for Urban Education. RAIN subscription and editorial offices are at 3116 N. Williams, Portland, OR 97227; 503/249-7218. Subscriptions are $18/year ($12 if you live on less than $7500 a year). See page 39 for additional subscription information. Writers' guidelines are available for a SASE. RAIN is indexed in the Alternative Press Index. Copyright © 1986 Center for Urban Education. No part may be reprinted without written permission. ISSN 0739-621x. Cover illustration by Connie Cohen. RAINDROPS Change, Change, Change Well, it's been almost five months since our last issue. Have you missed us? We hope you'll find this issue was worth waiting for. The reason for the delay is that we made several changes at the beginning of this year. First, we decided to make RAIN a quarterly publication after all. This was a question we had been pondering for some time, and after weighing several considerations, we decided that a quarterly schedule made the most sense. A quarterly schedule will give us more time to develop our national and regional contributor networks, and will also allow us to do more major feature sections like the section on Japan in this issue. Financial constraints also played a part of our decision. Taking self-reliance to heart, RAIN is now operating on a zero- deficit budget for the first time in many years. The production and mailing costs of a quarterly are much less than a bimonthly, even though we offer you the same number of pages per year. Another major change is in our production process. RAIN is now completely computerized! This issue was typeset and laid out on an Apple Macintosh and LaserWriter by RAIN staff. No more farming out of our typesetting and graphic design and paste-up work. Although this meant extra hours and late nights on our part, it was nice to know that we could do it ourselves (and it was also nice to save typesetting and layout costs). Another step for self-reliance! There seems to be a good future in this kind of “desktop publishing," although at this stage of the game there are still many bugs to work out in the technology. Much of the layout process on this issue seemed unnecessarily clumsy and time- consuming. Finally, we've had a change in our staffing configuration. Ralph Coulson's temporary, part-time stint as managing editor has come to an end (although he still graciously volunteered some time during the production crunch of this issue). So now our editorial staff consists of one full-time person—me— while Steve Johnson continues in his role as contributing editor for the Community Information Technology section, and in this issue, the Other Japan section. Additionally, CUE director Stephen Schneider has stepped in to take a greater role. He is picking up some of Raph's duties, and is making use of his expertise in nonprofit management as contributing editor of a new feature— ‘Tools for Organizations.” I also want to introduce our new intern, Julia May. She came to RAIN in the midst of a career change. She had been designing integrated circuits with National Semiconductor in Silicon Valley. Now, at RAIN she spends long hours sitting on the other side of a computer screen from a bunch of integrated circuits. (You know how it is with circuits: “what goes around, comes around.”) She has also been part of the reforestation brigades in Nicaragua, and was editor of Labor Perspectives on Central America. So she brings a wealth of useful and varied background to RAIN, and has been a hard worker, too. For all intents and purposes, she has functioned as co-editor for this issue. With interns like her, who needs staff! I don't want to leave out volunteers from the staff picture, especially since we would like to encourage more of them. Jenny Holmes, a graduate in environmental science from The Evergreen State College, has been helping out around the office (and has written some reviews in this issue). Alan Locklear continues logging income as our volunteer circulation manager. He says he wishes he had more to keep himself busy, so please send him your early renewals, publication orders, and gift subscriptions right away! He would also like to explain how our shift to a quarterly will affect your subscription ... —FLS To All Subscribers Regarding RAIN's new quarterly schedule, we want to assure all subscribers that in translating the remainder of your bimonthly subscription into a quarterly subscription, you'll get at least as many months of RAIN as you paid for, if not more. That is, if your subscription has one more issue (1/6 of a year), you'll get one quarterly RAIN (1/4 of a year); two more bimonthlies (1/3 of a year) translates to two quarterlies (1/2 of a year); three bimonthlies translates evenly to two quarterlies; four bimonthlies translates to three quarterlies, and so on. —AL V
RAIN Spring 1986 SPECIAL FEATURE: The Other Japan " 6 On the Far Side of the Big Lake—Steve Johnson 12 Citizen's Activities in Japan: 12 General Types of Citizen's Groups—^Shin Yoshida 13 Yet, Watermills Are Alive: From Asakura to Yame—^Takeshi Murota 15 Diet Politics: Farming in Japan—Steve Johnson 16 Women: Carriers of Citizen's Movements—^Verena Burkolter-Trachsel 17 Internationalism: The Idea House—Shin Yoshida 18 A Sampling of Japanese Grassroots Organizations—compiled by Shin Yoshida and Steve Johnson 20 Encounters with Another Japan—^Donald J. Clark 20 Networking in Japan—Steve Johnson 21 Computer Communications in Japan—Steve Johnson 22 Information Technology in Kumamoto—^Kris Nelson 23 Saving the Dcego Forest: Thinking Locally, Acting Globally—Steve Johnson ARTICLES 24 Community Loan Funds: Who We Are, What We've Learned, Where We're Going—Chuck Matthei; Ten Steps in