Dr.Donna Weeks - longtime friend of Seek-Sustainable-Japan - gives insights on the top-7 candidates in Japan's LDP presidential election this month (who will be the country's prime minister) based on her 40 years of research and engagement with Japanese politics as a psephologist.

TOPICS covered in this talk:

• Politics & Sustainability?
• How did your political interest start?
• Prime Minister Kishida (67)
• Taro Kono (61)
• Shinjiro Koizumi (43)
• Takayuki Kobayashi (50)
• USA Education of candidates
• Japan gov relation to Harris vs Trump
• Yoko Kamikawa (70)
• Signaling with profile hobbies
• Tokyo Governor's Race
• Shinji Ishimaru surprise popularity
• The Social Contract
• Compulsory voting & engagement
• Article 9 Japan constitution
• Inspired by Seek Sustainable Japan
• Sanae Takaichi (63)
• Used to be easier to choose PM
• Toshimitsu Motegi (68)
• Shizo Abe's Legacy
• Shigeru Ishiba (67)
• Dr.Donna Weeks' choice
• PM must be popular
• Is Japan Silver Democracy?
• Koizumi's Circular Economy
• Transparency in Politics

Psephologist Dr. Donna Weeks has spent the last 40 years engaged with Japan's politics and peace issues and spent most of her career teaching and researching Japanese politics and peace studies at the Department of Political Science at Musashino University, Tokyo.

Now based back home in Brisbane, Australia, but still with an eye on Japanese politics Dr.Weeks can walk us through some of the candidates to look out for in this upcoming prime minister race in Tokyo, the recent Tokyo governor's race and most importantly what kind of politics we should be seeking.

Dr.Donna Weeks blog: https://psephyspix.blogspot.com/

on Instagram & threads: @psephyspix

BGM thanks to Casey Bean of The BeanPod Podcast - support Casey on BandCamp

== Get in touch with JJWalsh @jjwalsh @inboundambassador https://linktr.ee/jjwalsh ==

Great to catch up after the summer break with fellow sustainability-focused consultant Tove Kinooka on our monthly series Sustainable Japan short-takes. It was a lively discussion of connections across topics that help us find better ways to balance the needs of people and planet with profits.

Read about this podcast on MEDIUM | See the video of this podcast on YouTube

BGM thanks to Casey Bean- support his musical journey on BandCamp

Wonderful interview with the inspiring carpenter-educator-writer Douglas Brooks about more of his projects in Japan, and around the world, to preserve and celebrate the traditional wooden boats of Japan.

Watch the interview here on YouTube to add visuals to the images we are talking about.

As always, big thanks to Casey Bean for the opening and closing music - find his original tunes on BandCamp and listen to his podcast on your fave player The BEANPOD

Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima Peace Memorial park are difficult places to visit, but also important destinations to maintain and allow people to consider wartime choices and their consequences. This year, I had the chance to visit Pearl Harbor on Hiroshima day August 6th and attend a peace light-up event at Pearl Harbor again on August 7th to commemorate the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945.

This is an adaptation of a MEDIUM article I wrote here.

In early spring 2024, Tom Miyagawa Coulton and I traveled on a 24h ferry from Tokyo to some of Japan's most remote and not well known tropical nature reserves called the Bonin or Ogasawara islands. YouTube video of this talk here

Tom is a talented photographer and is always a great collaborator on writing and consulting projects like this around Japan. Video here made by All About Japan of the trip focused on composting toilet sustainability in tourism initiatives.

BGM by talented singer songwriter Casey Bean - support his music on BandCamp

The entire 500th Episode of the "Good People Doing Great Things" Seek Sustainable Japan episode - so many fun and interesting people and insights here to enjoy.

Andrew Russell is originally from Scotland, but has been living and brewing sake in Japan for more than 8 years. In winter, Andrew is busy brewing sake from Oct to Mar each year, but during the off-brewing season, he gives excellent Sake tours in the famous brewing region of Nada in Hyogo. This is the third sake brewing area in Japan where he has worked with a local brewer.

Originally from Scotland, Andrew has a MA in Japanese studies and has worked in 3 sake breweries in Okayama, 3 in Hiroshima and now 3 in Nada so he has a deep understanding and appreciation for Sake in Japan.

I've heard Andrew's Sake tour is amazing - he has first hand experience using tools in the sake museum and knows how important each of the ingredients and processes are to the final resulting sake taste, aroma and look.

I have enjoyed listening to many of his insights into the history, culture and people of the sake world in Japan- he is the co-host of the Sake Deep Dive podcast.

My first talk in 2022 with Andrew here when he was brewing with FUKUCHO headed by Miho Imada in Akitsu Hiroshima: https://www.youtube.com/live/_FM1gbdgnjo?si=YPS4VK-WDPoJtpdh

Origin Sake Tours: https://www.originsaketours.com/blank-2

Sake Deep Dive Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sake-deep-dive/id1587884895

JUNE topics: Refugees | Same-Sex Couples Equality | Koike vs Renho Tokyo Gov | Big Garbage Reuse by Gov on Mercari app | Compost Toilets & Sustainable Travel | Peace Ed & Gaza from Hiroshima | Mountain Ecosystem Tokyo Event | BCCJ event Exploring Japan Corporate Diversity

LINKS:

==Renho vs Koike for Tokyo Gov== https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/202...

== Refugees==

https://rei-npo.org/en/ | https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends | https://www.unhcr.org/events/world-re...

== Same Sex Couples Equality Event ==

https://bccjapan.com/news/robert-walt...

== Event at FABRIC in JULY to promote sustainability in the mountains ==

https://mountain-ecosystem-legacy-act...

==Joy's Ogasawara Island Sustainable Travel Video==

• 小笠原諸島 母島バイオトイレプロジェクト／Ogasawara Island...

== Japan Gov using MERCARI to #reuse Dai-Gomi Big Item Waste ==