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Revision as of 02:24, 4 March 2020 editHijiri88 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users37,390 edits →Etymology, usage, and translation: Since the exclusion of this material is not, apparently, being disputed by the latest RFC, it might as well just be removed. You need to actually make an argument to defend something if it has been challenged and you don't want it removed.← Previous edit Revision as of 06:30, 6 March 2020 edit undoHijiri88 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users37,390 edits This was definitely part of the "version A" that was rejected by consensus in the four-month RFC. There is a lie being widely passed around on the talk page that "version C" was based on version A, and that any version A stuff that wasn't explicitly removed in the initial draft of version C was therefore part of version C, and supported by the consensus of 3/3; this is not the case -- as the primary author of version C, I can say definitively that it was meant as an expansion of "version B".Next edit →
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{{short description|Japanese term}}
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'''''Mottainai''''' ({{lang|ja|もったいない}} or {{lang|ja|勿体無い}}) is a term of Japanese origin that has been used by environmentalists. The term in Japanese conveys a sense of regret over waste; the exclamation "''Mottainai!''" can translate as "What a waste!" Japanese environmentalists have used the term to encourage people to "]", and ]n environmentalist ] used the term at the ] as a slogan to promote environmental protection. '''''Mottainai''''' ({{lang|ja|もったいない}} or {{lang|ja|勿体無い}}) is a ] word conveying a sense of ] concerning ]. The exclamation "''Mottainai!''" can translate as "What a waste!" It is an old ] word that is also connected Shintoism. Recently, Japanese environmentalists have used the term to encourage people to "]", and ]n environmentalist ] used the term as a slogan to promote environmental protection.


== Etymology, usage, and translation == == Usage and translation ==
'']'', widely considered the most authoritative Japanese dictionary, lists three definitions for the word ''mottainai'' (classical Japanese terminal form ''mottainashi''): (1) inexpedient or reprehensible towards a god, buddha, noble or the like; (2) awe-inspiring and unmerited/undeserved, used to express thanks; (3) an expression of regret at the full value of something not being put to good use. In contemporary ], it is most commonly used to indicate that something is being discarded needlessly, or to express regret at such a fact.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=25}} {{illm|Kōhei Hasegawa|ja|長谷川鉱平}}, then a professor at ], commented that the definition given last in ''Kōjien'' was the one used most frequently by modern Japanese.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=25}} The second sense is seen in Japanese newspapers when they defer to members of the ] as having been present at such-and-such an event, not necessarily implying wastefulness but rather gratitude or awe.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=25}} ''{{illm|Daigenkai|ja|言海#大言海}}'', another Japanese dictionary, gives a similar ordering of these definitions.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=25}} Hasegawa traces this to a historical semantic shift in which the original meaning, the one given at (1) in ''Kōjien'', became less prominent.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=25}} Citing the ] Japanese literature scholar {{illm|Kōshin Noma|ja|野間光辰}}, Hasegawa states that the word originated as slang in the ],{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=25}} and that by the mid 15th century had perhaps already acquired the meanings of (2) and (3).{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=26}} Two frequently-cited early examples of usages of ''mottainashi'', given in both ''Kōjien'' and ''Daigenkai'', are the '']'' and the '']''.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=26}} A form of the word, ''motaina'' (モタイナ) appears in the late-14th or early-15th century ] play ''{{illm|Aritōshi|ja|蟻通}}'', apparently in a sense close to (1).{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1pp=26–27}}


''Mottainai'' is a ] term conveying a sense of ] concerning ].<ref name="daijirin"> (Japanese)</ref> The expression "Mottainai!" can be uttered alone as an exclamation when something useful, such as food or time, is wasted, meaning roughly, "What a waste!" In addition to its primary sense of "wastefulness", the word is also used to mean "impious; irreverent" or "more than one deserves".<ref>Masuda, K: Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, page 1139. Kenkyusha Ltd., 1974</ref>
The word ''nai'' in ''mottainai'' resembles a Japanese negative ("there is no ''mottai''"), but may have originally been used as an emphatic ("tremendous ''mottai''").{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=26}} ''Mottai'' itself is a noun appearing as such in, for example, the dictionary ''{{illm|Gagaku-shū|ja|下学集}}'',{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=27}} which dates to 1444.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1pp=25–26}} ''Daigenkai'' gives ''buttai'' as an alternate reading of the word,{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=27}} and it appears written with the ] 勿躰, 物體, 勿體, 物体, or 勿体.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=27}} It means (i) the shape/form of a thing or (ii) something that is, or the fact of being, impressive or imposing (モノモノシキコト ''monomonoshiki koto'').{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=27}} The compound that is pronounced as ''mottai'' in Japanese appears in Sino-Japanese dictionaries as a Chinese word in a sense similar to (ii),{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=28}} but ''mottainashi'' does not, as it is an indigenous Japanese word.{{sfnm|1a1=Hasegawa|1y=1983|1p=28}}


