The world is currently undergoing an environmental crisis, but all in all travel is not the main factor in this and can be done sustainably. My name is Angus and I am about to go on a year abroad to Akita in the north of Japan. Japan is currently facing an environmental catastrophe. Already located on the edge of the ring of fire and prone to frequent earthquakes and tsunamis, rising global temperatures from climate change are driving new and greater threats to the country. For example, the recent monsoon season saw storm Janghi devastate the Okinawa islands and mainland Japan with thousands in Tokyo left without power or water. Japan is facing a crisis owing to increasing global temperature rise, however it is also facing a crisis of overtourism. After the Covid pandemic ended, Japan experienced a record surge in tourists hitting a high of 3.49 million in December of 2024 concentrated in the cities of Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka. This influx of people put great strain on city infrastructure while causing tensions between locals and tourists, however the worst impact was on the environment. In 2020 the Japanese tourism sector was responsible for approximately 136 million tonnes of Co2 per year being emitted, with transport accounting for almost 60% of these emissions. However, despite this increase, Japan itself is a world leader in sustainable development. In 2015 the United Nations established the 2030 strategy for sustainable development outlining 17 major goals for sustainable development. These are, a commitment to ending world poverty and hunger, ensuring good health, inclusive education and gender equality, giving the world clean water and energy, providing economic growth with sustainable industry, reducing inequality, building sustainable cities with sustainable supply chains, taking action on the climate in the land and sea, and building strong international partnerships. Japan is fully committed to seeing these commitments through, focusing on working with small business to achieve small steps towards these goals. In addition to this in dense foot traffic areas Japan is turning footsteps into electricity using piezoelectric floor tiles. Japan is therefore making a huge effort towards developing sustainably and so it made me think about my own placement and how I can be sustainable in my year abroad. As I do live in Britain it will be unfortunately impossible to avoid a long flight, however when I have arrived in Japan, I will only take public transportation such as the shinkansen when traveling. In addition to this Akita is a small city and is not often visited by tourists, this will help me avoid contributing to overtourism in the bigger cities. Finally, I will support local business and buy a bike to cycle around the area rather than driving as I hope this will cut down on emissions. Overall, I believe that promoting sustainable travel relies on understanding the environmental situation behind the country you are visiting, acting in line with guidance and not deliberately contributing to overtourism or littering.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/sdgs/index.html
https://www-jstor-org.uoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/stable/enviassepolimana.4.4.397?seq=1
https://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/overtourism-in-japan-how-bad-is-it/72026
https://sdgs.un.org/goals
