Sustainability
Explore Japan’s approach to sustainability, waste reduction, and eco-friendly practices inspired by traditional values.
Food Banks in Japan
Here is a list of organizations in Japan that engage in volunteer activities to collect food items and ingredients that are nearing their expiration dates or are difficult to sell through regular chan…
BOOKOFF: How to Sell Your Unwanted Items in Japan
BOOKOFF is the most famous second-hand shop with 800 locations in Japan. It offers not only second hand books, but also CDs, DVDs, cell phones, cameras, home appliances, musical instruments, clothes,…
How to Sell Unwanted Luxury Brand Goods in English in Japan
HUGALL provides an English-speaking service for purchasing high-end brands, such as watches, clothes, bags, furniture...). Residents in and around Tokyo can request a pick-up service. If you would lik…
How to Read Recycling Symbols on Products in Japan
Taking care of garbage is an everyday part of life that we often do without thinking too much about it, but when living in a different country like Japan, it becomes necessary to learn a new system fo…
How to Donate and Sell Used Clothing and Furniture in Japan
Whether learning a new language, doing your best to follow the local culture, or just trying to get from point A to point B, living in Japan never ceases to keep expats on their toes. But what to do w…
How to Sell on Mercari Japan
While in the West there are secondhand online marketplaces like eBay, in Japan there is Mercari, where you can both save money on buying used, yet still high-quality goods and easily make some extra m…
What is Mottainai? The Japanese Meanings and Expressions
The Japanese word "Mottainai" has been used in many countries around the world as a universal language. If you look up "mottainai" in a Japanese-English dictionary, you will find words like "waste" an…
Sustainable Lifestyles in Edo and Japanese History
In Japan, there has long been a 'mottainai spirit' of taking good care of things, and in the Edo era, people in various professions recycled things to reuse them. Sustainability, which has been attrac…
Is it Safe to Eat Expired Food? - The difference between "Best Before" and "Use By"
In Japanese food labeling, there are two types of dates: "消費期限" (Use By) and "賞味期限" (Best Before). These two are significantly different and determine whether food can or cannot be consumed after the…
Minimizing Food Loss: Finding Supermarkets in Japan that Sell Expired (Expiring) Food
Japan is one of the world's leading countries in food loss. Expressing "equivalent to every citizen throwing away one bowl of rice every day" is an effective way to convey the magnitude of the problem…
How to Reduce Food Waste in Japan: Steps to Sustainability
Like many other countries, Japan faces a severe problem with food waste. This issue occurs throughout the entire process of food production and consumption, leading to economic losses, environmental i…
New and Used English Book Stores in Tokyo
Are you on the hunt for some good reading material but wondering where to find something in your native language in the middle of Tokyo? Have you ever stepped into a Japanese bookstore and been overwh…
Mercari Japan: How to Shop in English
E-commerce platforms like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Gumtree have made it easy to find secondhand items available at a good price. This is no different in Japan, where Mercari has become a very p…