Organizing a Community Loan Fund—Kirby White; Revolving Loan Funds list 38 Small is Sensible: Richard Munson on the New Era of Electricity Generation 44 Seeking Universal Design Principles—^Dan Hemenway ACCESS 28 Socially Responsible Investing—GOOD MONEY 1985 Guide to the Social Investment Community O Earthbank Guide to Sustainable Economics O Sinytle Living Investments for- Old Age O Directory of Socially Responsible Investments O Vendor Guide by the Social Investstment Forum 29 Economics—The Global Economy ONew Economics 85 O The Military in Your Backyard 30 Politics—Resource Manual for a Living Revolution o Heart Politics o “Resources for Local Government Support” 34 Organizational Development—“Raising Money from Churches” ©“Directory of Useful Organizations” O The Nonprofit World Report 35 Society—The Elmwood Institute O Social Policy o The Future Is Not What It Used to Be o Declaration ofa Heretic 36 Women—This Way Daybreak Comes O Educatingfor Peace ^ 37 Good Reading—Always Coming Home 37 Communication—Getting it Printed 42 Energy—Dynamos and Virgins o World Oil 43 Environment—PANNA O Everyone's Backyard 46 Recycling—A Practical Alternative Solid Waste Management Program for Philadelphia O Asheville/Buncombe Solid Waste Alternatives O Proven Profits from Pollution Prevention O Waste to Wealth ORecycling from Municipal Refuse O Decision-Making in Local Government O Canadian Recyclers Directory 48 Food/Agriculture—Healthy Harvest O One Circle O Pesticides in Food O Common Sense Pest Control Quarterly O Growers Newsletter O A Better Mousetrap O You Can Can with Honey FEATURES 4 Scattered Showers 31 Tools for Organizations: Communicating with the Media—edited by Steve Schneider 50 Computer Information Technology—edited by Steve Johnson 54 Pacific Cascadia Bioregion Report
Page 4 RAIN Spring 1986 I SCATTERED Sustainable Irrigation Major growers in the San Joaquin Valley of California have agreed to pursue an Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) plan to solve the toxic irrigation water crisis there. They had previously rejected any solution except the federally proposed San Luis Drain, which would dump selenium contaminated water in the San Francisco Bay and Delta. The contamination arises from intense irrigation of arid lands with clay soil and poor drainage. Waste water is trapped at the surface where it evaporates and leaves trace elements behind. After decades, normally harmless and even necessary elements build up to toxic proportions. Deformities in water fowl, widespread soil destruction, and drinking water contamination result. The EDF plan works like this; 1. Water use is decreased by efficiency measures, and drainage pipes collect the waste. 2. Desalinization plants separate waste into fresh water and salty brine. Fresh water can be sold to Southern California cities at a much lower cost than new water supply projects. 3. The salty brine flows into solar ponds where the heat differential drives a heat exchanger, which powers a turbine for electricity generation. 4. Selenium and other elements are removed and sold, depending on market conditions. The plants could reclaim up to 90 percent of the polluted waste water. (Source: EDF Letter, November, 1985) Acid Rain Strikes Latin America The mountains near the industrial city of Cubatao in southeastern Brazil are littered with dead and stunted trees. The barren earth slips away in frequent landslides. Scientists say the forest was killed by acid rain. Some 3,800 kilometers away in central Chile, farmers in the town of Los Maitenes are abandoning their homes and fields. The acidity of the rain due to unchecked pollution has corroded their machinery and poisoned livestock and crops. Acid rain, until recently detected only in North America and Europe, is now affecting Latin America. The phenomenon is so new there that many people, even government officials, have never heard of it. (Source: Akwesasne Notes) TreePeople Sends Fruit Trees to Africa The innovation that allowed TreePeople to reforest Los Angeles with surplus trees is still sparking. Success, during the last two years of their fruit tree distribution to very low- income families in Los Angeles, allowed them to make the leap of sending trees to drought-stricken Africa. Other attempts af tree distribution in Africa failed because the trees needed five to eight years to yield fruit. Hungry people can't wait for food, and find trees more valuable as firewood. But TreePeople's adaptable California varieties, already four feet tall and harvestable within a year, give the program a considerable advantage. Education of the local people will be an important part of the program. The committment of TreePeople to a low-cost approach of working with surplus nursery trees has sometimes made fundraising more difficult. They've been told they'd be taken more seriously in Washington if they'd asked ten times the modest $60,000 needed for the multi-national project. “This country is set up for spending money...[but] having a lot of it is also a barrier,” says founder Andy Lipkis. Live Aid hasn't spent any of the millions it's raised and hasn't responded to requests by TreePeople to discuss the project. The Air Force has helped them with truck transport for 12 years and would like to help them with airlift to Africa, but Washington permission is needed, and they are running up against severe legal red-tape. They're still trying, but the necessity of using commercial carriers looks more likely. Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroun, Lesotho, and Senegal are candidate countries. TreePeople will start with a sample program to assure participants the program will work. K%/.
