Word: mottainai
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...attitude of the public and the efforts of the government are slowly changing Japan. Partly, that is because of the concept of mottainai, which literally means "what a waste" and is manifest in an almost reflexive desire to conserve and reuse. Centuries before there was an environmental movement, the Japanese embraced origami, an art form - originally from China - based on the notion of creation without cutting. Fashion designer Issey Miyake adapted the concept 30 years ago in apparel made with a single piece of cloth, cut so that no pieces wind up in the garbage...
...Mottainai is not an economical concept," says Hiroyuki Torigoe, a sociology professor at Waseda University in Tokyo. "It's a mentality." When Japan was a developing country enamored of American consumption and consumerism, Japanese people thought mottainai was outmoded, says Yukiko Kada, a former professor of environmental sociology who today is governor of Shiga prefecture. Now, Japanese people are rediscovering a desire to seek "spiritual and mental satisfaction" because their basic material needs are largely fulfilled, she says. "The environment has drastically changed," says Kada. "Twenty or 30 years ago there were many fish in lakes and rivers. But that...
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