How centuries of self-isolation turned Japan into one of the world's most sustainable societies

In an age when the need for more sustainable lifestyles has become a global issue, we should respect the wisdom of the Edo people who lived with time as it changed with the seasons, writes Hiroke Oe

The people of the Edo period lived according to what is now known as the “slow life”, a sustainable set of lifestyle practices based around wasting as little as possible. 

At the start of the 1600s, Japan’s rulers feared that Christianity — which had recently been introduced to the southern parts of the country by European missionaries — would spread. 

In response, they effectively sealed the islands off from the outside world in 1603, with Japanese people not allowed to leave and very few foreigners allowed in.