Illusions of progress and their countertrends in Japan - Keibo Owia

Local Futures Podcast

Keibo Oiwa is a professor, cultural anthropologist, and a widely respected philosopher and organizer in Japan. He co-authored, with David Suzuki, a book about bottom-up movements for peace, human rights and environmentalism, called 'The Japan We Never Knew'. He is the founder of The Sloth Club – an NGO that promotes slow and sustainable living. The Sloth Club, coupled with Keibo's book Slow is Beautiful: Culture as Slowness, have fostered a new appreciation of rural life and a simpler way of living.

In this episode, Keibo offers us a portrait of a Japan moving in two different directions. He sounds the alarm about the cultural and spiritual devastation that has been a deeply tragic cost of Japan's pursuit of globalized development. But he also speaks of a widespread cultural resurgence – a movement towards regeneration, community and nature. He highlights cultural "keywords" that can be rediscovered in the Japanese cultural fabric, and which can be used as a guide for these emerging movements.

To watch the video of this series, visit: Planet Local Voices interview series.

The music for this series is ‘Pines and Violet’, by Sky Toes.