Located in Kamikatsu Town in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, it is like a hidden place hidden in the mountains and mountains. There are only more than 1,500 people living there, and it was once unknown to outsiders. Since 2001, this small town has suddenly been called "Japan's most environmentally friendly town". Environmental experts have come here to investigate, and various environmental conferences have also chosen to come here.
In 2013, Kamikatsu independently released Japan's first "Zero Waste Declaration", with the goal of reducing waste generation to zero by 2020.
Nowadays, Kamikatsu has not only become a “zero-waste town”, it has also built taverns and hotels with recycled materials. Through this philosophy of sustainable living, environmental protection has become aesthetics of life.
Garbage turned into an eco-friendly tavern
In 2015, Kamikatsu-cho owned an eco-friendly tavern. When local private companies defined the style of the tavern, they wanted it to become another form of community center, welcoming every resident in an open and inclusive manner. Functionally, everything from raw material warehouses to breweries to beer bars are gathered in this building, and it also sells household groceries and food.
The peels of citrus fruits left after juice extraction are reused as spice for beer, and the waste grains produced in the process of brewing craft beer can be reused in candies and granola. In order to reduce the waste caused by excessive packaging, the goods sold in the grocery section, from nuts to pasta and various seasonings, are weighed in bulk. Every resident needs to bring his own container to buy.
The most attractive aspect of this tavern is the architectural appearance. In order to make it a landmark building in Kamikatsu Town, the front elevation of the tavern is 8 meters high. The architect Takushi Nakamura and his team used recycled abandoned window frames staggered to form the entire surface of the "floor-to-ceiling windows". The double-layer structure makes the building Stronger, more air circulation.
"We collected the windows that used to not only illuminate but also dress up the town, and hope that they can be the beacon here, illuminating the loss caused by the population decline due to people's hard work in the town." said Nakamura Takushi.
The eye-catching red exterior wall is made of recycled locally produced cedar board wood, which is colored by natural persimmon skin pigments, making you feel like you are in nature when you are in it.
The bridal clothes box and farm equipment found in the recycling center have become a product display tool in the tavern; the masonry waste recovered from the old building is reused in the aisle, and the unique and irregular texture is even more fascinating; empty Glass bottles and chopped cups have been processed into colorful chandeliers; old newspapers have become wallpaper.
This building allows tourists from outside to feel the charm of a "zero-waste town" for the first time, and also allows residents of Kamikatsu to gain a sense of accomplishment and motivation to move forward from their environmental behaviors.
The environmental protection ideas that originated in Kamikatsu-cho continue to underneath the Tokyo Tower. In the Tokyo branch, the big tree stump in Uekatsu-cho was transformed into a bar counter, all kinds of wine glasses were still sparkling chandeliers, waste wood was made into shelves, and a few old tools were shelves for hanging clothes and hats. Everything was environmentally friendly and fun. .
The love becomes an aesthetic
Following pub, Kamikatsu Tim addition of a hotel full of question marks, and the tavern's environmental philosophy and design style of the same strain. This hotel is still run by the architect Takushi Nakamura.
This hotel is named "HOTEL WHY". Compared with other hotels in the world that advocate sustainable development, it looks more like a large-scale artistic creation. Takushi Nakamura directly designed it into a "?" shape, as if asking people: Can we achieve a sustainable life?
The hotel did raise 4 questions on its official website: "Why do you buy it" and "Why throw it away" for consumers, and "why produce it" and "why sell it" for producers. The birth of the hotel is a call for zero waste action. It hopes that people who come to stay in the hotel can firmly remember the environmental protection concept of "why".
The architectural design of the hotel is still loyal to the environmental protection philosophy of Kamikatsu Town. The local cedar wood and discarded furniture, doors and windows make up this not luxurious but warm enough residence. The curved part of the question mark is a large recycling facility, including workshops, laundries, toilets, and grocery stores. The "point" below the question mark is 4 rooms.
Living in such an environmentally friendly hotel, the experience is also different from other hotels. The hotel will not provide disposable toothbrushes, toothpaste and other supplies, nor pajamas, in order to reduce the water consumption for washing clothes. During the stay, all the garbage generated by the guests will go through the strict classification of the hotel, and let you know where all the garbage has gone after classification.
There are all kinds of taverns and small hotels that are not luxurious. Every brick, every table and chair, and every sip of beer is filled with the care and emotion of the residents of Kamikatsu for this green town. They love this small town in a strict environmental protection way. Pubs and hotels have become physical symbols of this love. These loves have formed an aesthetic that is beautiful enough to be natural and moving.
