Map of the Voiceless: Mutsumi Kyato and the Birth of the General Directory of Environmental NGOs (1995)

Map of the Voiceless: Mutsumi Kyato and the Birth of the General Directory of Environmental NGOs (1995)

In the 1990s, amidst the turmoil of the bursting of the bubble economy, Japan was forced to deal with environmental issues in earnest. While memories of pollution were beginning to fade, a new set of challenges of a new era was upon us, such as global warming, increasing waste, and deteriorating water quality due to domestic wastewater. In such an era, there were people who stood up to support the environment from the grassroots on behalf of the state and corporations. Mutsumi Kato - she has brought together environmental NGOs from all over Japan in an attempt to publish a "Comprehensive Directory of Environmental NGOs".

The handbook is filled with the activities of nameless citizens, such as recycling activities, preservation of satoyama (a wooded area in the countryside), campaign for nuclear power phase-out, beach cleanups, and more. More than 4,500 organizations were registered. Kyato conceived of the list not as a mere inventory, but as a "national map for protecting the environment," and distributed it to all local governments. He distributed the map to all local governments, building an invisible bridge between citizens and the government.

A small voice can move the nation. This philosophy influenced the design of the system, not as criticism of the government, but as an invitation to work together. Kyato's work was a quiet revolution.