''Mottainai'' in Japanese refers both to physical waste and to wasteful action. MacQuillan and Preston propose a more elaborate translation that conveys a sense of value and worthiness as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that which is worthy".<ref>{{cite book |author=Alan G. MacQuillan |author2=Ashley L. Preston |title=Globally and Locally: Seeking a Middle Path to Sustainable Development |year=1998 |publisher=University Press of America |location= |isbn=978-0761811268 |page=157}}</ref>
The 18th-century ] philologist ], in the preface to his 1798 treatise ''Tamaarare'' ('Ice Crystals (like) Jewels':玉あられ) designed to stir people up from their sleepy acquiescence in acquired customs that were not authentically native, was critical of the use of the word to express gratitude, as he felt its use for such a purpose (along with those of '']'' and ''osoreōi'') was vitiated by its ultimate derivation from imitating forms of Chinese rhetoric and greetings.<ref>Markus Rüttermann, ], 2006 18,1 pp.57-128,86.</ref> In his 1934 essay ''Nihon-seishin to Bukkyō'', the ] Katō Totsudō (加藤咄堂:1870-1949} included the "aversion to wastefulness" (''mottainai'') in a putative series of what he considered to be "core Japanese personality traits".<ref>''Chūō Bukkyō'' 1934 18/3 pp.1-12,11-12 cited in Ives below.</ref><ref>Christopher Ives, ] 26, 1/2 Spring 1999 pp.83-106,90:'Katō Totsudō also identifies purportedly core Japanese personality traits of aversion to wastefulness (''mottainai'': 勿体無い), gratitude (''arigatai'': 有難い) and sympathy (''ki no doku'': 気の毒) with the Three Mental Attitudes of laity set forth in the ] the mind of poverty (''hinkyūshin'':貧窮心) 　the mind of requiring blessings (''hōonshin'':報恩心) and the mind of merit (''kudokushin'':功徳心).'</ref>


== History ==
''Mottainai'' originated as a Buddhist term, though this fact is not common knowledge even in Japan.<ref name="sato">{{cite journal |last=Sato |first=Yuriko |year=2017 |title=Mottainai: a Japanese sense of anima mundi |journal=Journal of Analytical Psychology |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=147–154}}</ref>{{dubious|reason=Neither the Princeton "Dictionary of Buddhism" nor the Routledge "Encyclopedia of Buddhism" include entries on this "Buddhist term", nor does the Dictionary include it in the Japanese section of its cross-lingual index. Furthermore, with most 仏語, "Kojien" gives 〔仏〕 at the start of its entries on them, usually with a Sanskrit equivalent, but does not do so with this word. Given the talk discussion and the sourcing problems this article has had since at least 2013, it seems likely that Sato doesn't actually support this content, and we are misrepresenting her by quoting her out of context.|date=November 2019}} The word later become connected to the Shinto concept that all objects have souls.<ref name="sato"/>{{dubious|reason=Sato is a psychologist by training and profession, and the Journal of Analytical Psychology is not an appropriate source for this kind of statement; it is a "peer-reviewed" piece, but it was almost certainly not reviewed by anyone with training in Japanese linguistics, history, or religious studies.|date=November 2019}}
===Origins===
''Mottainai'' originated as a Buddhist term, though this fact is not common knowledge even in Japan.<ref name="sato">{{cite journal |last=Sato |first=Yuriko |year=2017 |title=Mottainai: a Japanese sense of anima mundi |journal=Journal of Analytical Psychology |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=147–154}}</ref> According to historian Yamaori Tetsuo, ''mottainai'' is "inseparable from Buddhist ideas about the transience and evanescence of life".<ref name=JAS2014>{{cite journal|first = Eiko |last = Murko Siniawer
⚫ |journal = The Journal of Asian Studies
⚫ |number = 1
⚫ |pages = 165–186
⚫ |publisher = Cambridge University Press, Association for Asian Studies
⚫ |title = 'Affluence of the Heart': Wastefulness and the Search for Meaning in Millennial Japan
⚫ |volume = 73
⚫ |year = 2014
|jstor = 43553399|doi = 10.1017/S0021911813001745}}</ref> The word later become connected to the Shinto concept that all objects have souls.<ref name="sato"/>


