If you think about it carefully, packaging is not just “my problem”, and not just “your problem”, it is “OUR CHALLENGE” because it involves the whole world.
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tadaomi Shiraishi. Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to speak in front of you tonight at Mayflower’s 8th Presentation Party.
This is my first presentation since I became a Mayflower student, so I’d like to introduce myself. I’ll do this by sharing with you an important issue that has been on my mind these days. One that will have a huge impact on my future, your future, and the future of the world.
First of all, let me ask everyone here a tough question:. Which is more important for you, money or the environment?
Actually, one of my classmates recently asked me this tough question during Robert’s “Days Japan” class. In class, we had been discussing a shocking photograph taken in India. In the picture, there was a young child running on top of a huge rusty pipe, which was surrounded by a mountain of garbage. In fact, there was so much garbage that I couldn’t even see the ground!
The photo reminded me of a scene from the recent blockbuster movie “Slumdog Millionaire”, a touching love story about a clever boy growing up in the slums of India. However, this wasn’t a movie, it was real life, and for the child in the image, it was his daily life!
Anyway, something about the photograph really grabbed my attention, so I looked closer. I noticed that the terrible mountain of trash was mostly made up of tons and tons of packaging garbage. That fact was incredibly shocking for me, especially, because I’m working for a packaging company!
The company is actually my family business. Three generations ago, my grandfather started it, my father is continuing it now, and sometime in the near future, I will become the head of the business. That’s why the problem that I witnessed in the photograph was very real and very, very disturbing.
Even though most of us are not aware of it, packaging is one of the most essential tools for our daily lives. Can you imagine transporting, or even buying anything without packaging? The answer is absolutely “no”. And just like that mountain of garbage in India, right here in Japan, most packaging simply becomes garbage after we use it.
That means that if my company’s business increases, basically the volume of garbage that is being created in the world will also increase. Naturally, I’m proud of my company’s long tradition! But when I think about this fact – that I will be producing packaging that will eventually become just mountains of garbage – my feelings become conflicted.
Of course, this issue doesn’t just concern me and my company, it also concerns you too! Why? Because, whether you know it or not, as consumers of products, you are also already directly involved on the opposite end of this packaging issue! So if you think about it carefully, packaging is not just “my problem”, and not just “your problem”, it is “OUR CHALLENGE” because it involves the whole world.
Therefore, we must increase our awareness and knowledge by taking the appropriate actions!
As the future head of my family’s packaging company, I will do my best to increase my awareness and knowledge, and be responsible by doing the right things. What exactly will I do? Actually this year, from May, I’m planning to study packing in America at Michigan State University. It is surprisingly the only university in the world where the various aspects of packaging can be studied academically, for example: materials, machines and logistics. It will be an awesome challenge for me, but I’m ready to try!
And what can you do yourself? Of course, I don’t expect you to travel to America with me!
But you can, in your own way, take some simple actions that will increase your awareness of packaging. There are actually many, many things you can do, but one action that will help would be to start using traditional Japanese packaging, a “furoshiki”, whenever you can.
In addition, these days “furoshiki” is a hot buzzword. Many non-Japanese are very interested in the furoshiki as a symbol of cultural exchange and environmentalism.
Some of you in the audience tonight may question the practicality of my suggestion. However, keep in mind, our main purpose is, at first, to simply increase awareness of packaging, and the problems related to it. But of course, this is not only mental training! If you, your friends, and the people that you can influence, make it a rule to use your furoshiki all the time, you’ll actually be able to make a significant economic and environmental impact over the course of your lifetimes.
In addition, these days “furoshiki” is a hot buzzword. Many non-Japanese are very interested in the furoshiki as a symbol of cultural exchange and environmentalism. So don’t be surprised if your furoshiki helps you to make some new foreign friends. Anyway, using a furoshiki is just one example. I’m sure that if you want to, using your imagination, you’ll be able to find your own unique way to increase your awareness of the economic and environmental aspects of packaging.
I believe that in my case, after I graduate from Michigan State University, I will be able to use my newly acquired awareness and knowledge of packaging to take the right actions to help my company to be both economically profitable and environmentally friendly! I’ll be able to make my world a better place!
As for you, your simple but important actions towards increasing your awareness of the environment, like using a furoshiki, will have a positive impact on you, your daily life, and the world that you live in. Sometimes, all it takes is a small piece of cloth to make a big difference!
Yes, both companies, and individuals, belong to our increasingly global society. And if we both take responsibility in our own ways for the current packaging problem, we will all benefit in countless ways!
Now finally, I want to answer the tough question I gave you at the beginning of my presentation. Again, the question: Which is more important for you, money or the environment? Of course, we all know the answer now, right? “Both money, and the environment are very important”!
In fact, we shouldn’t have to choose! And our actions, starting today, are the best way to show ourselves, each other, and yes, the whole world, that we truly, truly believe this!
You’ve been a great audience! I’m happy to answer any questions that you might have.
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