Spring 1986 RAIN Page 5 SHOWERS Recycling Urban Tree-Waste Brings in Money for Cities For the past few years, Cincinnati, Ohio (385,000) has been turning the wood waste from 50,000 trees lining its streets into a revenue-generating resource by selling the wood back to residents. The forestry division contracts annually with local tree service companies to prune or remove about 3,000 city-owned trees. The contract requires that all wood and wood-chips be deposited in the city's secure, all-weather storage yard. Officials estimate that if the contractors had to bring the wood to the landfill, the extra hauling and dumping expenses would be $15,000. Wood with a diameter of more than three inches is cut into firewood lengths and sold at $50 per cord. Smaller pieces are chipped and sold for $5 to $10 per load. Wood sales are held periodically on Saturdays from late autumn to early spring, when the storage yard is filled with cut and unsplit wood and chips. During the winters of 1982-83 and 1983-84, wood sales produced a gross profit of more than $27,000, with only $2,000 in expenses related to sales and storage. The money generated is used to plant new trees in areas where they were removed. (Source: PIN Bulletin, January 25, 1985) The winter issue of Regeneration newsletter reports on a similar plan beng considered by the Commerce Department in Philadelphia along with the U.S. Forest Service. The plan for Philadelphia's Fairmont Park would give underpriveleged teenagers the opportunity to learn the lumber and wood processing trade while at the same time providing wood products needed for the city's housing renewal efforts. Ralph Segman, creator of the plan, estimates that between 3,000 and 15,000 dead or diseased trees could be taken from the city's 8,000-acre park every year. “This could turn into a very nice little sawmill,” said Segman. The project would use every scrap of wood available to produce firewood, wood chips, and even kitty litter, in addition to lumber. The Repair Mall Puts Together the Pieces Here's a dilemma many of us have often faced. A small but vital appliance breaks down. What do we do about it? Do we go to the trouble and expense of getting it fixed? Or do we go the often easier, but more wasteful, route of simply tossing it out and buying a new one? This is the problem that Porter Shrimer addresses in his proposal to create “repair malls” described in the winter issue of Regeneration, the quarterly newsletter of Rodale's Regeneration Project (see RAIN XI:4, page 26). “An average American spends an estimated $29 a year for repairs on personal and household goods, amazingly little when you stop to think of the incredible menagerie of gizmos we use every day. Wristwatches, toaster ovens, clock radios, video games, fitness equipment, lawn and garden gadgets, personal computers .... Never before have our lives been so filled with high-tech goods—and yet systems for repairing these goods remain in the Dark Ages.” The repair mall proposal would put several repair shops all under one roof, all run by highly skilled local laborers, working with local resources, contributing to local economic activity. It would be a kind of “one stop shopping” for repairs that would make the fix-it versus toss-it balance more favorable. Shrimer suggests siting the repair mall in a “regenerated building,” perhaps a refurbished factory or warehouse. This could take advantage of tax incentives for renovating existing buildings. According to Shrimer, tentative business plans for such a mall have been drawn up. “For a ten-shop mall, somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet might be needed. It's been estimated that just one mall of this size could employ over 20 people and generate as much as $700,000 in gross income annually.” He notes that the function of the mall could also be expanded beyond repairs to include other kinds of recycling and refurbishing operations, and also locally produced new goods such as arts, crafts, furniture, and clothing. For more information, contact Regeneration Newsletter, 33 East Minor Street, Emmaus, PA 18049. Agricultural Productivity Act Signed into Law The Agricultural Productivity Act, the first alternative farming systems legislation passed by Congress, has been signed into law. The original proposal, first introduced in 1982, was drafted to implement major recommendations of the 1980 report on organic farming prepared by a USDA study team. The newly-enacted version ended up as a separate subtitle in the 1985 farm bill. The most innovative feature of the legislation is to establish research projects to compare three different types of farming systems—farms using conventional technology, farms in transition from conventional to alternative methods, and farms using alternative agricultural methods. Each farming system would include 12 or more farms, last a minimum of five years, and continue as long as 15 years if necessary to obtain complete evaluation of cropping sequence cycles. USDA is also required to inventory, classify, and assess existing alternative agriculture studies, reports, and other materials, and to make available to farmers and ranchers any that would help them move toward low-cost, environmentally sound farming systems. (Source: Alternative Agriculture News, January 1986)
Page 6 RAIN Spring 1986 The Other Japan Interest has been growing recently in that entity called “the Pacific Rim." In his soon-to-be-released book. Pacific Shift, William Irwin Thompson describes how the center ofsocial and cultural innovation is shifting from the New YorklLondonl Paris axis to the Los AngelesISydneyITokyo axis. This would seem to be welcome newsfor those of us living on the West Coast—it sorta puts us in the thick of the excitement. Also, if we extend our sense ofbioregions to macroregions with common characteristics across borders, the question is raised: Why not look west to the East as well as east to the Westfor ideas and inspiration? Thefollowing special section has been put together by Steve Johnson based on his trip to Japan last September and October. Hefound that there is more to Japan than the "Japan Inc." image we getfrom most American media. Thefirst piece in this section, “On the Far Side of the Big Lake," is Steve’s own impressionistic look at “the other Japan," based on a tour of citizen action groups, progressive governments, and “new age" groups. Articles describing other elements ofJapanese