Wow. Take a deep breath. New car sales in Japan has dropped 13.1 percent to the lowest level for October, 2008 in 40 years. The Japan Automobile Dealers Association says 233,922 vehicles other than mini-cars were sold in October, a decline for the third straight month.

I liked this cartoon by High Moon over at Japan for Sustainability. I never thought about it quite this way before. Ranking the 3 Rs in order of importance, they give Reduce the first place, followed by Reuse and a third place for Recycle. Or should they all rank the same?

JFS also has a cute website for kids, called Create Your Future. Do have a look!...

(Photo from the Yamanashi MagLev Test Line)

(Photo of IEA director Nobuo Tanaka visiting Russia)

Photo: Dmodzelewski via Flickr

photo: Rebecca Stanek

As if the sustainability issues are first generation biofuels weren’t substantial enough already....

I don't own a car, I'm fine with trains and subways, and I like walking. I do keep an eye on gasoline prices because they are in the news and mean a lot for the economy (and the global environment).

(Image from Kimonoyasan)

Many of you will be aware of the magazine The Big Issue founded in 1991 by London social entrepreneur John Bird. If you have lived or spent time in Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, or Kyoto you will have seen the Japanese version of the magazine being sold by individual street sellers at train stations and major intersections.