Dear All,



I'm certainly not an expert on climate activism.



Nevertheless, the Japan Times had several articles on climate this week during the New York climate summit.



One article said that more than 5000 people participated in demonstrations across the country. That may not necessarily be a lot, by global standards. On the other hand, we also cannot say that there were not any protests in Japan.


https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/09/20/national/japanese-activists-join-global-climate-strike-ahead-u-n-summit-global-warming/#.XYzFhy5LiM8



Regarding TV, when I was at the barbershop this weekend, they were showing Environment Minister Koizumi's speech on climate in New York. However, the commentary mainly focused on the fact that he made his speech in English, not on the contents of the speech.



Later in the week, when I had a casual conversation with a few ministry officials, they only criticized Koizumi's statement that action on climate change should be "cool" and "sexy" without any thought to Japan's actual climate policy. (Of course, Koizumi didn't/couldn't discuss any policy details in his speech since he had become minister only a short time before the summit, and the Environment Ministry doesn't determine the policy anyway.)


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-un-koizumi/koizumis-sexy-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow-for-some-in-japan-idUSKBN1W90IJ



The Japan Times also focused its reporting on criticism of Environment Minister Koizumi's speech.


https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/09/24/national/japanese-press-social-media-shinjiro-koizumi-criticism/#.XYzK6C5LiM8


Best,

Mark