Mottainai food waste

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Do not waste food ! (mottainai)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

mottainai　もったいない　モッタイナイ

the avoidance of what is wasteful
”What a waste! "
It is not good to waste something.



Mottainai!
Farmers grow rice with great effort and a lot of sweat!
Eat each grain of rice with greatfulness!


A plastic shopping bag is very mottainai,
because it is used only once.


setsuyaku　節約　saving
setsuyaku no kufuu 節約の工夫
.... creative saving is IN!

ketchi　けち、ケチ　stingy


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quote
Mottainai (もったいない, 勿体無い)
is a Japanese term meaning "a sense of regret concerning waste 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. In addition to its primary sense of "wasteful," the word is also used to mean "impious; irreverent" or "more than one deserves."

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.

Although the word mottainai is written in Chinese characters, it was created in Japan and is based on Buddhist philosophy. One of the earliest appearances of the word "mottainai" is in the book Genpei Jōsuiki (A Record of the Genpei War, ca. 1247).

Mottainai is a compound word, mottai+nai. Mottai (勿体) refers to the intrinsic dignity or sacredness of a material entity, while Nai (無い) indicates an absence or lack. (Mottai further consists of "mochi (勿)," meaning "inevitable; unnecessary to discuss," and "tai (体)," or "entity; body.")

"Mottai" was originally used in the construction "mottai-ga-aru" (勿体+が+有る), literally "having mottai," which referred to a dignified entity. Today, "mottai" is also used in the construction "mottai-buru (勿体振る)," 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.

According to the Japan Times website (1/3/09), Japan`s agricultural ministry estimated that in 2007, 23 million tonnes of food was wasted, costing 2 trillion yen.
MORE in the wikipedia !





Mottainai Baasan もったいない　ばあさん
Mottainai Grandma

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ベルさんの もったいないプロジェクト
　ベルさんブランド　元気食品 .. Genki Food


ベルナルド　デイクハウス
Bernard Diekhaus

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. WASHOKU
Food wasted in 2009 - Statistics
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

Here we will discuss the meaning and the spirit of three terms:
"Mottainai", "Wabi-Sabi" and "Imperfect".

The thought of finding essential values in things
It is important for us to find the value in all things. It is vital that we treasure and respect our unique natural environment and to value all its resources. These ideas are expressed in the term "Mottainai" which Ms. Wangari Maathai, Deputy Environment Minister of Kenya, was trying to popularize in the world.
This Japanese word means reduce, recycle, repair and reuse. This term was originated in the 18th century, the Edo era, by Tokyoites. At that time Tokyo was the most heavily populated city in the world. Tokyoites felt to live in peace and in prosperity, so they tried to utilize the limited natural resources and cooperated with each otherin doing so.
　source : www.yoho.jp/camj


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HAIKU

収穫祭　モッタイナイはかけことば
shuukakusai mottainai wa kakekotoba

harvest festival -
the motto of the day
"do not be wasteful!"

Gabi Greve, Japan, October 2006


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Santoka

よいおみのりのさやさやお月さま　
yoi o-minori no sayasaya o-tsuki-sama

A great harvest,
sighs, the moon content.


のんびり尿する草の芽だらけ
nonbiri shito suru kusa no me darake

Roadside, taking a piss,
soaking the scrub-grass.

A wandering beggar must heed the call of nature in the most humble of places. Santôka renders this daily obligation into an unpretentious contribution to an ecological cycle, humorously demonstrating the concept of mottainai, of waste not/want not.
Much as the selected poem above introduced an agricultural portrait of fruitfulness and fecundity, of the elements of nature co-participating in the production of food for living beings, this poem comically shows Santôka paying back the favour by contributing to the cycle, with his own urine, a devotional scatology.

source : simply haiku 2007


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Related words

***** WKD Reference

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