もったいない- Mottainai

Recently, I have been reading a book by a Nobel peace prize winner about Mottainai- which is a concept on wastefulness. It goes beyond just being wasteful though and instead means closer to "a sense of regret concerning waste when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not properly utilized". It can also refer to wasted and wasteful efforts and actions, activities, time, souls, talents, emotion, minds, dreams, and potential. It astounds me sometimes how the Japanese have such a great way of putting such deep concepts into few words! (I also love the word "yugen"- which is an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and profound for words)


In the old days, the Japanese were very aware of the concept of wastefulness. They had metal things to put on the end of pencils to ensure you used it right down to the numb, you ate every bit of rice down to the last grain and even broken chinaware was repaired. Though in the west we also had the same concepts of wastefulness (hand me downs and left overs, etc), the Japanese go just a little deeper. For example, it is important to eat every grain of rice not just because of wastefulness, because it is the product of a farmer's labour, a labour of love and hard work. The bento (lunchbox) that your mum made you that you left on the train is not just a waste of food, but more importantly wasteful of your mother's love and feelings.





Mottainai can also apply to people too. If you are not utilizing your talents at work ( eg- if you speak three languages, or are a beautiful painter), that is also mottainai, because you are wasting some important skills.


Obviously this can apply to the more materialistic as well- Japan's agricultural ministry 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.

Certainly food for thought....