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Mottainai Things and Their Improvement

Oita National College of Technology

A: You know the Japanese word, mottainai, don't you? We think of mottainai as a behavior or situation where things are wasted, without making good use of their values. We use this word very naturally in our daily lives.
The English language doesn't have a corresponding word for mottainai. If we try to say it in English, it could be‘a waste' or‘being wasteful'. But today, the Japanese word, mottainai, is becoming the center of international attention.

B: Here we'd like to introduce Ms. Wangari Maathai. She spread the Japanese word mottainai around the world as a keyword for conserving the natural environment.
Ms. Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan environmentalist. In 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as the first African woman for her grassroots activity to encourage tree planting and many other environmental movements. When she visited Japan in 2005, she heard the Japanese word mottainai and was deeply impressed by its simple but sublime meaning.
According to Ms. Maathai, mottainai has the concept of the ‘Three R's', which are fundamental keywords for eco-activity: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. She explains that mottainai has one more important concept: that is, a sense of respect for the natural environment. She emphasizes; “Mottainai is really a wonderful word unprecedented in the world”.

C: In Japan, we have many mottainai items such as waribashi, disposable wooden chopsticks, and rejibukuro, plastic shopping bags. There are also many other mottainai things around us.
Today, we are going to present three mottainai items and suggest how they can be improved so that we can lead the world in this field as a nation living in the birthplace of the concept of mottainai.

A: Firstly we present chalk; yes, the same chalk used by our teachers in our daily classes. Of course, whiteboards are now taking the place of blackboards in many schools, but blackboards are still dominant in the classroom. We think chalk is very mottainai. As you know, chalk easily breaks or soon shortens. And what is even worse, chalk does you harm. When a teacher uses chalk in class, it creates lots of dust in the air. So if you are sitting just in front of the blackboard, you will get covered with chalk dust, and sometimes calcium carbonate, the main component of chalk, may cause you to cough.
We've found a permanent solution for the chalk damage at last. That is Oekakisensei ! It's a toy board for small children to draw pictures or write letters on. It's made by the Takara Tommy Company. You can write and draw anything on the board, and you can erase it easily with no dust at all, because the board is made of iron sand and the pen is a magnet. Why not introduce a much bigger type of Oekakisensei in our classrooms?

C: But you can use only black ink when you write on the board, can't you?

A: No way. You can use two colors: black and red.

C: Well then, don't you think an electronic blackboard is much better than the Oekakisensei?

A: You are quite right. But you need much more money to put the electronic blackboard into a classroom. Furthermore, the Oekakisensei consumes no electricity. It's eco-friendly. Don't you think so?

B C: OK, we declare the Oekakisensei the winner!

B: Let's move on to the next mottainai item; paper cups used by vending machines. Paper cups are very mottainai because we throw them away after just a single use. Keizai-sangyou-shou, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry reports that there are 160,000 vending machines that use paper cups in Japan, and that about 2 billion paper cups are consumed every year. In our college, we have a deposit system for paper cups: when you put a used paper cup into the waste-cup collecting machine, you will get 10 yen back. But even then, you still waste paper cups, don't you?
We came up with a good solution: to invent a new type of vending machine that uses reusable plastic cups. A plastic cup is much stronger than a paper cup and it can be used again and again.

A: But what if a woman's red lipstick is left on the cup? Don't you mind using it?

B: Don't worry. A special sensor in our new machine will automatically detect a stain and the machine will wash it away perfectly!

A: Hmmm, then what if the rim of the plastic cup is broken?

B: Don't worry. The sensor will also detect a crack, and the machine will not use such a cup!

AC: It's so cool!

C: Finally we present a mottainai item which should be familiar to you: paper receipts issued at convenience stores or supermarkets. When I was working part-time for a convenience store, I often saw many customers throw receipts away into the box which collects unnecessary receipts. I thought it was really a waste of paper! In the present system, receipts are automatically issued even to the customers who don't need them. So we will propose the following: a register with a push-button for issuing receipts. If you really need a receipt, you can push the special button, and then the register will issue a receipt. What a good way to save paper and time!

B: Time? How does it save time?

C: Well, if you don't need a receipt but if you don't say that to the shop assistant, he will have to wait for the receipt to be printed out!

B: OK. Then, what if a customer forgets to push the button when he wants a receipt?

C: Don't worry. The register has a memory stick inside it. A receipt can be reissued anytime.

AB: I see!

C: Today we've introduced just three examples of mottainai items. But there are many more mottainai things around us. As a nation living in the birthplace of the idea of mottainai, we should remind all the other people in the world about the spirit of mottainai, just like Ms. Wangari Maathai.

B: Furthermore, we should aim to become engineers who are not only eco-friendly by doing away with mottainai things, but also user-friendly by improving mottainai things and developing better products.