THE INTERNATIONAL JOINT SEMINAR
&
VISIT TO CLEAN AUTHORITY OF TOKYO
(Shin-Koto Incineration Plant)
TOKYO METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT
Humanizing Collaboration between Indonesia and Japan
Reported by:
Nurul Adli Suyud
MARKETING ANALYSIS
NAKAMISE DORI SOUVENIRSA shopping street of over 200 meters, called Nakamise, leads from the outer gate to the temple's second gate, the Hozomon. Alongside typical Japanese souvenirs such as yukata and folding fans, various traditional local snacks from the Asakusa area are sold along the Nakamise. The shopping street has a history of several centuries. Various products are sold here, including Japanese-style goods that are popular among young tourists from abroad, such as hair accessories, Japanese clogs, wooden dolls and chiyogami (colored paper), folk art products, postcards with the scenery of Asakusa in Edo Period (1603-1868), ningyoyaki and kaminari-okoshi, which are the representative souvenir confectioneries from Tokyo, and classic Japanese food using nori and kombu seaweeds. Nakamise Dori is always filled with tourists. It is said that Nakamise Dori is one of the oldest shopping streets in Japan.
Souvenirs :
Along Asakusa's Nakamise-dori, there are many of souvenir stores lined up but among them a particularly popular one is Hirao Shoten. The small chouchin (Japanese traditional lanterns) adorning the storefront attract the eye of many visitors. Other than chouchin, they carry various kinds of Japanese and Japanese-style miscellaneous goods including kokeshi (wooden dolls), kakejiku (hanging tapestries featuring traditional scenes and stories). All of these traditional products can be bought for about 2,000 JPY, so it's perfect for people who come to Japan and want to buy souvenirs. They also have small items that won't be bulky to carry for a few hundred yen, like keychains and cell phone straps. Please make sure to check this store's every nook and cranny.
Popular cheap buys for tourists include keepsakes such as geisha key rings, Japanese dolls and fans costing only a few hundred yen each. For the same price, and a fraction of what you might pay at a department store, you can also find attractive cosmetic bags and wallets made from brightly coloured and good quality Japanese fabric, and the latest small gadgets and electronics.
Maneki-Neko Cats are in my mind the perfect souvenir – a little luck, history, culture and adorableness wrapped up in a small (and portable) package.
While you won’t find the high quality kimonos costing thousands of dollars at Asakusa market, you can find cheap imitations suitable for a Halloween costume or similar. Yukatas are far more practical than full-fledged kimonos and are great to use as a robe around the house. Children’s versions are pretty adorable too.
In a tech savvy place like Japan, watching cookies being pressed and spat out of this old school machine is absolutely fascinating. I’m not sure what they are called, but you can’t miss the stall which is close to the beginning of Nakasmise street. If you don’t see the small you will surely smell the wafting scent of freshly made piping hot cookies.
CULTURAL ANALYSIS Sensoji Temple and Asakusa Shrine
Sensoji is a Buddhist temple located in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. Asakusa is an area known for its nostalgic Shitamachi atmosphere, and Sensoji Temple, together with Asakusa Shrine situated next to the temple, is the centerpiece of the area. Founded in 628, Sensoji Temple is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, though most of its main buildings are newly erected with concrete after they were burnt down in World War II.
Because the temple became such a central point of culture to the Japanese over the years, Asakusa itself also developed into a place of tradition. Because of its political connections, the geisha of old Japan were drawn to Asakusa, and the geisha quarter of the city became one of the most important and powerful area of its type in all of Japan. Geisha are now fading right out of Japanese culture, but to this day Asakusa remains one of the few cities with a proper geisha community; around 40 or so continue to live and work in the area, throwing lavish parties for the wealthy few who can afford their services.
In addition to the temple itself, there is a Shinto shrine (Asakusa Shrine; 浅草神社) located next door. Combined, these two structures have a lot of walking space, and are old enough to be museums in their own right. Leading up to the temple from the train station is a long shopping street, called Nakamise-dōri (仲見世通り), where you’ll be able to buy all kinds of traditional Japanese confections, toys, and other traditional goods and clothing.
There is a growing ideological conflict between Japan’s religious beliefs and its modern, materialist society. In few places in the world do so many values and traditions of the past coexist alongside the ideas and practices of the present. The persisting contradiction between old an new, tradition and modernity, is a defining characteristic of present-day Japan. This chasm between old-world tradition and new-world lifestyle is not without repercussions, effectively creating a schism in the modern Japanese psyche. Japanese beliefs and lifestyles grow increasingly more difficult to mesh, resulting in internal confusion and isolation.
Religion in Japan is a wonderful mish-mash of ideas from Shintoism and Buddhism. Unlike in the West, religion in Japan is rarely preached, nor is it a doctrine. Instead it is a moral code, a way of living, almost indistinguishable from Japanese social and cultural values.
In Japan today, religion is freely practiced and, at least in small numbers, a multitude of religions are present. The religious beliefs of Japan’s populace breakdown to 91% Shinto, 72% Buddhist, and 13% other (less than 1% is identities. Similarly, Shinto beliefs hold that all things possess spirits; Shinto stresses the importance of nature and ancestral bonds. A nationalistic religion, it too values the group over the individual. Buddhist and Shinto beliefs fuse well with one another and, since they have coexisted for more than 1,500 years, much cross-fertilization has occurred between the two religions, resulting in what is often referred to as “Ryobu-Shinto,” or “Double Shinto.” However, many unique traits still separate the two.
decoration, and the style of the representations of Buddha and the bodhisattvas found of in many Pure Land temples throughout Japan). The Japanese embraced Buddhism and, by the eighth century, had absorbed the religion so readily into their own culture that it took on a national character and its far-flung roots were all but forgotten.
