A recent survey taken across Japan about environment problems and concerns had some curious results. About 81% of those questioned had at least some concern about the environment. Nineteen percent could care less. (I wonder what the corresponding ratio is for the U.S.?) Global warming and unusual weather were the top concerns.
What do people in Japan do about it? About 61% recycle (curiously low in a country where recycling seems to be almost a mandate, at least in the larger cities), 60% turn off water taps when not needed and 41% refrain from pouring used cooking oil down the drain. (Is this something people have commonly done there in the past?)
More curiously, for we gajin at least,
41% use left-over bath water for washing clothes
33% don’t re-wrap shopping (?)
22% set heated toilet seat to a cooler setting (I guess a heated seat is standard. See Inventorspot for more.)
Toyota is considered to be the company putting the most effort into helping the environment. Honda and Nissan also make the top 5. Shockingly, Japan Tobacco comes in at number 6! This might reflect their marketing skills, but JT is involved in pharma and food, too, so maybe they have a wider profile in Japan than one would think.
For more on this survey, and many other surveys about contemporary Japanese life,go to What Japan Thinks
Thinking in My Head 