grassroots activity have been contributed by people Steve met on his trip. Based on these new contacts, we hope that RAIN can increase its coverage ofJapan, and the Pacific Rim in general, in the future. —FLS On the Far Side of the Big Lake by Steve Johnson Last fall I travelled to Japan to follow up on a rejuvinated interest in Japan in the context of the Pacific Rim. I spent about 4 months there when I was 16 years old. This was 1962, one year before President Kennedy's assassination, two years before the Beatles landed in America. In Japan in 1962 there were less then 2 million cars, and most of those were taxis. When I returned in 1985 there were 50 million cars. My interest in Japan coincided with Japan's increased influence on our culture, from employment in the auto industry to clothes fashion and sushi bars. When an economics professor told us in 1962 that Japan would soon be a major economic force in the world, all we could think of was souveniers with that ubiquitous “Made in Japan.” Facing Japan from the Pacific Maritime region of North America, there is an ocean in front of us and rows of mountains and deserts behind us. A giant body of water, in which all tlie land of the planet could be tucked away with room to spare, separates us. But across that water we share a rim of dormant fire, the volcanos, and plate movement, the earthquakes. Also, as Gary Snyder pointed out, the wonderful nature woodcuts of Hiroshige have scenes that warm the cockles of a maritime inhabitant's heart. For over a year before I went to Japan, I employed traditional networking techniques to establish communication with Japanese. In fact, I started with a small list of RAIN subscribers. That small list seemed to have a life of its own as The Other Japan
Spring 1986 RAIN Page 7 my letters were passed around from person to person and group to group. Several of the people became key contacts for my journey, including Masako Nishiyama, Aki Okabe, and Shin Yoshida. We spent dozens of hours together visiting groups, learning, speculating, and of course making sure I got on trains headed in the right direction. The goals for my trip were fairly general. I wanted to find out about the Japanese equivalent of nonprofit organizations, grassroots Japan, or as Donald Clark refers to it, the “Other Japan.” I also wanted to see how these groups were using computers. And finally, I was interested in the balance of trade issue. What was it now? That we got Toyotas and VCRs and they got com flakes and Kentucky Fried Chicken. I wondered if there was room for trade between regions; exchanges between small businesses and indigenous craftspeople. Of course, the trip had many surprises. A Rainy Day in Yokahoma Kanagawa Prefecture, a “state” with the population of California, has a reputation as one of the more progressive governments in Japan. Yokohama, a city of 3 million, is the seat of prefectural government, and the largest port in Japan. It has faced much exposure to outside influences. There is even a large cemetaiy dedicated for foreigners. Kanagawa contains many well-to-do suburbs, and as a consequence has a better local tax base then other prefectures. The strong local tax base allows Kanagawa to exercise strong local initiative. My visit to Kanagawa has been arranged by a faithful RAIN reader, Yukata Sasaki. Curiously, although he sets up the arrangements for this day and mzJces several other important connections for me while I am in Japan, we never actually meet. In Yokohama, Masako and I meet up with Sasaki's assistant, Kenichi Suzuki. The three of us wind our way down streets doing our best to converse while not damaging others with our umbrellas—the sidewalks and streets are a sea of hoisted umbrellas. On the way there I begin to think maybe I've underestimated this event. I piece together that we are on our way to meet several (how many I am wondering?) government officials at a banquet room in a Chinese restaurant By the time we arrive at the restaurant I am wishing I had dressed up. I'm sure of it when we arrive in the banquet room and no less than six government officials rise to meet me, handing out business cards. One man, Toku Morita with the Institute for Overall Local Autonomy Studies, leads the conversation since he is the best speaker of English. He has worked with city government in Baltimore, and stayed a length of time at the now defunct California Office of Appropriate Technology. Everyone around the table knows RAIN. Since we have only six subscribers in Japan, I wonder how it gets around. The one person in this group who is an actual subscriber isn't even here. We talk about one of Kanagawa's housing development projects designed to use appropriate technology and energy conserving building and landscaping methods. As one official points out, the project has been inspired by articles in RAIN. We talk about Kanagawa's programs to increase citizen's access to public information. Kanagawa has enacted what amounts to the first freedom of information act for a prefecture in Japan. The programs were established by the Act Concerning Public Access to Public Records of the Bodies of Kanagawa Prefecture. One program is the operation of a Prefectural Government Information Center and Regional Prefectural Information Comers. Each of the centers can provide access to many government records catalogued in the “Information Presentation Index.” They hope to eventually provide access to the information using the Captian videotex system. After lunch, Masako and I are led through the rainy streets of Yokohama by Kenichi Suzuki, up a long hill, past the cemetary for foreigners to a bluff overlooking Yokohama Bay, where so many important historical events for Japan have transpired. We then walk several blocks to a coffee shop, steeped in tradition. The atmosphere emanates loves confirmed, political deals, and metaphysical wonderings. Over dark coffee and a light desert we talk about networking. There is a conference, scheduled for several days after I leave Japan, described as a networking event for grassroots organizations. Interest in social networking is hardly new to Japan, but the interest has grown to much greater dimensions in recent years. Many organizations are trying harder to work together, and see networking as an important strategy for getting there. A Kafka Mystery in the Shadow of Mt. Fuji After Masako and I say farewell to Keichi Suzuki we dash off to meet with