Green is good (in Japan)

Whatever the merits or otherwise of the practical implementations of Japanese environmental awareness (e.g. my local neighborhood's definition of "burnable" trash, which includes plastic that produces noxious fumes when incinerated), anything with "eco" in its name or description immediately has a stronger sales position than anything without. Witness the "eco-point" system, whereby anyone trading in their old "clunker" air-conditioner, fridge or TV for a new "eco" model would collect "eco points". Sales of such items shot up and people happily collected their "eco points".

• Question from consumers: What's an eco point, and what do we do with it?
• Answer from government: We're still working on those issues. Take your eco points and shut up.

But it does seem that this campaign was a success, and we now know what we can do with our eco points (exchange them for a designated range of goods and services). It does seem that anything with "eco" in it will sell. I noticed the label on a melon today saying it was from an "eco farm" and as proof, it had been fertilized by bees (as opposed to artificial, I guess).

However, one of the most incredible examples of this is the recent announcement by some house builders that they will include 3.5kW of solar electricity system as free with every new house they sell.

Sanyo Homes (not really surprising from these people, I suppose) has this offer till the end of August. Typically, such a system would go for about JPY1.8m (just over USD18,000). Competitors are making similar, if not quite dramatic offers, with Misawa, for example, offering systems at one-third of the usual price. This has to be good news - the scale of production will bring down the prices of these systems, where home solar power is considered to be as standard as a bathroom or a kitchen in a new home. Actually, Sanyo reports 70% of home buyers already plumping for the solar panel option, even when they pay for it.

For Japanese makers, "green is good" - whether this is just another Japanese "boom" or whether it's a serious return to the mottainai principles that used to govern Japan, it's a little early to say. But with Japan's long cultural tradition of anti-waste, it's quite likely that this is actually a return to roots.