Conscious living

Fabric
5 min readOct 3, 2024

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There is a correlation between higher sustainability consciousness in Japan and people who are able to make space to engage with social and environmental impact. A Japanese concept to describe this is ‘yoyu’, which relates to having the time or resources to feel a sense of ease.

There are a range of groups who over-index on sustainability consciousness:

  • Baby Boomers (born 1953–1964) as a generational group;
  • People working in larger companies;
  • Higher income households;
  • People who identify as female; and
  • A significant proportion of people who don’t work.

There is also a link between sustainability consciousness and people who lead active lifestyles — with many people in the High (44%) and Moderate (35%) groups also being into exercise, sports, and health. A similar pattern emerges in other areas, with highly conscious people also able to focus on social activities and personal care, as well as music, film, and books.

This ability to make space could be seen as a form of privilege, with the highly conscious often being the same people with ‘yoyu’, or the time or resources to become aware and informed about sustainability.

Engaged, not an activist

In contrast with the activist-led image of conscious consumers in the West — Japan’s sustainability conscious are better defined as active, informed, and thoughtfully engaged people, who build deep relationships with the brands they care about across categories.

This makes them highly valued and influential customers — putting pressure on brands to innovate for these customers and develop sustainable value propositions.

There are few people overall in Japan who have boycotted brands based on social or environmental issues (17%). This increases the Moderate (20%) and High (34%) consciousness groups, although this is relatively rare in contrast to other actions these groups are taking.

This strengthens the image of conscious consumers in Japan as participants in the system, working with brands on a shared journey toward more sustainable futures.

Low (15%) and Light (14%) groups have also boycotted brands, which is high for their consciousness levels, suggesting that brands who break with social conventions in Japanese society are at risk of corporate scandal, negative media, and losing trust.

The 2022 backlash to Yoshinoya’s misogynistic marketing strategy and executive response is a striking example of this, as well as the resignation of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics President due to sexist comments, highlighting the depth of Japan’s problem with gender equality.

Some consumers are boycotting organisations when these scandals hit, but a mainstream audience is yet to connect this to underlying sustainability policy issues, such as changing brands because of their inequitable gender pay gap.

Japan does have a history of post-war political activism, and there are many passionate groups working to promote critical causes today, but this isn’t the mindset shaping conscious consumer behaviours.

Instead of boycotting or rejecting brands, high consciousness appears linked to consumers engaging with sustainable propositions, making informed choices around quality they feel are in line with their personal values and identity.

Communications channels

There are a range of channels and events that influence sustainable change in consumers, from TV media through to changes in government policy around plastic usage.

The High (54%) and Moderate (45%) consciousness groups placed TV and radio highest, reflecting that while they are engaged with a variety of media, these traditional channels are trusted institutional sources around sustainability. The High group rated environmental groups (33%) above brands (26%) and family and friends (26%), while moderate and other groups placed family and friends second and brands third.

Brands are a relatively high trusted source of information on sustainability, a positive sign for the investments businesses are making. This outcome is consistent with the pace and regularity that Japanese consumers engage with brand communications, and the high level of trust that brands have in general.

Sustainability will be received in a similar way to any other new proposition, and brands need to ensure they are educating consumers and sharing a compelling value proposition.

Influencing conscious consumers

This is offset by a disinterest in social media influencers and celebrities when it comes to sustainability, which is a problem for brands in categories like lifestyle, fashion, and sports who rely on them for their marketing. Influencers and personalities were considered a poor source of sustainability information by all groups, from the high (13%), to everyone else (7%).

Essentially the standard brand playbook for lifestyle, fashion, and sports brands is unlikely to work for sustainable propositions.

In the United States and Europe, there are influencers who have the knowledge and reach to speak about sustainability performance, endorsing some brands while critiquing others who are doing poorly.

In Japan we have identified influencers who share sustainability content, although this is usually lower impact and effort, making it passive support rather than a social movement. There is a strain of self-censorship in Japan based on a social aversion to challenging systems, with a risk to public endorsement that could damage reputation.

People who speak out most often on sustainability are specialists, academics, or government or not-for-profit leaders — experts who can connect on a professional level but without mainstream cultural influence.

Openness to advertising

With the consciousness groups, the higher the groups are, the more open they are to advertising for products they are interested in. This is consistent across the High (82%), Moderate (79%), and all other groups (51%).

This may seem counter-intuitive, although we should note that this is about being engaged with products they are interested in, across sustainability and potentially other areas like health — rather than all advertising.

People who would prefer not to see advertising map in the other direction, with High (8%) and Moderate (7%) consciousness at lower levels, and all other groups tracking above this (23%).

This means that conscious consumers are open to hearing storytelling about sustainable products, and are likely to be highly engaged with this content.

This is an important insight for brands, as it adds to the context that these consumers are active and informed people, who are open to building deep relationships with the brands they care about across categories.

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Fabric
Fabric

Written by Fabric

We’re a Strategic Design and Sustainability consultancy helping businesses move towards more innovative, sustainable futures. https://fbrc.co

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