A businessman turned organic farmer proves that, for the best things in life, all you need is trust
Chiba Prefecture, JapanAs kids we all learn that we should help others and not expect anything in return. But what happens when doing favours for your neighbours is measured and used as currency?The answer, according to the "ruler" of the Kamogawa Nature Kingdom in Chiba prefecture in the greater Tokyo area, is a more susŽtainable community. The kingdom's currency is simply called AWA money.
That "ruler" is organic farmer and artist, Yoshiki Hayashi, a former Tokyo businessman who gave up his pursuit of wealth and luxury 20 years ago for "a rural lifestyle that won't stress the environment too much" and lives happily in the countrywide with his wife and two children.
Our group - 39 high school students and teachers from Japan, Thailand, the US and Poland, participants of the third Toshiba Youth Conference's camp - are on a visit to Kamogawa Nature Kingdom to learn about AWA money and the community's sustainable and ecofriendly lifestyle.
Hayashi explains that the AWA money is like a barter system that requires no banknotes or coins, just 100percent trust in your neighbours to make it work.
Given a list of what each person in community could do for others, for example giving piano lessons or making furniture, each family member who signs up for the currency, obtains a booklet with a note of what they are bartering. The booklet's cover reads "Local Energy Trading System". So far 170 families have signed up.
The members negotiate between themŽselves on what they needed to have done and record the exchange at the agreed AWA price in the booklet for further reference and exchange. They can even use the currency to pay up to 30 per cent of acupuncture treatŽment in the community, Hayashi explains.
As it currently stands, AWA money only cover 10 to 30 per cent of the kingdom's actual expenses, as many bills such as electricity and other needs still require payment in conŽventional Japanese yen. "But AWA money certainly come in handy when a family is runŽning low on yen at the end of the month," he smiles.
Unlike the competitive and greedfeeding currency of the world outside the community, AWA money emphasises facetoface communication and knowing who is producing the goods for you. It also encourages people to develop relationships with one another and to rely on each other while reducing food mileage and carbondioxide emissions as goods are over very short distances. "It's also yields good quality products because, knowing that your friends or neighbours will use the goods, somehow forces you do produce the very best."
While Hayashi would love to see other communities launch similar bartering initiatives, he says he has no interest in expanding his own scheme, pointing out that keeping it small ensures high quality.
Our group sees more ecofriendly local wisŽdom in the prefecture during a visit to the 150yearold traditional Japanese farmhouse that belonged to the late professor and founder of Josai International University, Mizuta Mikio.
Welladapted to the Japanese climate, the house is lit by sunlight and ventilated thanks to the many paper sliding window panes, while the walls are plastered with a strawandsoil mixture that absorbs moisture and its steep and thick reed roof offers shelter from the rainfall. Built from locallyavailable materials such as bamboo for wall frames and susuki reed for roofing, no nails or metal are used in this wooden house so it can be dismantled and reconstructed at a moment's notice. Even better, all the material are reusable, with the wooden beams one day becoming flooring planks then firewood whose ashes will one day be used as fertiliser. The tatami straw mat, which could last for 100 years will eventually become fermented paper to make new window panes.
Ashley Hernandez, a student at the School for Environmental Studies in the US is fascinated by lack of nails while Polish student Jakub Ubysz, who attends Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace 14 in Warsaw is impressed by the thick and steep roof made of Susuki reed.
Triam Udom Suksa's Supawich Wongkietkachorn and Thawatchai Sangdee say they are inspired by Japanese local wisdom and wonder whether some of the solutions to today's global environment issues could lie in the past.
At the camp's opentothepublic session, they express the view that it is time to go back to basics, applying traditional ecofriendly solutions to the modern lifestyle and opting for simple ecofriendly communities, where neighbours help each other and products circulate locally to reduce carbondioxide emissions.