Shinto is the native religion of Japan; early Shinto mythology indicated that the Japanese were descended from divine beings; this civil religion helped fuel nationalistic fervor during World War II. After World War II, the state religion was abolished and Shinto became a matter of personal choice. Today, many Japanese may not necessarily practice Shinto as a religion, but still, often almost unconsciously, incorporate its customs and traditions into their daily lives.
Shinto is basically the worship of, or paying of reverence to, all things in nature, including one’s ancestors. Often defined as an animistic, in Shinto, all things, both animate and inanimate, have their own kami (spirits or gods). Traditionally, the line between the living and the dead (kami) is permeable. Kami are worshipped at shrines, represented by a distinctive gate, or torii. Today, there are over 100,000 Shinto shrines scattered throughout Japan. Shinto’s general principles are known as the “Correct Way.” Essentially, practitioners seek to enhance the way of the kami by being grateful for the kami’s blessings, devoting themselves to ritual practices, seeking to serve the world and other people, leading a harmonious life, and praying for national prosperity and a peaceful coexistence with the rest of the world.
COMPANY VISIT
SHIN-KOTO INCINERATION PLANT
Shin-Koto Incineration Plant was completed in September 1998. It plays an important role of processing combustible waste and recycling energy since the heat generated during the incineration process helps to produce electricity for energy recycling. It has a capacity to process 1,800 ton of waste per day and generates 50000 kW with a steam turbine generator. In addition, the incineration plant is equipped with the state-of-theart air pollution preventive facilities to removes most of the hydrogen chloride contained in exhaust dust sulfur oxides and mercury. It burns combustible waste continuously at high temperature (800-900 deg C) to ensure complete destruction of dioxins, which successfully maintains the emission of dioxins at much lower level than legally stipulated.
Although recycle has been stressed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as the key to deal with waste problem, incineration has still been playing the main role in handling waste in Tokyo, almost 76% of waste was handled by incineration in 2010. Shin-Koto Incineration Plant, as the biggest incineration plant in Tokyo, has played a crucial role in handling waste in the city. First, the incineration plant can minimize the volume of waste, since the volume of waste can be reduced to 0.05% after incineration, and this can reduce the pressure to expand landfills in Tokyo Bay. Second, using incineration to handle waste, especially food waste, can reduce the sting of the waste and this can prevent the outbreak of decease.
22 degrees Celsius in order to sustain tropical plant species on exhibition. The energy recovery from combustion of waste is said to be a ‘green’ practice since it utilizes trash that has no other beneficial purpose and it generates enough energy to replace fossil fuel generated electricity for the neighborhood. We are informed that the collected waste, with thorough sorting and categorizing according to industry standards, contains enough calories that it needs little or no additional fuel for combustion. However, we were not able to obtain enough information at the visit to confirm whether the steam directly supplies heat to maintain the temperature at the greenhouse dome, or goes through a process with turbines to generate electricity to run the facility.
Indonesia’s Waste Situation
About 64Mt1 of urban solid waste are produced annually in Indonesia, which is straining the country’s existing waste management infrastructure. More than two-thirds of this waste stream is disposed in the country’s ~380 open landfill sites, several of which are approaching their maximum capacity.
Waste management poses a mounting challenge in Indonesia as growing household consumption and accelerated business activity gives rise to higher volumes of organic food waste, plastic packaging and industrial byproducts. To address this increasingly severe waste problem characterized by a near trebling of the country’s production of municipal solid waste from 0.8 kg per capita to 2.1 kg per capita over the past decade (UNCRD); the Indonesian government has sought to impose stricter waste management and recycling regulations.
Public Awareness Raising
Public awareness raising and responding to concerns over WtE plants is another potential solution that helps to address many of the social barriers to WtE deployment. These solutions help to create a more informed debate about the costs of waste disposal so that people understand the tradeoffs between the options in the waste hierarchy. They also help to correct outdated perceptions about WtE technologies, especially incineration. This is important in Indonesia, where organised public opposition to waste-to-energy facilities can delay political approval processes and raises risks and costs for developers. It is also important when fostering public debate about waste management solutions, which could include (unpopular) landfill expansion, WtE, or interventions that address waste higher up the waste hierarchy. Systemic changes to waste management, such as source separation, rely on behaviour change, and sustained behaviour change tends to require consistent and targeted awareness-raising campaigns.
managed according to the hierarchy. It is important that citizens recognise these benefits and see their role in waste management solutions.
Awareness raising and behavioural change activities have been carried out throughout Indonesia, and the awareness raising element of the programme of Medan, Bandung, Subang and Surabaya was studied in 2006. Activities included waste separation at the source, composting and the initiation of a refuse bank, which received domestic recyclable waste from the community. However, the longer-term impact of these activities is unclear, and they likely require institutional support from local and national governments as well as increased scale in order to solidify behaviour change in the local population and make a material difference to waste management outcomes. The refuse bank initiative is being carried forward in decentralised efforts in Indonesia, such as an ongoing World Bank supported project which is currently engaged in developing commercially self-sustaining refuse banks. This practice is not widespread, and requires the participation of waste collectors and transfer facilities to have impacts in downstream WtE facilities.
Recommendations for public awareness raising:
> Consider integrating education about WtE in any national awareness raising campaign about waste management, highlighting the health and environmental improvements of newer technology, and the trade-offs that exist between different waste management options.
> Involve the local public as the waste management plan is developed for each area, leading to greater buy-in and support.
