The Richard Florida-esque ideal of a creative class able to work anywhere kind of falls flat on its face unless you (a) have equipment less than six months old, and (b) a bulletproof internet connection you can afford to pay for. All of which is a roundabout way of saying my internet access has been… Read More Dams and clams in Japan

It has been a long time since I last posted. One of the main reasons for this is that as soon as I returned to Scotland, I immediately had to start preparing for a week-long intensive course on social responsibility with engineers, which has been extremely rewarding but very hard going for me, let alone… Read More The next generation of coastal citizens

Kasai Rinkai Park is one of my very favourite places in Tokyo. Out in the east of the city, on the way to Disneyland and Chiba commuter city, planes whine and wobble overhead as they make their final approaches to Haneda Airport, and big ships wait out in the bay for favourable tides to dock.… Read More Rinkai Park

I am a great believer in interdisciplinarity. Energy and environmental change are complex issues, and lots of ideas and specialisations need to pull together to resolve many of the challenges our society is facing. This, I remind myself, is why I am currently standing in the middle of a building site staring into what appears… Read More Reflections on a visit to the Tomakomai CCS project

The end of a second full day in the weird and wonderful world of Tomakomai – home to Japan’s first integrated carbon dioxide capture and storage project and, as I learned today, much much more than that. As I’ve alluded to many times before, with this being my first piece of fieldwork outside of the… Read More Tomakomai Part 2 – carbon dioxide storage and much much more

This week is a short visit to Tomakomai, on the southern side of Hokkaido, where preparations are currently underway for Japan’s first integrated CCS (carbon dioxide capture and storage) development. I have been working on CCS for the past three years, so after a fortnight learning about radiation it was strange to be back on… Read More Tomakomai and the CCS demonstration

Fukushima Prefecture is famed for its food, both of the fishery and agricultural variety. One of my pieces of fieldwork this week was a spot of ‘virtual shopping’ in the supermarkets of Fukushima City, looking at the Prefectural produce on the shelves. Here’s a little extract from my field notes, but before I get stuck… Read More Fukushima Food

This week I am in Fukushima City, the administrative seat of Fukushima Prefecture. It has the real feel of a provincial town to it, with cobbles, trees and brick buildings. It is also famed for its agricultural produce, an industry around which great efforts are being made to get it back on its feet. Unfortunately,… Read More Fukushima City