Kunihiko Okada, a friend of Masako's. Okada's business card simply says, in English, “Metamorphosis.” I ask Okada if his group's name has been inspired by the Kafka novel about the man who wakes up as an insect. It comes as a surprise to him. He knows Kafka but has never neard of the story. Okada attempts to explain the work of Metamorphosis. Mostly he talks about his own personal transformations. After an hour I'm not much closer to understanding the nature of Metamorphosis. I also realize that if the group were in the United States I wouldn't understand it any better. Naming a group Metamoiphosis precludes easy interpretation. Even though it is late we decide to take the trip to Metamorphosis headquarters. The town we are headed for is Odwara at the foot of Mt. Fuji, at the gateway to the very wonderful Izu Penninsula. As we leave Tokyo the sky gets darker and the stations smaller, until two hours later we arrive at the Odwara train station. We go to the apartment of a friend of Okada's, Masato The Other Japan
Page 8 RAIN Spring 1986 Degawa. I'm impressed by his English. Some schooling at Oxford, and a research internship at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., have produced a unique Japanese-English. After a quick trip to a hot springs inn, Okada and I drive to the Metamorphosis office. The office is one of the weirdest I’ve seen. In the faint moonlight I can see a half-filled swimming pool, that even in this light appears green with algae. The building is a four-story hotel with maybe 40-50 rooms. Down one of the hallways in one of the few inhabitable rooms is the Metamorphosis office. Inside, with the roar of a small river just outside the window, we drink whiskey and I again attempt to find out what Metamorphosis is; this time with the help of a learning aid I came to appreciate a lot in Japan, the organization scrapbook. I see photographs of people working together on volunteer aid programs, an international Christmas celebration party in Odwara with the mayor chumming it up with Metamorphosis staff, classes and workshops, and most of all many visitors. One of their favorite themes was trying to bring international awareness to this small, rather economically frail town. Many of the photographs are of Okada's grandfather who is the leader of a religious group, the Sekai Kyusei-kyo. This religious background helps me understand the group, and Okada in particular. This is kind of a New Age Japan. Spiritual growth and political action in the same eclectic breath. In the morning, I help Degawa translate an article into English from Japanese about the legal stmcture of a farmer's association. When it is done, on a word processor, it is sent to a Tokyo bank on the telefacsimile machine that was donated to Metamorphosis. Shizuoka Citizens Center One of the most delightful times I spent in Japan was my journey to Shizuoka and Nagoya, cities about one-third and two-thirds, respectively, between Tokyo and Kyoto. At Shizuoka I met with people who run the Shizuoka Citizens Center. After some difficulty getting proper instructions to the t^i driver, I arrive at the center, greeted by Mr. Nayamora, the director. The center's office is very small. It opens onto the street in a way that makes it feel like a retail shop. It turns out the center is, in fact, “selling” something. One part of the office is a typical Japanese grassroots office—a little more chaotic than one would expect for a country with a reputation for being industrious and efficient. Two desks, a telephone, and lots of paper. On the other side of the office is a food distribution center. I only find this out after some people show up to pick up food orders, walking out with milk, vegetables, and bread. The center serves as a distribution center for 230 families who want to get food more directly from farmers rather than through large franchised grocery stores, and most importantly, food that is grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers. They are also aware of making a political statement: they do not want to buy food grown outside their region. The center provides assistance to several independent citizen’s groups in and around Shizuoka; groups that were started around such issues as a petrochemical plant development, a golf course destroying a forest, and a proposal to dump nuclear waste near Shizuoka. The center staff is mainly one person, Mr. Nayamora. He and volunteers run what we might call a resource center. Since a lot of the work involves networking. The Other Japan
Spring 1986 RAIN Page 9 Mr. Nayamora was one of several Japanese I met who could easily pull down a copy of Networking by Lipnack and Stamps. I realize that this group, and several others I meet with in Japan, are more confrontative than their American counterparts. I ask them if they only oppose things or if they also propose alternatives. The response from one person is, “No, why should we do that? We are against something, it is up to them to do it differently.” Later in the evening, I am off in a taxi with Jin Horikawa, a friend of Shin Yoshida, to his family's home. His house reminds me of the Japan from my previous trip. I sleep comfortably on the floor on a futon mattress under a large fluffy quilt. I w^e early and sit in the thin sun of morning looking at Jins' father's minature tree (bonsai) nursery, and then eat an orthodox Japanese breakfast consisting of a bowl of miso soup, green salad, rice, and a bowl of tiny white fish . It is the only time I've eaten several hundred fish for breakfast Sui Sha Mura We are off today, traveling inland away from Shizuoka and the great plain in which three quarters of the Japanese live, up to Sui Sha Mura, the waterwheel village. We pick up Reiko Takatsuka who serves as an excellent translator for the day. The farther we get out of the city, the lighter I feel. We are beyond the grasp of industrial Japan. We travel past steep hillsides terraced with tea plants, tiny lumber mills (for cedar trees), and two-block-long towns. Up the steepest hills there are small tramways that transport people and equipment to higher fields. We finally arrive at Sui Sha Mura. Hardly a major roadside attraction, it is at the end of a road. There is one large water wheel and buildings with two-foot-thick grass roofs. Jin wanders over to what looks like a permanent residence, and returns with Takei Usui, the owner of the property and caretaker of the waterwheel village. The