Just Enough: Lessons from Japan for Sustainable Living, Architecture, and Design

(Paperback)

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Description

• author has an extensive web presence and is active on social media:
  • Main website: azbybrown.com
    Just Enough website: justenoughjapan.com
    Twitter: @AzbyB
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/azby.brown
• previous editions: Tuttle (9784805312544; 2013) pb 2,500; Kodansha International (9784770030740; 2010) pb 4,500, and subject is still timely and relevant
• shows how sustainability and green living flow from a mentality toward nature and living that is independent of century and any specific culture
• offers actual practices that have stood the test of time to inspire modern readers looking for solutions today
• heavily illustrated with a Japanese touch, suitable for browsing and imagining
• The global green technology and sustainability market size was valued at $8.79 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $48.36 billion by 2027 (https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/green-technology-and-sustainability-market-A06033)
• "As consumers increasingly embrace social causes, they seek products and brands that align with their values. Nearly six in 10 consumers surveyed are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact. Nearly eight in 10 respondents indicate sustainability is important for them." (https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/EXK4XKX8)

Reviews

I cannot overstate the importance of Just Enough. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to help make todays world more sustainable, and capable of surviving the current imbalances of climate, energy, and resource distribution. . . . Theres no other way to say it: This is an extraordinary book that holds the keys were looking for to rebalance both our planet and our own lives. Read it, please.
Sarah Susanka, Architect and author of The Not So Big House series, and The Not So Big Life
As we all look forward with hope for a cradle to cradle world, Azby Brown honors us with the great gift of seeing the past of Japan with fresh eyes. I was born in Japan in 1951; I know firsthand what inspiration can be found in its history of exquisitely elegant and effective solutions to everyday needs as we create the designs of the future.
William McDonough, Award-winning sustainable architect, co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
Azby Brown's book Just Enough, using excellent examples from Edo-period Japan, proves that we have surrounded ourselves with many things that we don't need to live sustainably and happily. This is an important warning for future development, one that should make us all stop and think.
Shigeru Ban, Architect, recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture and the Grande Medaille d'Or, Academie d'Architecture
"The people of the Edo period intelligently managed their homes, fields, and forests, developed innovative designs for the things they needed, and maintained a sustainable society for three hundred years without a major catastrophe. This book conveys the secrets of that self-sufficient society with great clarity in text and sketchesknowledge that has great meaning for us as we face the immense challenges of life in our time."
Dr. Terunobu Fujimori, Award-winning green architect and architectural historian, Professor at the Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo
Truly an eye-opener. Brown takes us behind the scenes, revealing the complex and ingenious techniques that put Japanese traditional life in harmony with nature. An indispensable reference for anyone wanting to know the secret formulae that made old Japanese life what it was.
Alex Kerr, author of Dogs and Demons and Lost Japan
The hardheaded practicality and the immense optimism of this book are forces to be reckoned with. As Brown examines how necessity was turned into opportunity, he lays out his hope that the urgency of our current ecological crisis will spur similarly focused change and ingenuity...As the globe gets smaller and we find ourselves finally having to relinquish the illusion of an earth that can sustain our current lifestyles indefinitely, it seems that Brown has found the perfect example of how it might be done: with frugality and restraint, certainly, but also with grace, purpose, and beauty...
Anna Kunnecke, The Japan Times
"Azby Brown's Just Enough convincingly argues that the growing movement for sustainable living in the twenty-first century can learn from Edo's land and resource practices and its culture of restraint."
Jared Braiterman, Huffington Post

"An immersive study that takes a fascinating look at how ethically sound living can permeate an entire culture. It makes a persuasive case for nature-based solutions to current environmental challenges."

Ho Lin, Foreword Reviews

I cannot overstate the importance ofJust Enough. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to help make todays world more sustainable, and capable of surviving the current imbalances of climate, energy, and resource distribution. . . . Theres no other way to say it: This is an extraordinary book that holds the keys were looking for to rebalance both our planet and our own lives. Read it, please.
Sarah Susanka, Architect and author ofThe Not So Big Houseseries, andThe Not So Big Life
As we all look forward with hope for a cradle to cradle world, Azby Brown honors us with the great gift of seeing the past of Japan with fresh eyes. I was born in Japan in 1951; I know firsthand what inspiration can be found in its history of exquisitely elegant and effective solutions to everyday needs as we create the designs of the future.
William McDonough, Award-winning sustainable architect, co-author ofCradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
Azby Brown's bookJust Enough, using excellent examples from Edo-period Japan, proves that we have surrounded ourselves with many things that we don't need to live sustainably and happily. This is an important warning for future development, one that should make us all stop and think.
Shigeru Ban, Architect, recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture and the Grande Medaille d'Or, Academie d'Architecture
"The people of the Edo period intelligently managed their homes, fields, and forests, developed innovative designs for the things they needed, and maintained a sustainable society for three hundred years without a major catastrophe. This book conveys the secrets of that self-sufficient society with great clarity in text and sketchesknowledge that has great meaning for us as we face the immense challenges of life in our time."
Dr. Terunobu Fujimori, Award-winning green architect and architectural historian, Professor at the Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo
Truly an eye-opener. Brown takes us behind the scenes, revealing the complex and ingenious techniques that put Japanese traditional life in harmony with nature. An indispensable reference for anyone wanting to know the secret formulae that made old Japanese life what it was.
Alex Kerr, author ofDogs and DemonsandLost Japan
The hardheaded practicality and the immense optimism of this book are forces to be reckoned with. As Brown examines how necessity was turned into opportunity, he lays out his hope that the urgency of our current ecological crisis will spur similarly focused change and ingenuity...As the globe gets smaller and we find ourselves finally having to relinquish the illusion of an earth that can sustain our current lifestyles indefinitely, it seems that Brown has found the perfect example of how it might be done: with frugality and restraint, certainly, but also with grace, purpose, and beauty...
Anna Kunnecke,The Japan Times
"Azby Brown'sJust Enoughconvincingly argues that the growing movement for sustainable living in the twenty-first century can learn from Edo's land and resource practices and its culture of restraint."
Jared Braiterman, Huffington Post

Author Bio

Azby Brown is a leading authority on Japanese architecture, design, and environmentalism and the author of several groundbreaking books, including Small Spaces (1993), The Japanese Dream House (2001), The Very Small Home (2005), and The Genius of Japanese Carpentry (1989/2014). He is lead researcher for Safecast, a global citizen-science organization that pioneered crowdsourced environmental monitoring. Azby Brown has lived in Japan since 1985.