MOTTAINAI
Encyclopedia
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
term meaning "a sense of regret concerning waste
Waste
Waste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not properly utilized." The expression "Mottainai!" can be uttered alone as an exclamation when something useful, such as food or time, is wasted, meaning roughly "Oh, what a waste!" In addition to its primary sense of "wasteful", the word is also used to mean "impious; irreverent" or "more than one deserves".
Usage in Japanese
Mottainai in Japanese refers to far more than just physical waste (resources) as in other cultures. It can refer to wasted and wasteful efforts and actions, activities, time, souls, talents, emotion, minds, dreams, and potential. It is even used to refer to thought patterns that give rise to wasteful action. Mottainai activities commonly lead to anger or protest when the person who is observing the utter waste is incapable of holding back their emotions. Those who do not dwell on the negative and are resigned to move on are more capable of sadly regretting.Grammatically, it can be used in Japanese as an exclamation ("mottainai!") or as an adjective phrase ("it feels mottainai"). There is no plural form. The collection of mottainai things could be called .
As noted below, the phrase was part of a trend of Japanese culture that went unappreciated during the modern period, and was slowly dying out with the older generation before being rediscovered by an African visitor to Japan.
History
In ancient Japanese, mottainai had various meanings, including a sense of gratitude mixed with shame for receiving greater favor from a superior than is properly merited by one's station in life.One of the earliest appearances of the word mottainai is in the book Genpei Jōsuiki
Genpei Josuiki
The , is a 48-book extended version of the Heike Monogatari. -External links:* , University of Virginia Library...
(A Record of the Genpei War, ca. 1247).
Mottainai is a compound word, mottai+nai. refers to the intrinsic dignity or sacredness of a material entity, while indicates an absence or lack (Mottai further consists of , meaning "inevitable; unnecessary to discuss", and , meaning "entity; body").
Mottai was originally used in the construction , which referred to a dignified entity. Today, mottai is also used in the construction , meaning "pretentious" or "giving oneself airs" by assuming more dignity than one truly possesses.
Buddhists traditionally used the term mottainai to indicate regret at the waste or misuse of something sacred or highly respected, such as religious objects or teaching. Today, the word is widely used in everyday life to indicate the waste of any material object, time, or other resource.
Revival by Wangari Maathai
Kenyan environmentalist Wangari MaathaiWangari Maathai
Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya...
visited Japan at the request of the Mainichi Shimbun
Mainichi Shimbun
The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by .-History:The history of the Mainichi Shimbun begins with founding of two papers during the Meiji period. The Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun was founded first, in 1872. The Mainichi claims that it is the oldest existing Japanese daily newspaper...
for an event related to the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
in 2005. At this time, she learned this word while discussing ecological issues with the Mainichi Shinbun's editor-in-chief. She was impressed by the depth of similarity between the Japanese meaning of the word and equivalent concepts in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
concerning people's responsibility to respect the earth through frugality and conservation. At the Kyoto Protocols, she wore a shirt with the word "MOTTAINAI" written on it in all capital rōmaji, and asked the audience to use the word in their everyday lives. She became a widely recognized celebrity in Japan for discovering and promoting what is referred to as a "MOTTAINAI" movement. Maathai told Japanese TV that she tried to find equivalent words to mottainai in other languages, so as to spread the concept all over the world, but in vain.
She promoted the concept of mottainai as a term that is roughly equivalent to the English phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Waste hierarchy
The waste hierarchy refers to the 3 Rs of reduce, reuse, recycle, or and [ which classify waste management strategies according to their desirability. The Rs are meant to be a hierarchy, in order of importance...
" or the proverbial phrase "Waste not, want not". The term is more closely equivalent to the English phrase "What a waste". Therefore, she promoted the use of the word mottainai as an international expression.
Japanese singer/songwriter Masashi Sada
Masashi Sada
is a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, novelist, actor, and a film producer.Sada formed the folk duo Grape with Masami Yoshida in 1972, and made debut as a recording artist a year after. The pair rose to fame owing to a hit of a song "Shourou Nagashi" composed by Sada, which peaked at the...
has promoted this concept and created the song "MOTTAINAI" to revitalize the spirit of mottainai in Japan. The song was played on , a children's public television program on NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
TV, in April and May 2007 to raise children's awareness of resource conservation.
A news article on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
on 8 October 2007 discusses Mottainai Grandma, a children's book by Moriko Shinju.
In the 2009 Playstation 3 game Trash Panic, valuable items that must be preserved are called mottainai and, in contrast to the common trash in the game, they must be dealt with as a valuable item, instead of compacted or destroyed.
Actual food waste in Japan
Japan's agricultural ministryMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)
The ' a cabinet ministry in the government of Japan responsible for oversight of the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. Its acronym is MAFF.-History:...
estimates that 23 million tons of food were discarded in 2007, about ¥11 trillion ($120 billion) worth, which is the monetary equivalent of Japan's annual agricultural output. Moreover, it cost ¥2 trillion ($21 billion) to process that waste.
See also
- AffluenzaAffluenzaAffluenza, from affluence and influenza, is a term used by critics of capitalism and consumerism. Sources define it as follows:Proponents of the term consider that the prizing of endless increases in material wealth may lead to feelings of worthlessness and dissatisfaction rather than experiences...
- Anti-consumerismAnti-consumerismAnti-consumerism refers to the socio-political movement against the equating of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions...
- Conspicuous consumptionConspicuous consumptionConspicuous consumption is spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status....
- FreeganismFreeganismFreeganism is the practice of reclaiming and eating food that has been discarded. One third of the world's food is wasted —in shops, restaurants, farms, factories and homes—and freegans aim to expose and protest against this, arguing that it contributes to environmental degradation, resource...
- FrugalityFrugalityFrugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the use of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance....
- Itadakimasu, the Buddhist attitude concerning resources
- Mono no awareMono no aware, literally "the pathos of things", also translated as "an empathy toward things", or "a sensitivity to ephemera", is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of , or the transience of things, and a gentle sadness at their passing.-Origins:...
, awareness of the impermanence of things - Simple livingSimple livingSimple living encompasses a number of different voluntary practices to simplify one's lifestyle. These may include reducing one's possessions or increasing self-sufficiency, for example. Simple living may be characterized by individuals being satisfied with what they need rather than want...
- ThriftingThriftingThrifting refers to the act of shopping at a thrift store, flea market, garage sale, or a shop of a charitable organization, usually with the intent of finding interesting items at a cheap price....