One of the earliest appearances of the word ''mottainai'' is in the book '']'' (''A Record of the Genpei War'', ca. 1247). This early use of the word appears in a story about ]. Yoshitsune dropped his bow into the sea, and a ] used the word ''mottainai'' in admonishing Yoshitsune that he should have considered his own life more valuable than even a worthy bow.<ref>Taylor, Kevin. "Material Flows: Human Flourishing And The Life Of Goods". ''A World In Discourse: Converging And Diverging Expressions Of Value'' (2015) pages 74-75.</ref>
⚫ == Modern Japanese environmentalism ==
⚫ In November 2002, the English-language, Japan-based magazine '']'' ran a cover story entitled "Restyling Japan: Revival of the 'Mottainai' Spirit", documenting the motivation amongst volunteers in a "toy hospital" in Japan to "develop in children the habit of looking after their possessions", the re-emergence of repair shops specializing in repairing household appliances or children's clothes, the recycling of ] bottles and other materials, the collection of waste ], and more generally the efforts to stop the trend of throwing away everything that can no longer be used, i.e. the efforts of reviving "the spirit of ''mottainai''".<ref name="look-japan-2002">{{cite journal |last=Chiba |first=Hitoshi |date=November 2002 |title=Restyling Japan: Revival of the "Mottainai" Spirit |journal=] |url=http://www.lookjapan.com/LBcoverstory/02NovCS.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405084940/http://www.lookjapan.com/LBcoverstory/02NovCS.htm |archivedate=April 5, 2004 |accessdate=July 22, 2013}}</ref> In that context, Hitoshi Chiba, the author, described ''mottainai'' as follows:<ref name="look-japan-2002"/>


⚫ === Modern Japanese environmentalism ===
⚫ {{quote|We often hear in Japan the expression 'mottainai', which loosely means 'wasteful' but in its full sense conveys a feeling of awe and appreciation for the gifts of nature or the sincere conduct of other people. There is a trait among Japanese people to try to use something for its entire effective life or continue to use it by repairing it. In this caring culture, people will endeavor to find new homes for possessions they no longer need. The 'mottainai' principle extends to the dinner table, where many consider it rude to leave even a single grain of rice in the bowl. The concern is that this traditional trait may be lost.}}
⚫ In November 2002, the English-language, Japan-based magazine '']'' ran a cover story entitled "Restyling Japan: Revival of the 'Mottainai' Spirit", documenting the motivation amongst volunteers in a "toy hospital" in Japan to "develop in children the habit of looking after their possessions", the re-emergence of repair shops specializing in repairing household appliances or children's clothes, the recycling of ] bottles and other materials, the collection of waste ], and more generally the efforts to stop the trend of throwing away everything that can no longer be used, i.e. the efforts of reviving "the spirit of ''mottainai''".<ref name="look-japan-2002">{{cite journal |last=Chiba |first=Hitoshi |date=November 2002 |title=Restyling Japan: Revival of the "Mottainai" Spirit |journal=] |url=http://www.lookjapan.com/LBcoverstory/02NovCS.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405084940/http://www.lookjapan.com/LBcoverstory/02NovCS.htm |archivedate=April 5, 2004 |accessdate=July 22, 2013}}</ref> In that context, Hitoshi Chiba, the author, described ''mottainai'' as follows:


⚫ {{cquote|We often hear in Japan the expression 'mottainai', which loosely means 'wasteful' but in its full sense conveys a feeling of awe and appreciation for the gifts of nature or the sincere conduct of other people. There is a trait among Japanese people to try to use something for its entire effective life or continue to use it by repairing it. In this caring culture, people will endeavor to find new homes for possessions they no longer need. The 'mottainai' principle extends to the dinner table, where many consider it rude to leave even a single grain of rice in the bowl. The concern is that this traditional trait may be lost.<ref name="look-japan-2002"/>}}
In a 2014 paper on an apparent increase in interest in the idea of ''mottainai'' in early 21st-century Japan, historian Eiko Maruko Siniawer summarized the views of several Japanese writers who claimed that ''mottainai'' was a specifically Buddhist concept.{{sfnm|1a1=Siniawer|1y=2014|1p=175}} She also cited a number of views of Japanese authors who believed that it was a uniquely Japanese "contribution to the world", which views she characterized as mostly being "deeply rooted in cultural generalizations, essentialisms, and disdainful comparisons between countries".{{sfnm|1a1=Siniawer|1y=2014|1p=176}}


