Junichiro Furusawa: Aiming for Japan's Most Fun Trash Pickup!

2019/07/23

"I want to be Ultraman!" In my childhood, many of my friends, including myself, wanted to be superheroes who protected the Earth. I wonder when it was that we started calling people who work hard for the planet "hypocrites" or "overly conscious"...

I was born as the son of a ship chandler in Tokyo and have lived my life indebted to the sea and rivers. I have been active in trash picking and raising interest in the ocean for 14 years now, but I was originally someone who littered, and in the back of my mind, I used to think of people doing things without any personal "gain" as "hypocrites" or "overly conscious." However, now—though it may sound grand to say it is "to protect the Earth"—I have come to sincerely want to convey the wonders of the "ocean" and "nature" that I love to children, and to restore the beautiful sea.

Rather than saying it is "for the Earth," what I simply want to do is "clean the ocean to the point where the seahorses that once lived in the waters of Enoshima return." In that process, it is important to do things "fun!" above all else. I think it is about time we ignite the small "Ultraman spirit" remaining in our hearts. The ocean is currently in such a serious state that it is screaming for help.

I think most people are unaware that about 70% to 80% of the "trash that washes up on the coast" and "trash floating in the sea" comes from "rivers and cities." Ocean trash flows from our own lives into the sea.

During my university days, I belonged to the Athletic Association Tennis Club. Since I wasn't a strong player, I was always a ball boy. Back then, ball boys couldn't even drink water; we had to dash to pick up every ball and hand them to the regular players. During matches, we did our duties wearing school uniforms and caps. I was frustrated that I couldn't become a regular, but before I knew it, I gained enough confidence to think I might be in the Japanese rankings for ball boys.

Since I had confidence in my physical strength, guts, and "picking things up," when I started picking up trash in 2005, I was determined: "I'm going to pick up all the trash on the Enoshima coast (Nishiura) by myself and make it sparkle!" However, I was shocked by the amount of trash and compromised by narrowing the scope, saying, "I'll just clean this part today." The following month, there was a lot of trash again in the area I had cleaned the month before!

I thought it was boring alone and that I could never finish picking it all up, so I decided to form a voluntary organization called "Umi Sakura" and ask for cooperation. I forced my friends and juniors to come, and we started picking up trash once a month. Despite it being a season with few swimmers and tourists, no matter how much we picked up, there was always trash on the beach again.

Wondering "Why?", I did some research and learned that "Ocean trash comes from rivers, river trash from the city, and city trash is produced by people's hearts" (I actually learned this two years after starting the activity).

I have been picking up trash for 14 years, and my actual feeling is that over 90% of it is city trash from daily life. That is how much city trash washes up in the ocean. Therefore, I realized that to make the sea of Enoshima clean, we have to convey this to the people in the city, or it will never become clean.

At the beginning of the activity, I would shout "Let's pick up trash!" or "Let's clean the ocean!" with a furrowed brow, forcing my friends and juniors to participate. I think everyone felt a sense of unease at the sudden change in me, since I used to litter. Eventually, they gradually stopped participating. I also got tired of calling people every time to get them to come for "trash pickup." Above all, I wasn't having fun myself...

Even if you shout loudly to "pick up trash" or "clean the ocean," participating just as a favor doesn't lead to a desire to "want to go!" I worried that "unless we convey this to ordinary people living in the city, rather than just people interested in the environment, the ocean will not become clean."

My own "change of heart" happens when I see and experience things for myself, rather than just watching the news. I thought that if people came to pick up trash even once, they would be surprised by the amount of trash, learn that it comes from daily life, and a change of heart would occur. I wanted people who usually live in the city to experience and feel this...

So, how could I get them to "come to the coast?" "What would it take for me?" Ideas like "If there were cute girls in swimsuits..." or "If I could eat something delicious" came to mind. In other words, if it doesn't look "fun!", people won't go there.