village, really just three buildings, was started by a group of people, including academics in Tokyo, interested in appropriate technology. The waterwheel provides power to light the buildings. The main building is used as a retreat center for students from universities. Mr. Usui's family has lived here for over 200 years. They continue to farm the land, but sometimes in ways unlike their neighbors. The green and black tea they grow is processed in an “antique” machine driven by water from the water wheel. After we look at the tea machine, Mr. Usui invites us to his house. The house, over 100 years old, is a treat Large beams, tatami mat floors. We sit in a spacious, uncluttered room. Outside the open shoji screens there is an immaculate small moss garden with a tamed waterfall, and a pond of white and orange carp. We drink some of the freshly crushed tea and eat fish that looks like wood chips and tastes delicious, and a bowl of rice balls. Inside some of these rice balls are sweet and sour plums that could knock your socks off. We drive back to Shizuoka in the late afternoon and meet again with Mr. Nayamora. Apparently we are meeting again on his request so that we can drive to a cloth dying business that a friend operates, where he can present me with a gift. This is like the old Japan; in fact, I have a strong sense of deja vu. In my previous trip to Japan I was driven somewhere to choose a present, and on many occasions found myself accepting gifts from people I had only known for two or three hours. Chubu Recycle Movement After Shizuoka, I travel on to Nagoya to meet members of the Chubu Recycle Movement. On this trip the language barrier becomes more of a problem. My inability to speak Japanese, hardly noticed in Tokyo, is a sizable problem here. As in Shizuoka, I am followed by translators. At the Chubu Recycle office I meet Yohiyuki Hagaiwara, the director, and Keiko Nakagawa, the magazine editor. We tiy our best to communicate. Once again the organization scrapbook is there to rescue us, and on the shelf a copy of Lipnack and Stamps Networking book. After tiring of our language barrier, I return to my hotel. But not giving up, within an hour, Hagaiwara and Nakagawa come to the hotel with Junko Yamanaka, an English teacher at a local college. We talk rapidly for over an hour, covering many topics, and I notice we talk very little about recycling. Recycling here means you are involved in all kinds of things. Chubu has a staff of 11. Like Japan Recycling in Tokyo, they publish a magazine and sponsor flea markets to help people exchange used goods. But Chubu also operates a distribution center for oiganic farmers to sell their crops to consumers in Nagoya. Another program supports local craftspeople. While I was at their office, one room was filled with older women repairing damaged toys to sell to raise money for Chubu programs and other causes. Earlier in the year they sponsored a used book sale that raised $10 million yen ($46,000) for famine relief in Africa. After an enjoyable dinner with Dr. Asano, another acquaintence of Shin Yoshida's, a member of the Friends of the Earth, and the International Physicians for Social Responsiblity, we return to Chubu's office. Although it is 9 p.m. the office is as filled as it was in the afternoon. People want to work here. We all gather around, taking photographs for their magazine. With all of us working on it, the synergy of 12 people makes communication possible, even disarmingly simple. I draw lots of pictures in explaining the kind of work I do. My pictures apparently jibe with the description in the Networking book, as I get several nods, and pointings between the book and my drawings. By time Hagaiwara, Nakagawa, and I walk the mile or so to my hotel we have learned to communicate fairly large thoughts with a smalt vocabulary. The Other Japan
The Group Against the Throw-Away Society On another trip out of Tokyo I traveled to Kyoto. While there I metTakashi Tsuchida, the founder of The Group Against the Throw-Away Society. Tsuchida is a soft spoken, articulate man whose nearly religious zeal for his work is quite evident. In 1973 he was a teacher and researcher in chemistry at Kyoto University. With the oil crisis he came to realize how Japan had to exploit a disproportionate amount of the earth's resources to sustain its lifestyle. It felt to him that society was bent on “throwing away everything, including people.” His strong stand against nuclear war, as well as his own discomfort with his work, forced him to quit his teaching job. He then started the Group Against the Throw-Away Society. Tsuchida invited me to one of the group's monthly meetings for potential new members. Tsuchida's background as a teacher is evident during the meeting. His talk to the group lasts an hour. It is a very personal description of his own evolution. He explains how one day he went into his kitchen and stood there in amazement. He had no idea how it worked. He did not know where anything was, or where the food came from. It was then that he vowed to participate more in household activities that he had relegated to his wife. He was concerned about his family's diet. He felt that the modem agricultural methods were creating unhealthy food. He dso was concerned that the changing Japanese diet was destroying farming as a way of life. In order to provide families with heathier food, and to re-establish a relationship with farmers, he started a food distribution center that now serves 1500 families. There are 15 people at the meeting, some of whom have been at previous meetings, or are active members. For most Steve Johnson, right, with Yohiyuki Hagaiwara at the office of the Chubu Recucle Movement in Nagoya. people ills their first meeting. The group's age range is from small children, up to men and women in their sixties. Tsuchida encourages the people just to be conscious of their choices. He wants them to feel that what they do makes a difference. He also comforts them by making it clear that there are many failures, too—changes come slowly. In his own family, he says there is great pressure to eat meat. He has become a vegetarian, but now and then has to give in to his family. But that's okay, too, he says. “We need to leave something for the next generation to work on.” I realize the group is like an alcoholics anonomyous support group for the modem day consumer. Tsuchida, in effect, promises the people that if they