At the Opening Ceremony of the Science and Technology in Society Forum in 2005, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stated: "In Japan, there has long been a spirit characterized by the word ''mottainai'', which could be translated as 'don't waste what is valuable'."<ref name=Koizumi2005>{{cite web|url=https://japan.kantei.go.jp/koizumispeech/2005/09/11press_e.html|title=Speeches and Statements by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi|website=japan.kantei.go.jp}}</ref>
⚫ == Use by Wangari Maathai ==
⚫ ]


⚫ ===Use by Wangari Maathai===
⚫ At a session of the ], ] environmentalist ] introduced the word ''mottainai'' as a slogan for environmental protection.<ref>{{harvnb|Siniawer|2014|p=177}}</ref> According to Mizue Sasaki,<ref name=Sasaki-2005>{{cite conference |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001483/148396e.pdf |title=Perspectives of language: cultural differences and universality in Japanese |last1=Sasaki |first1=Mizue |date=7–9 November 2005 |publisher=UNESCO |booktitle= |pages=124–125 |location=Paris |id= }}</ref>
⚫ ] has used the word ''mottainai'' in an environmental protection campaign]]

⚫ At a session of the ], ] environmentalist ] introduced the word ''mottainai'' as a slogan for environmental protection.<ref name="JAS2014"/> According to Mizue Sasaki,<ref name=Sasaki-2005>{{cite conference |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001483/148396e.pdf |title=Perspectives of language: cultural differences and universality in Japanese |last1=Sasaki |first1=Mizue |date=7–9 November 2005 |publisher=UNESCO |booktitle= |pages=124–125 |location=Paris |id= }}</ref>


{{quote| Dr. Maathai, brandishing a t-shirt emblazoned with the word MOTTAINAI, explained that the meaning of the term ''mottainai'' encompasses the four Rs of reduce, reuse, recycle and repair ... made the case that we should all use limited resources effectively and share them fairly if we are to avert wars arising from disputes over ].}} {{quote| Dr. Maathai, brandishing a t-shirt emblazoned with the word MOTTAINAI, explained that the meaning of the term ''mottainai'' encompasses the four Rs of reduce, reuse, recycle and repair ... made the case that we should all use limited resources effectively and share them fairly if we are to avert wars arising from disputes over ].}}


Maathai has worked to popularize the word ''mottainai'' in places outside Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iwatsuki |first=Kunio |year=2008 |title=Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, with Reference to the Japanese Spirit of Worshipping Nature (in "Conserving Nature, A Japanese Perspective") |pages=4–11 |publisher=Biodiversity Network Japan |isbn=978-4-9901743-1-6 |accessdate=July 25, 2013 |url=http://mail.cbd.int/doc/external/cop-09/bnj-nature-en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109154047/http://mail.cbd.int/doc/external/cop-09/bnj-nature-en.pdf |archive-date=January 9, 2015}}</ref> At the 2009 United Nations Summit on Climate Change, she said, "Even at personal level, we can all reduce, re-use and recycle, what is embraced as Mottainai in Japan, a concept that also calls us to express gratitude, to respect and to avoid wastage."<ref name="Maathai2009UN">{{cite web|title=Statement by Prof. W. Maathai, Nobel Peace Laureate, on behalf of Civil Society|url=http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/climatechange/shared/Documents/SpeechMaathai.pdf|publisher=United Nations|accessdate=24 February 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601034605/http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/climatechange/shared/Documents/SpeechMaathai.pdf|archivedate=2011-06-01}} Cited in Siniawer, 2014, p. 177.</ref> Maathai has worked to popularize the word ''mottainai'' in places outside Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iwatsuki |first=Kunio |year=2008 |title=Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, with Reference to the Japanese Spirit of Worshipping Nature (in "Conserving Nature, A Japanese Perspective") |pages=4–11 |publisher=Biodiversity Network Japan |isbn=978-4-9901743-1-6 |accessdate=July 25, 2013 |url=http://mail.cbd.int/doc/external/cop-09/bnj-nature-en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109154047/http://mail.cbd.int/doc/external/cop-09/bnj-nature-en.pdf |archive-date=January 9, 2015}}</ref> At the 2009 United Nations Summit on Climate Change, she said, "Even at personal level, we can all reduce, re-use and recycle, what is embraced as Mottainai in Japan, a concept that also calls us to express gratitude, to respect and to avoid wastage."<ref name="Maathai2009UN">{{cite web|title=Statement by Prof. W. Maathai, Nobel Peace Laureate, on behalf of Civil Society|url=http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/climatechange/shared/Documents/SpeechMaathai.pdf|publisher=United Nations|accessdate=24 February 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601034605/http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/climatechange/shared/Documents/SpeechMaathai.pdf|archivedate=2011-06-01}} Cited in Maruko Siniawer, 2014, p. 177.</ref>


