Many of the houses, apartments in Tokyo are "tiny," compared to western standards. Especially because Tokyo is crowded, but geographically very small. Thus, it is part of our culture, to dispose any of our old items, as we buy new ones. The thing is, we buy a lot of things, and so very often, we throw away many of our belongings. 

The effects of consumerism is an important issue to address, as the consequences are severe. The production and processing of materials not only require an extensive amount of natural resources including fossil fuels, wood, and water, but also releases toxic byproducts to the air. 

However, the production, processing, and consumption, of commodities. Thus in Japan especially, recycling has to be taken more seriously in order to preserve our environment. 

Fortunately, there are many non governmental organizations that help prevent the deteriorating environment. This month, I participated in one of the event hosted by "WE21"as a volunteer. "WE21" is an organization that receives donations (typically used clothes, furniture, etc) from various individuals, in order to sell the donated items at various We21 shops located around Tokyo&Yokohama. They have sold over two million items over the past 15 years the money raised is used to support child education in South East Asia. 
Furthermore, the organization re-make many of objects that they receive. For example, old kimonos are used to create small pencil cases or bags.

What really intrigued my interest at the event however, was the mini fashion show and fair trade items that were being sold. I was first perplexed isn't this suppose to be an event for environmental advocacy? Yet, later I found out that the fabrics that could not be sold in the We21 shops (picture bellow), were donated to local art universities so that students would recreate clothing themselves. The fashion show was a display of the beautiful clothing that the art university students recreated themselves. The sale of the fair trade, more specifically ginger tea (which tasted very delicious!) on the other hand was part of the program they have when working with countries with South East Asia. 

Over all, my volunteer experience at the event (in which I was in charge of removing/adding clothing to the racks) was AMAZING. I was really surprised to find such a dedicated community that was working effectively in lessening the potential damage that consumerism yields in Japan. Of course we have a long way to go and improvement take time, small efforts are extremely beneficial and should not be overlooked.