On the second Friday of every month, a small group gathers.
In February, it was in front of the industry ministry’s annex building, just a stone’s throw away from the plum blossoms unfurling in pink and white at Tokyo’s Hibiya Park. A small but passionate group of three dozen people — young and old alike — lifted a vibrant banner that read in Japanese: “The Climate Crisis is a matter of life and death!” The group is Fridays for Future, a climate activist organization originally inspired by Greta Thunberg’s 2018 school strike. They have branches in 20 regions across Japan, with the shared mission of raising Japanese voices in favor of tackling climate change.
“Delaying climate action is not a course of action available to us,” says Ayako Kawasaki, a recent college graduate and activist with Fridays for Future. “We need to figure out a way to get more youth involved.”
But by at least one key measure, Fridays for Future and groups like it are struggling to make their voices heard: last month, the government approved twin energy and emissions plans that experts say are insufficient to meet the globally agreed goal of…
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