The cuckoo that won’t sing: sustanaibility and Japanese culture
This post was published for the first time on April 6, 2011. It is re-proposed here as part of a mini-series on Japanese culture that includes the previous post here as part of a mini-series on Japanese culture that includes the previous post on population control during the Edo period
Many elements of Japanese culture have taken a stable foothold in the West. One is Judo (the figure above shows Kano Jigoro, founder of modern Judo) but there are many others in figurative art, literature, philosophy, and other fields. Here, I discuss what we can learn from Japanese culture in terms of sustainability, referring in particular to the “Edo Period” from about 1600 AD to mid 19th century. The Japanese society of that period is one of the few historical examples we have of a “steady state” economy. How did the Japanese manage to attain that? Here I am suggesting an explanation on the basis of the old Japanese story of “the cuckoo that won’t sing.”
This is a version of a talk that I gave at the “Kosen Dojo” in Florence, Italy on March 26 2011. It is not a transcription, but a text written from memory where I try to maintain the style of a spoken presentation.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me say first of all that I gave many talks on energy and sustainability in my career, but this is the first time that I am giving one while sitting cross-legged on the floor on a Japanese mat, a tatami. But, let me add, it is a real pleasure to do it, and it is a special pleasure to give it in a dojo, under the portrait of Kano Jigoro, the founder of modern Judo. Indeed, I used to be a judoka myself, although I must say it is a while that I don’t practice.
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