Let’s take action to reduce food waste!

Who am I? Who do I want to be?

I like to talklike talk with many friends, but I’m not good at presenting in front of people.

I really love listening to Kpop and Western music. When I’m down, listening to music makes me feel better.

I’m studying hard because I want to be able to speak English, German and Korean in the future.

And also, I want to be a confident person and able to do everything positively without being shy.

What local and global problems am I aware of?

• Local problems

I’m aware of the declining birthrate and aging population. In particularEspecially, my hometown Akita is said to have the worst birthrate and aging population in Japan.

• Global problems

　　　I’m aware of the food loss. Surprisingly, in Japan, 6 million tons of food are discarded in a year.

What Sustainable Development Goals have I learned about?

• Goal 

4 quality education

10 reduced inequalities

• Information

                        I’ve heard that urban people have higher learningleaning skills than rural people. In fact, it is known that urban people have a higher final education than rural people. 

                        It is said that one of the reasons for the gap in final education is that there are few options for schools in rural areasarea.

                        ｢都市vs地方｣生まれによる教育格差の深刻度 | 東洋経済education×ICT | 変わる学びの、新しいチカラに。 (toyokeizai.net)

• Goal

            2 zero hunger

            12 responsible consumption

• Information

                        In japan, 6.12 million (the equivalent of 5 cups of Tokyo Domes) tons of food are discarded in a year.

                        食品ロスの現状を知る：農林水産省 (maff.go.jp)

• Goal

  • Information

What did I do and learn in my fieldwork?

• What was my research question? 

           How much are Japanese people are aware of food waste? What are the negative effects of foodfoods waste? 

　　　日本人はどれほどフードロスについて意識しているのか？　フードロスはどのような悪影響を及ぼすのか？

 Why is this important to me?

           There are many people in the world who want to eat but can’t get food（hunger). Therefore, Japan is blessed with a lot of food and I felt that I shouldn’t waste food.

           Also, throwing away a lot of food has a bad effect on the world.(e.g. Environment, Hunger…)

　　　世界中には食べたくても食料が手に入らない人々がたくさんいる。そのため、日本はせっかくたくさんの食料に恵まれているのに食料を捨てるべきではないと感じた。

　　　他にも食料を捨てることは世界に様々な悪影響がある。（環境面や飢餓など）

• What did I do?

I interviewed my friends about their awareness of food loss.

友人にフードロスに関する意識についてインタビューした。

• What data did I collect?

https://1drv.ms/p/s!AmE-YG1sENSwh0xI8YS1cANHDO_Y?e=fliFwx

• What trends did I find in the data?

Some people who lived alone bought more ingredients than theyr could eat alone and endedalone ended up throwing them away.

There were many people who didn’t discard food, but I thought that the reason why food loss became such a problem is that they discard it unconsciously.

一人暮らしをしている何人かの人はひとりで食べきれない量の食品を買ってしまい、食べきる前に捨ててしまうということがわかった。

食料は廃棄しないという人が多かったが、フードロスがここまで大きな問題となっているのは無意識に廃棄してしまっているからではないかと考えた。

• How does my fieldwork connect to my future?

If many people are conscious of improving food loss, they will move into action (conduct practices) and the situation will gradually improve.

多くの人々がフードロスの現状を改善しようという意識を持っていたら、行動に移すようになり、この現状も徐々に改善していくだろう。

Who is doing related work locally and globally? What are they doing?

• Local connection:

One supermarket sells food that is close to its expiration datewhose expiration dates are close at a low price.

あるスーパーマーケットでは賞味期限が近いものは割引されて売られていた。

• Global connection:

In France, there is a law prohibiting supermarkets from disposing of food and requiring them to donate or convert unsold food into feed.

  　　　例えば、フランスにはスーパーマーケットで食品を廃棄することを禁止し、売れ残りのものは寄付するか、飼料に転用することを義務とした法律がある。

What do I think would be a useful project to work towards achieving the SDGs?

• Short summary:

　　・I thought that in addition to encourageing the elimination of food loss, posters should also show how much food is thrown away annually and what negative effects it hasis has in supermarkets and restaurants and so on.

　　・I think we should build supermarkets for people who live alone. For example, they sell enough food to eat by themselves. 

　　フードロスを減らすことを促すことに加えてどのくらいの量の食品が年間捨てられているのかそして、フードロスがどんな悪影響を及ぼすのかについてのポスターもスーパーマーケットやレストランなどに掲示する。

　　一人暮らし用のスーパーマーケットをつくる。1人分の量に小分けされている食品を売る。

• SDGs targetted:

　　　2 zero hunger

　　　12 responsible consumption

　　　２飢餓をゼロに

　　　１２つくる責任つかう責任

• Who

　　　People who live in Japan

　　　日本に住んでいる人々

• What

　　　Low awareness of food loss

　　　フードロスに関する意識の低さ

• When

　　　Before the Bon Festival (Because during the Bon Festival, many people will buy food as a sacrificial offering to their ancestors (and throw them away after a few days) and eat many foods in  so I think many people visit supermarkets or restaurant)

　　　　お盆の前（お盆の間は多くの人が仏壇に供えるための食べ物を多く購入する。お墓に供えられた食べ物は虫などもついていることがあり、捨ててしまうことが多い。また地域差もあるかもしれないが私の家では煎餅や素麺を仏壇の飾りとして使用し、その後捨ててしまう。） 

• Where

　　　Supermarkets, restaurants

　　スーパーマーケット、レストラン

• How  (how many / how much)

　　Until many people understand the state of food loss and the amount of food loss decreaeses

       多くの人々がフードロスの現状やどのくらい食料が廃棄されているのかについて理解するまで

• Why

　　　I’m working part time attime job at a supermarket and became interested in efforts to sell products that are close to the expiration date cheaply. 

　　　私はスーパーで働いていて賞味期限の近い商品を安く売っている取り組みに興味を持ったから

• Materials 

　　　posters

　　　ポスター

• Dangers / risks

• Problems

　　Building　Bulding a new supermarket for people who live alone is a veryis very difficult thing. 

　　　一人暮らしの人向けのスーパーマーケットを新しく作ることは難しい

• Timeline   

1. Reflect on the data collected during mini-fieldwork.

1．ミニフィールドワークで集めたデータを振り返る

2.check how much food is thrown away (waste)in Japan

どのくらいの食料が日本において捨てられているのか調べる

3.summarize these data in detail, including numerical values and make posters

これらの集めたデータを数値なども含め、詳しくまとめてポスターを作る

4.negotiate whether I can put up posters in restaurants and supermarkets.

レストランやスーパーマーケットにポスターを掲示してもよいか交渉する

Reflection

• What I learned this semester:

          I was able to learn the importance of sharing ideas with various people. 

          This is because I can find opinions that I didn't come up with, and combine my thoughts with others to come up with better ideas.

         It was also good to be able to think deeply about myself.

• What I could have done better:

I was able to think deeply about how to solve worldsolve the world problems and even local problems and also share my opinions.

• The connection to my future:

            I think it’s very important to share my opinion with someone even when I start working.

            And, I think that thinking and taking action to solve a problem would also be useful for the future.

• Advice for other students: