To be quite honest, I'm not completely sure whether I would call the Japanese way of living eco-friendly. Sure, people often argue that "mottainai" sales are a way of recycling, but combine that with the fact that Japan combusts a large percentage of its garbage and offers few places for people to recycle clothes, and you've got a bit of a dilemma.
Moving on...
People tend to react to things that affect them or their immediate lives — this is one of the reasons why the movement to be friendly to the environment has only caught on in certain regions of the world. While individuals may care about others, past examples have shown us that few people will go out of their way, will inconvenience their lives, merely to assist a complete stranger — less so if said individual is on the other side of the globe. This idea is especially prominent in the Japanese sphere, where we need only to look at the principles of 外 and 内.
In the same vein, Japanese people are more willing to adhere to the government-set 節電 principles because they feel for their countrymen and do not want their fellow Japanese to be energy-less throughout the entire summer. This year has been a year of many natural disasters, but not once have we seen the Japanese government (and the people, accordingly) honestly attempt to conserve energy the way they are doing now — never mind the fact that many scientists are attributing this sudden spike in natural disasters to global warming, which everyone in the world will be affected by someday. Cool Biz, for example, is something that has been around for a few years now, but people did not really start acknowledging it until after the disaster.
Preserving the environment is incredibly important to me, but selfishly enough, I also like the status quo of my own life. While shutting down the AC on the trains from 12-3 p.m. is not exactly a desirable action during a mushimushi summer, I think that it is good that the Japanese people are finally learning how much energy they waste by leaving the giant screens at ALTA and Shibuya on night and day, by having more than one 24-hour conbini on each block. Setsuden, thus, means very little to me, because it is something that Japan should have started years ago — but better late than never, right?
I suppose my biggest gripe with the entire thing is how commercialised it's becoming. You can buy a smartphone app or purchase toys that are marketed as eco-friendly. How does buying something new actually help conserve resources?
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