On September 7, 2025, my daughter and I were walking out of the Sada Lifelong Learning Center in Hirakata City after our anthropological research and fieldwork on deaf children's sign language acquisition (a long-term project for my daughter's 6th grade solo class exhibition and presentation in January this year; she is the Principal Investigator and I serve as an assistant and advisor) when we saw this car, a white Daihatsu Hijet microvan with a moss-covered roof. I took a few photos of the unusual vehicle. Little did I know that I encountered my first collaborative SDG project. We anthropologists are a busy bunch, so the photos got swept away until a few days ago.
After some investigation, I saw that this wagon was a transport van for a local cleaning and delivery service, Sakuraya Izuhara Dry Cleaning. It was created by and is used by Kazuya Izumihara, a former teacher at the Osaka Prefectural Horticultural High School, the director of the Japan Moss Greening Research Institute, promoter of global warming prevention activities commissioned by the Governor of Osaka Prefecture and an artist with various projects in his Moss Terrarium Workshop Izuhara. He calls his car「やぁね、こけちゃっかー」or 「屋根苔着車」(Yaane, Kokechakkaa, loosely translated as "Oh dear, the moss is falling of the roof car").
Izumihara and his car have been featured on the Government of Japan's X/Twitter account. The car serves to raise environmental awareness and fight global warming. The Daihatsu Hijet microvan is supposed to be good for the environment as it is a hybrid with good fuel efficiency and low emissions. The moss on the car takes in CO2 and produces oxygen.
To be honest, I have been doubtful about SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals); while the intentions are good, it seems that businesses and institutions use SDGs more as self promotion rather than educating the public and making actual improvements. But I am very impressed with this local endeavor that is a collaboration between art, technology, horticulture, environmentalism, education and small business. You can learn more about the art projects, environmental activities and local delivery business at the following sources:
https://itp.ne.jp/zenkoku/osaka/kishiwadashi/kishikichiyo/272765319062251400
Moss Uncle's Moss Terrarium by Kazuya Izumihara: https://koketerariumu-sakuraya.net/
Sakuraya Izuhara Collection and Delivery Specialist Dry Cleaning: https://0724-55.com/
Here is an especially interesting project: https://koketerariumu-sakuraya.net/%e3%82%84%e3%81%81%e3%81%ad%e3%80%81%e3%81%93%e3%81%91%e3%81%a1%e3%82%83%e3%81%a3%e3%81%8b%e3%83%bc%ef%bc%88%e5%b1%8b%e6%a0%b9%e8%8b%94%e7%9d%80%e8%bb%8a%ef%bc%89/
Sakuraya Izuhara Collection and Delivery Specialist Dry Cleaning: https://0724-55.com/
Here is an especially interesting project: https://koketerariumu-sakuraya.net/%e3%82%84%e3%81%81%e3%81%ad%e3%80%81%e3%81%93%e3%81%91%e3%81%a1%e3%82%83%e3%81%a3%e3%81%8b%e3%83%bc%ef%bc%88%e5%b1%8b%e6%a0%b9%e8%8b%94%e7%9d%80%e8%bb%8a%ef%bc%89/
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