==See also== ==See also==
Line 45: Line 55:


==References== ==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}} {{reflist|30em}}
===Works cited===
*{{cite journal |last=Hasegawa |first=Kōhei |authorlink=Kōhei Hasegawa |year=1983 |title=''Mottai-nashi'' Kō |journal=Academic Bulletin of Nagano University |volume=4 |issue=3–4 |pages=25–30|url=https://nagano.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_view_main_item_detail&item_id=812&item_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=17|ref=harv}}<!-- The page numbering system is weird. Apparently it was printed to accommodate both tategaki right-to-left and English left-to-right, with one set of page numbers (the bottom) counting from what would be the front cover of an English book and the other (the top) counting from what would be the front cover of a Japanese book. These are the Japanese numbers, but the more prominent ones at the bottom of the page count down from 182 to 177. -->
*{{cite journal|first = Eiko Maruko |last = Siniawer
⚫ |journal = The Journal of Asian Studies
⚫ |number = 1
⚫ |pages = 165–186
⚫ |publisher = Cambridge University Press, Association for Asian Studies
⚫ |title = 'Affluence of the Heart': Wastefulness and the Search for Meaning in Millennial Japan
⚫ |volume = 73
⚫ |date = 2014
|jstor = 43553399|doi = 10.1017/S0021911813001745
|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|first = Eiko Maruko |last = Siniawer
|title = Waste: Consuming Postwar Japan |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bCVjDwAAQBAJ
|date = 2018
|chapter = We Are All Waste Conscious Now |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bCVjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA241
|pages = 241–265 (and endnotes pp. 343–347)
|publisher = Cornell University Press |isbn = 9781501725852
|ref=harv}}


==External links== ==External links==

Revision as of 06:30, 6 March 2020

For the accelerated patent examination program also known as PPH 2.0, see Patent Prosecution Highway.
Mottainai written on a truck, followed by the sentence "I strive towards zero emission"

Mottainai (もったいない or 勿体無い) is a Japanese word conveying a sense of regret concerning waste. The exclamation "Mottainai!" can translate as "What a waste!" It is an old Buddhist word that is also connected Shintoism. Recently, Japanese environmentalists have used the term to encourage people to "reduce, reuse and recycle", and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai used the term as a slogan to promote environmental protection.

Usage and translation

Mottainai is a Japanese term conveying a sense of regret concerning waste. The expression "Mottainai!" can be uttered alone as an exclamation when something useful, such as food or time, is wasted, meaning roughly, "What a waste!" In addition to its primary sense of "wastefulness", the word is also used to mean "impious; irreverent" or "more than one deserves".

Mottainai in Japanese refers both to physical waste and to wasteful action. MacQuillan and Preston propose a more elaborate translation that conveys a sense of value and worthiness as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that which is worthy".

History

Origins

Mottainai originated as a Buddhist term, though this fact is not common knowledge even in Japan. According to historian Yamaori Tetsuo, mottainai is "inseparable from Buddhist ideas about the transience and evanescence of life". The word later become connected to the Shinto concept that all objects have souls.

One of the earliest appearances of the word mottainai is in the book Genpei Jōsuiki (A Record of the Genpei War, ca. 1247). This early use of the word appears in a story about Yoshitsune. Yoshitsune dropped his bow into the sea, and a vassal used the word mottainai in admonishing Yoshitsune that he should have considered his own life more valuable than even a worthy bow.