will honestly try to make some changes in their lifestyles, to consume less, the group will be there to support them. He describes games he has used to keep his family on course. It is not easy. And sometimes one is caught in a contradiction. While not believing in the consumption of dairy products from a dietary point of view, Tsuchida continues to use them so he can help the dairy farmer. After the meeting during lunch, I ask Tsuchida what different types of political groups think of his work. He says that most people, conservative or radical, don't pay much attention, that they don't think the work makes much difference. For his part, he participates in political demonstrations when appropriate to show his support for the activists, even though he really believes people must change themselves first. Although he is pleased to visit with me, his work is local. He seems comfortable with his role on the planet, caring for his own garden, neighbors, and community. T^ere are now other groups inspired by Tsuchida's group, and he is asked to travel to other towns and cities to help people form groups. To make another kind of statement, Tsuchida refuses to ride the Bullet, the National RaUroads's high speed train, because he doesn't believe we need to travel that fast. Appropriate Technology in Japan Japan is an island economy. At various times in its history, like England, its counterpart off the coast of Europe, Japan has attempted to expand its territory. With over a hundred million people living in an area the size of Connecticut (the inhabited area of Japan) there is a need to expand the resource base or use what there is very conservatively. Recycling, learning to make a lot with a little, learning to live together in small quarters, conserving energy, growing some of one's own food, all come naturally to Japanese. That's not to say there isn't waste in Japan. In Japanese department stores everything is wrapped. The wrapping is beautiful but very wasteful. Also, as many grassroots organizations pointed out to me, Japan has become increasingly dependent—and therefore, vulnerable—on resources in other countries. The country is only 30 percent self-sufficient in food, and is dependent on other countries for The Other Japan
Spring 1986 RAIN Page 11 almost 90 percent of its energy requirements. On the other hand, the Japanese transportation system is a marvel. The most consistent background noise in Japan is that of the mass transportation system. Trains and subways in Tokyo alone move 10 million people every day. The Bullet train that hurdles up and down the coastal plains of the main island, Honshu, rides over the top of houses on overpasses, through towns and cities, into the darkness of dozens of tunnels. It is probably the view that most foreigners see at least once on their way to Kyoto. Along the way you may notice several things. The green and gray slate roofs. Countless small solar water heaters. Gardens tucked into every available piece of land. And one of the most characteristic sites in Japan, clothes hanging to dry on small porches and balconies. Although the Japanese love gadgets and appliances, one that doesn’t seem to have a ghost of a chance is the clothes dryer. Apartment living in Tokyo stretches the attraction of “small is beautiful.” The average living space in Tokyo is 250 square feet. With so little space, the Japanese have learned to apply everyday appropriate technology principles. A living room in the day becomes a bedroom at night; a washing machine fits in a closet. The fixture that was most lovely in its simplicity was a toilet with a small bowl on the top of the tank with a faucet. The toilet is flushed with the water you use to wash your hands. The day after I get back from Kyoto I go to a meeting of the Technology and Economy group, an informal group that studies the impact of technology on Japanese society. The group was started by Fumihiko Satufuka and Teiichi Aoyama. Sat^uka is a teacher at Sagami Women's University, and Aoyama is director of the Environmental Research Institute of the Fujimic Corporation. We see a fascinating slide show and lecture about Yukashima, a small island near Kuyshu island, 800 miles south of Tokyo, in semi-tropical Japan. The island is best known for its massive and gnarled cedar trees, some of which are over 2000 years old. Many trees in the slides seem to have faces and personalities. They have been given their own names. It is a unique ecology because the north and south, the temperate and semi-tropical, push hard on each other. The atmosphere is a humid gray. On the beaches it may be steamy tropical, while only a few miles up the steep mountains (3500 feet high) in the center of the island it is overcoat weather. The island economy is 90 percent government subsidized. An active environmental ^ movement is attempting to preseve the island's natural environment, but some of the natives don't want to. They want to sell some of the resources to enhance their lifestyle. The monkeys on the island, which the environmentalists want to protect, the natives want to control in order to protect their crops. The natives would like to log some of the cedars. It reminds me of the Northern California redwoods battle. During the middle of the talk a note is handed to me that says in English, “the man who translated Stepping Stones [RAIN's anthology of appropriate technology articles] lives on this island.” The note has been given to me by a man named, Eisaku Tsuruta. I read on his business card that he works at IRI Global Books, “books for the new age.” I give a half hour talk on why I think it is important that we understand and apply computer technology for humanistic purposes. A fairly heated conversation takes place afterward, lead by Teiichi Aoyama. Aoyama would like the group to get involved more in issues afound computer technology. He also suggests that they should establish a bulletin board and electronic mail system. Many of the people can't see value in using a computer communication system, although they seem to concur that issues about computerization should be dealt with by the group. Moon Island On the last Sunday before I leave Japan, Masako, Shin, his small daughter, Haruku, and I travel through the busy Ginza to a place that Shin wants me to see before I leave. Moon Island. The Ginza on Sunday, with some side streets closed off is like a Japanese version of a South American street festival. Being