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
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