Unlock the Real Japan: 8th issue out now

Produced in collaboration with Time Out Tokyo, the 8th issue of Nikkei Asia's special magazine Unlock the Real Japan is out now.

A publication for business leaders in Asia, Unlock the Real Japan features interviews with some of Japan’s top experts in their fields and focuses on a variety of current affairs and seasonal themes. You’ll find the magazine enclosed within the Nikkei Asia news magazine, distributed for free at embassies and luxury hotels in Japan.

With the 2023 United Nations SDG Summit in New York coming up in mid-September, this new issue of Unlock the Real Japan looks at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With seven years to go to the Goals’ target year of 2030 there’s plenty of work to do, and Unlock highlights Japan’s approach to doing so.

Some of the ideas featured, such as the sustainable approach at Ise Grand Shrine, have been centuries in the making. Others, including plans to reimagine tourism, are much newer—but all are essential if we are to achieve the kind of world we want to live in.

We spoke to Satoru Otowa of Ise Grand Shrine in Mie prefecture about Japan's recycling tradition and how the ceremonial relocation of shrines has inherently been all about preserving, reusing and upcycling resources.

Taku Yamada, the CEO of tour company Satoyama Experience, is the driving force behind Hida Furukawa’s sustainable tourism initiatives. Here he talks about striking a balance between promoting tourism and developing the local community, and how they both form a symbiotic relationship that can benefit each other.

The issue also cast a spotlight on Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri, one of Japan’s most iconic summer festivals, to look at how an event of this immense scale tackle the issue of waste while promoting responsible consumption. Kohei Ota, the head of Gion Matsuri Zero Waste Association, talks about the initiatives the festival takes to reduce its environmental impact.

Unlock the Real Japan issue eight is written and edited by Marcus Webb, editorial director of Original Inc (the publisher of Time Out Tokyo) and editor of Slow Journalism magazine Delayed Gratification. If you can’t find a physical copy, you can read all the articles on the Unlock the Real Japan website.