a Japanese version means that the people aren't dancing in the streets, instead they are milling about with video cameras. We walk past the Ginza, pqst the gigantic farmer’s market area (closed on Sunday), and across a long bridge that spans a river flowing into Tokyo Bay. As a community planner. Shin is an excellent guide. He provides a running commentary that includes the history of the areas we walk through pointing to such sights as the modest and packed restaurant that serves a particular soba (noodle) dish from southern Japan. Moon Island is indeed special. In the heart of the district is a long business street, filled with people and bicycles. The small shops, dozens upon dozens, overflow onto the sidewalks. Down one alley I was struck by how here was everything one needed, in minature. At the end of the alley was a small temple. Very small. A place to bow, some incence burning. There were several restaurants, a doctor's office, and a public bath. Such close quarters, comfortable and cozy. That's Japan. Compared to the cowboy geography of America, Japan feels like someone's crowded living room. Also intimate. As Shin points out, “if you have a fight everyone in the neighborhood will know it.” We walk block after block. A wind picks up. It blows down the narrow streets. The wind graphically reminds me of how Japan is an island. The wind is an ocean wind, a small child of the typhoons that tear through Japan. The last sound of the day on Moon Island is the odd unsymmetrical and sad song of the Sweet Potato man. He drives slowly down the streets with a loudspeaker singing a song about the beauties of the sweet potatoes that are cooking over a charcoal fire in the back of his small pickup truck. O O The Other Japan
Page 12 RAIN Spring 1986 Citizens’ Activities in Japan One important difference between American and Japanese citizen activity is the near absence in Japan ofa nonprofit sector. The nonprofit sector in this country, with roots in religious secular social work, has evolved a substantial niche in the economy—at least large by Japanese standards. In Japan there is littlefavorable legal structureforforming nongovernment organizations (NGOs). There are no tax breaks or special mailing privilegesfor citizens organizations. Many ofthe social services performed by nonprofit organizations in this country are performed in Japan by local government units or are unncessary because ofstrongerfamily ties. One consequence of this is that Japanese nongovernmental organizations are more dependeni on volunteers, and havefewerfinancial resources and minimal offices. Most activists volunteer their time while workingfor corporations or universities. Only a handful offoundations exist to provide supportfor non-governmental organizations. Mostfoundation support goes to universitiesfor research and development. Although grassroots groups in Japan have many differences, there are some commonly held values. In an article in the Japanese Journal, Human, Tomi Naki describes several key issues that citizens groups worked on in the 1970s. These issues include thefollowing: thefear and anxiety about pollution based on the well-publicized appearance of pollution-related diseases; concern over governmental and corporate secrecy; apathy ofparty politics; desirefor more local self-determination; and the problems created by importing of American culture since the World War, especially its impact on agriculture,foodpolicy, and nutrition. In thefollowing piece. Shin Yoshida lays out one way of viewing the citizens' actions groups in Japan. In 1983, Shin did an extensive study of citizens' actions groupsfor the Toyota Foundation, “Citizen's Activities and the Supporting Role of Foundations." He concludes that these groups have several fundemental problems: lack offinancial support including legal tax breaks, lack ofgovernmental support toward citizen action, lack ofcapable people and information, lack ofadequate space for offices, and inabilityfor the groups to meet with ordinary citizens, or to communicate with other groups in the same area. The study is groundworkfor Toyota's expected increase in funding to citizens' groups. After Shin's piece come several articles describing major issue areas in Japan,followed by a sampling ofgrassroots groups. Recently Shin wrote to me and described a new book: "An Alternative Map of Japan,from Yaso-sha (34 Naka-Machi, Nara-shi, Japan 631) contains 156 alternative spaces in Japan. It howeverfocuses too much on agriculture and little on others."—SJ General Types of Japanese Citizens’ Groups by Shin Yoshida Citizens’ groups in Japan can be categorized into three types, by the kind of relationship the group has with local and federal government and business. Local governments are particularly important because they provide many services that might be provided by social service and voluntary organizations in the United States. However, the local government services do not satisfy all the needs of the people, and there is great need for citizens to act on their own. The first type of citizens’ group consists of those working with or for ^e government and business. This includes neighborhood organizations, women’s organizations, and groups for the elderly and youth. There are about 1.2 million groups of this type. The second kind of group consists of those that fight against or oppose the policies and actions by what they see as the establishment. Struggles at the Narita International Airport site and the Minamata Mercury poisoning site are two of the more famous examples. Most of the groups in this category are involved in pollution, energy, transportation, peace, and human rights issues. The third type of group is neither working for nor fighting directly against anything. They say things like “Think critically, act practically,” or “Think ideally, act pragmatically,” and “Think globally, act locally.” When these people put themselves into action, rather than confronting face-to-face with the problems, they tend to start from themselves and people around them. They know that, in order to create a better Japan, they have to change themselves first—start small and maybe stay small. Some of the activities in this category include: international development cooperation, peace, food and agriculture concerns, women’s rights, and alternative space and information services. O O The Other Japan
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