Modern Japanese environmentalism

In November 2002, the English-language, Japan-based magazine Look Japan ran a cover story entitled "Restyling Japan: Revival of the 'Mottainai' Spirit", documenting the motivation amongst volunteers in a "toy hospital" in Japan to "develop in children the habit of looking after their possessions", the re-emergence of repair shops specializing in repairing household appliances or children's clothes, the recycling of PET bottles and other materials, the collection of waste edible oil, and more generally the efforts to stop the trend of throwing away everything that can no longer be used, i.e. the efforts of reviving "the spirit of mottainai". In that context, Hitoshi Chiba, the author, described mottainai as follows:

We often hear in Japan the expression 'mottainai', which loosely means 'wasteful' but in its full sense conveys a feeling of awe and appreciation for the gifts of nature or the sincere conduct of other people. There is a trait among Japanese people to try to use something for its entire effective life or continue to use it by repairing it. In this caring culture, people will endeavor to find new homes for possessions they no longer need. The 'mottainai' principle extends to the dinner table, where many consider it rude to leave even a single grain of rice in the bowl. The concern is that this traditional trait may be lost.

At the Opening Ceremony of the Science and Technology in Society Forum in 2005, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stated: "In Japan, there has long been a spirit characterized by the word mottainai, which could be translated as 'don't waste what is valuable'."

Use by Wangari Maathai

Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai has used the word mottainai in an environmental protection campaign

At a session of the United Nations, Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai introduced the word mottainai as a slogan for environmental protection. According to Mizue Sasaki,

Dr. Maathai, brandishing a t-shirt emblazoned with the word MOTTAINAI, explained that the meaning of the term mottainai encompasses the four Rs of reduce, reuse, recycle and repair ... made the case that we should all use limited resources effectively and share them fairly if we are to avert wars arising from disputes over natural resources.

Maathai has worked to popularize the word mottainai in places outside Japan. At the 2009 United Nations Summit on Climate Change, she said, "Even at personal level, we can all reduce, re-use and recycle, what is embraced as Mottainai in Japan, a concept that also calls us to express gratitude, to respect and to avoid wastage."

See also

References

  1. Daijirin Japanese dictionary 2nd ed. (Japanese)
  2. Masuda, K: Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, page 1139. Kenkyusha Ltd., 1974
  3. Alan G. MacQuillan; Ashley L. Preston (1998). Globally and Locally: Seeking a Middle Path to Sustainable Development. University Press of America. p. 157. ISBN 978-0761811268.
  4. ^ Sato, Yuriko (2017). "Mottainai: a Japanese sense of anima mundi". Journal of Analytical Psychology. 62 (1): 147–154.
  5. ^ Murko Siniawer, Eiko (2014). "'Affluence of the Heart': Wastefulness and the Search for Meaning in Millennial Japan". The Journal of Asian Studies. 73 (1). Cambridge University Press, Association for Asian Studies: 165–186. doi:10.1017/S0021911813001745. JSTOR 43553399.
  6. Taylor, Kevin. "Material Flows: Human Flourishing And The Life Of Goods". A World In Discourse: Converging And Diverging Expressions Of Value (2015) pages 74-75.
  7. ^ Chiba, Hitoshi (November 2002). "Restyling Japan: Revival of the "Mottainai" Spirit". Look Japan. Archived from the original on April 5, 2004. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  8. "Speeches and Statements by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi". japan.kantei.go.jp.
  9. Sasaki, Mizue (7–9 November 2005). Perspectives of language: cultural differences and universality in Japanese (PDF). Paris: UNESCO. pp. 124–125. {{cite conference}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |booktitle= (help)
  10. Iwatsuki, Kunio (2008). Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, with Reference to the Japanese Spirit of Worshipping Nature (in "Conserving Nature, A Japanese Perspective") (PDF). Biodiversity Network Japan. pp. 4–11. ISBN 978-4-9901743-1-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 9, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  11. "Statement by Prof. W. Maathai, Nobel Peace Laureate, on behalf of Civil Society" (PDF). United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-01. Retrieved 24 February 2018. Cited in Maruko Siniawer, 2014, p. 177.

External links

Japanese social concepts and values
Sociocultural values
Aesthetics
Etiquette and
social norms
Types of people
Subcultures
Work culture
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