But most people in the city don't surf or play in the ocean. So, in 2007, the second year after starting "Umi Sakura," I set the slogan "Aim for Japan's Most Fun Trash Pickup!" and decided to convey the current state of the ocean by having people experience and feel it in a non-pushy way while doing fun things at the sea!

First, I wanted to change the image of trash picking itself. I made the trash bags cute and gave participants stamp cards; once the stamps are filled, they receive a "Trash Picking Master T-shirt."

We also held events. A game to see who could pick up the most cigarette filters washed ashore in five minutes (explaining that drains are the entrance to the sea and the connection between the city and the ocean); an "Interesting Trash Championship" (where people announce the interesting trash they found at the end to share what kind of trash was lying around). We gave Enoshima's special salted squid as a prize to the winners of each category. We introduced the fashion of the participants. We cooked meals after the pickup and relaxed while watching the sunset together. We planned many different things.

As a result, first-timers gradually started coming, and now, at peak times, as many as 1,000 people come in a single day.

In particular, "Dosukoi Beach Clean"—born from the idea that it would be fun if active sumo wrestlers wore their mawashi to pick up trash and then wrestled with participants on the cleaned beach—brought many city people to us. Players from the soccer team Shonan Bellmare also came. I became friends with the president of Shonan Bellmare at the time, and together with the Nippon Foundation, we launched "LEADS TO THE OCEAN" (commonly known as LTO). Under the slogan "Don't let trash go to the sea!", we show videos at the stadium to the 15,000 Shonan Bellmare supporters and pick up trash after home games (about 20 matches a year).

Currently, 11 teams participate in LTO, including nine J-League teams, one professional basketball team, and one professional baseball team. We conduct trash pickups about 220 times a year in various locations, conveying the current state of the ocean to approximately 2.5 million city residents.

In LTO activities, we produce and use trash bags that turn into soccer balls when filled with trash, and those who participate in many pickups are recognized as "Trash Picking Masters" and receive certificates from players on the field.

In addition, we have taken on many challenges, such as building a "Nail-free Beach House" that uses no nails, creating the "Chibikko BEACH SAVER Park" on the beach because fewer children are playing in the ocean or outdoors, and picking up trash dressed as Blue Santa Claus on Marine Day. However, ocean trash has still not decreased.

The amount of trash collected on the Shonan coast in one year is equivalent to 47 Great Buddhas of Kamakura (about 6,000 tons). Naturally, the trash that flows into the sea without being collected or that sinks must be many times that amount.

It is said that by 2050, there will be more trash in the ocean than fish. I am truly concerned that it will turn out that way if we continue like this.

In the 10th year of our activities (2015), we turned the organization into NPO Umi Sakura. At that time, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted at the UN Summit, and "Life Below Water" became one of the international goals to be achieved by 2030.

Since around last year, reports such as "Starbucks is eliminating plastic straws" and "Plastic bags are being eliminated in various places" have increased interest in the ocean and are supporting our activities. However, I also have a concern that the way this is conveyed makes it feel like "someone else's problem" rather than one's own. In other words, awareness stops at "Oh, Starbucks is abolishing plastic straws," and I don't think it has reached the point where individuals think, "Why are they trying to eliminate them?" or "Why are they trying to eliminate plastic bags?"

Because the "Why?" is not being conveyed, I fear that if things continue this way, trash will keep flowing into the sea, leading to a disastrous ocean. Conversely, the fact that "the ocean will become this wonderful if trash disappears" has not been visualized.

We will not let this major trend from the SDGs be a temporary boom. We will continue to carry out our "Aim for Japan's Most Fun Trash Pickup!" activities while clearly explaining the "Why?" and the "Future Map of the Ocean."

I would be happy if you could turn the small Ultraman spirit still in the corner of your hearts toward the ocean and nature, saying "Don't let trash go to the sea!" The ocean does not belong to humans alone; it belongs to everyone else, including fish and seabirds. I don't want to be in a situation where trash comes out when you are cleaning a fish. Trash will eventually return to the children of the future. There is no time like the present!