“The word “organic” does exist in Japan but it does not have too much meaning in terms of practical products” – how Australian Hippies can help to bring healthy food to Japan.

Takako Okamura, Founder, Organic Concierge Asso-ciation, Tokyo, Japan

As we got introduced to Takako Okamura on the first Japanese meeting of “Social Inno-vation”, we were told that she is one of the practical examples in the area of “LOHAS” in Japan to-day. “LOHAS, what is LOHAS?” – we asked curiously. Takako ex-plained to us that “LOHAS” is an acronym standing for “Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability” and describes a growing consumer segment of people that value health, the environment, social justice, personal deve-lopment and sustainable living in their life and also in consumption.
With her newly founded enterprise, “Organic Concierge Association”, Takako is only covering a small, but impor-tant part of this new lifestyle, which is mainly the edu-cation and consulting in the area of organic food. “Maybe other areas will follow once we have established this first one successfully,” Takako tells us in her friendly and posi-tive way. Establishing a new company in an area so far unknown in Japan is not easy in the first year. However, seeing the growing demand and knowing that she is doing a good thing is giving her the strength to continue to realize her goals.

Enjoy reading part of our lively discussion in the following statements and you might read more about Takako Oka-mura’s energetic lifestyle and thoughts in our book “MyImpact”.

Takako Okamura’s selected quotations:
„Around six month of my time in Australia I stayed with a group of hippies. It was kind of shocking; they walked barefoot, had wild hair, little money, appreciated healthy food and nature, and they were happy.”

“Living with the hippies was a quite intense experience and it’s them who got me interested in food, what it’s made of and where it comes from. They gave me some of their food and it tasted great and I could not forget the sensation. So, back in Japan, I also wanted organic food.”

“The word “organic” does exist in Japan but it does not have too much meaning in terms of practical products. We still need to create awareness and use media power for that.”

“You can’t find much nature in Tokyo; sometimes I miss its proximity that I experienced in Australia. The life there was a very special gift to me and I would like to give some of this to other people.”

“Of course, I need money. Otherwise I could not live in Tokyo. My idea of life, though, is not based on money.”

“It is not possible to earn money with “Organic Concierge” at the moment, so I build it in my free time. To support myself I work as a consultant to companies who want to import/export, maybe launch organic products in Japan.”

“I feel quite satisfied with what I am doing now and hope that we can create more and more awareness around organic opportunities. My background in media certainly helps with the communication. Then I would like to sup-port the growth of the organic industry.”

Some background on Takako Okamura:
Takako Okamura was born in near Yokohama and grew up in Kyushu. She worked as a TV reporter for three years in Japan then moved to Australia where she worked at a pro-duction company for Japanese TV com-mercials and programs. Takako liked Australia a lot, especially the experien-ces she gained from living with a hippy community for a few months. Their attitude towards nature and towards general values had a lasting effect on Takako.
Today, back in the Japanese society, Takako wants to spread the good things she learned abroad, especially taking care of the food one eats and the way the products one consumes are produced.

Some background on Organic Concierge Association:
Takako Okamura founded the Organic Concierge Associa-tion in 2004 with the target to spread organic education and the use of organic food and materials in Japan. Apart from writing newsletters about the latest developments in the organic industry, consulting how large corporations could increase their percentage of organic offerings, Ta-kako and her team currently focus on an online training course where people can acquire the “Organic Concierge Certification”. In the first year of operation more than 100 Organic Concierges were educated and the number of new applications is steadily increasing.

If you would like to engage with the work of Takako Okamura or get to know more about Organic Concierge Association please visit http://www.oca.gr.jp/
or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch directly.