Joint Seminar: Thinking About Climate Change + Tourism in Kannabe Kogen, Vol. 3
The Climate Crisis Through the Eyes of Skiers and Snowboarders
Real-World Examples of Climate Action
We will hold the third session in our Climate Change + Tourism series.
This session
is especially timely for the winter season.
As speakers, we are inviting Goro Komatsu, representative of POW Japan and a professional snowboarder who has been a leading voice on climate action to protect winter, and Nao Yoshizawa, who researches the sustainability of ski resorts.
Join us to learn about the realities of climate change, hear examples of action by skiers and snowboarders, and consider Kannabe's next steps together.
*The session (15:30–16:45, streamed online) is open to anyone.
Event Details
Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Time: 15:30–16:45
Venue: Online (capacity 500)
Cost: Free
How to register: Hidaka Kannabe Tourism Association / Here
Program
[Opening Remarks] Hidaka Kannabe Tourism Association
Report on Japan's first “Zero Carbon Declaration” issued independently by a tourism association
[The Climate Crisis Through the Eyes of Skiers and Snowboarders]
Introducing thoughts and actions on future climate change action from the perspective of professionals working on the front lines of winter sports
Speakers: Mr. Goro Komatsu, Mr. Nao Yoshizawa
Dialogue: Ms. Kimiko Hirata
Speakers:
Goro Komatsu (Komatsu Goro) ▷▷Materials
POW JAPAN Representative, Professional Snowboarder, Chairman of the Terrain Research Association
Born and raised in Hokkaido, he moved to British Columbia, Canada at age 12. In 2005, he returned to Japan with the birth of his child, and has built his life around winter and snow, having settled at the foot of the Kashimayari Ski Resort in Omachi City, Nagano Prefecture. While living in Canada, an encounter with Indigenous people protesting the construction of a new ski resort led him to reconsider the relationship between snowboarding and nature, and he came to believe that the way we interact with and use nature needs to change. Even before POW was founded, he continued to advocate for reducing impacts on the natural environment.
Nao Yoshizawa (Yoshizawa Nao)
Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba
He is
29 years old and was raised in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture. Specializes in tourism geography, particularly in ski resort regions. Since 2016, has researched sports tourism in mountainous regions at the University of Tsukuba Graduate School and the Université Grenoble Alpes Graduate School (France). In September 2022, he earned a master's degree in tourism studies in France for research on skiing and global warming. He is scheduled to earn a doctorate in geography next March for research on the internationalization of Japanese ski resorts. From next April, he will become a faculty member at Sapporo International University, where he plans to continue researching sustainable transitions in ski resorts in Japan and France, with a focus on climate action and decarbonization.
Kimiko Hirata (Hirata Kimiko)
Climate Integrate Representative Director
Visiting Associate Professor, Graduate School of Policy Studies, Chiba University of Commerce
Advisor for Environmental Policy Promotion, Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture
Since the late 1990s, she has worked on climate change analysis and advocacy at environmental organizations. In recognition of her role in helping stop numerous planned coal-fired power plant construction projects as well as her shareholder proposals to financial institutions, she received the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize (the third Japanese recipient, and the first Japanese woman to be awarded the prize). She was also named to the BBC's "100 Women" list in 2022. Her major publications include "Climate Change and Poli
tics" (Seibundo).
Click here to register
Organizer: Hidaka Kannabe Tourism Association
Cooperation: Climate Integrate, POW JAPAN, Toyooka City