The fourth edition of “Taste of Hong Kong” – one of the biggest gastronomic festivals on the island which sees Michelin-starred chefs showcasing their signature dishes and exclusive menus at Central Harbourfront Event Space near Lai Yuen Amusement Park –wrapped last Sunday on a high note, with lots of local residents and tourists lining up to experience more than 60 mouthwatering dishes from 15 top restaurants and enjoy live music.

Some of the food and beverage tents at Taste of Hong Kong

This was the first time I had attended the event and I thoroughly enjoyed sampling dishes both the wonderful and weird dishes as well as the desserts. They included Gelato Messina’s “Milk Tea Bombe Alaska”, an interesting blend of Hong Kong milk tea ice cream with yuzu gel and crumbs dipped in torched meringue, “Mini Dr Evil’s Magic Mushroom” (chocolate gelato, peanut butter cookies, feuilletine grass and caramel mini mushroom), “Pavlova Sundae” (coconut meringue topped with lychee gelato, vanilla cream, fresh kiwi, passionfruit, yuzu and strawberry gel), and from Seedlip, whose slogan is “what to drink when you’re not drinking”, such interestingly named non-alcoholic cocktails as “Granny Smith’s Garden” and “Wimbledon’s Cup”.

Hong Kongers enjoy eating and drinking at the event.

The list of participating restaurants was long and varied and included Artemis & Apollo (Greek), Bibo X Silencio X The Ocean (fusion), Chom Chom (Vietnamese), Francis (Middle-East), Gelato Messina (international), Ichu Peru (Peruvian), John Anthony (Guangdong cuisine and dim sum), Old Bailey (food of Jiangnan), Sausage Commitment (Western), Pici (Italian) and Little Bao (modern Chinese). China’s Hoi King Heen from Guangdong, and two Japanese restaurants Zuma and Haku all did a roaring trade with long queues forming outside their tents. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to sample any of the limited edition “icon dishes” which were exclusively created for this event only.

Wolf is a taste theatre where chefs are invited to demonstrate their creations.

Top chefs included Frenchman Olivier Bellin, owner of the two-Michelin-starred L’Auberge des Glazicks, Leung Fai Hung from the one-Michelin-starred Hoi King Heen, Bjprn Frantzen from The Flying Elk, and chef May Chow from Little Bao who won the Asia’s Best Female Chef award in 2017.

While walking around the festival, I was invited to try to Uncle Saba’s Poppadoms, an Indian thin and crispy snack slathered in Mykonos chilli, which was super spicy but also very tasty. The owners of two brands sharing the “Small Producers” had plenty of snacks for the non meat-eaters and the festival, in a nod to banning single-use plastic, had placed drinking fountains at strategic spots.

Two young entrepreneurs at the Small Producers booth show off their vegan food.

Hong Kongers turned out in force every night, taking selfies in front of the bright yellow sign proclaiming “Taste” in the festival’s centre with brightly lit high-rises as a backdrop. Most also stopped at Wolf, a taste theatre where chefs from each of restaurants demonstrated their recipes.

Thailand got a look in a well, with the “Royal Umbrella Rice” booth presenting Thai jasmine rice and other products such as frozen mango from health & wellness brand Amarize.

Taste of Hong Kong boasts free drinking fountains.

“Vit Suthithavil, managing director of Panther Entertainment, told me we should do something new to promote our product and last year introduced me to IMG, which is considered the world’s number one event organiser. Prior to Taste of Hong Kong, we co-sponsored the HSBC LPGA golf tournament in Singapore,” Sumeth Laomoraphorn, chief executive of CP International, told me.

“Hong Kong is a food paradise where tourists like to try different tastes so it’s important that Thailand has a footprint here too.

Live performances added to the fun.

Taste of Hong Kong has been organised for four years and this year we are promoting the jasmine rice and other products. That’s all. Although we weren’t among the selected restaurants, we had our food show every day at 7pm and focused on gaeng massaman [a rich, relatively mild Thai curry] served with jasmine rice that impressed Hong Kong people and other event-goers. Thai food is of good quality but we do not do enough to promote jasmine rice on the world stage. This is the first time that we are proving that Thailand’s jasmine rice can be a global brand.

CP International’s Sumeth Laomoraphorn at his Royal Umbrella Rice booth, the first time the company has participated in Taste of Hong Kong.

The 60-year-old chief executive adds that Hong Kong has been a market for Thai jasmine rice for 40 years but the export volume is decreasing every year as Thailand loses out to rice from Vietnam and Cambodia. “The is because we have never taken steps to brand Thai jasmine rice. We must make Thai jasmine rice outstanding.

Hong Kongers line up to sample frozen mango at Royal Umbrella Rice booth.

“Jasmine rice differs according to the country. It is like wine. If we have 10 wines from, say, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Chile, or California, you will be able to identify what countries they are from. The main point is building a brand, and this time it is about a global brand of ‘khao hom mali Thai’. Here we have Hong Kongers and international tourists tasting Royal Umbrella Thai jasmine rice. But building a brand takes a long time.”

Sumeth is now planning to bring the Taste of Hong Kong concept to Thailand. It will take place at Iconsiam at the end of the year and be called either Taste of Bangkok or Taste of Siam.

Announced recently in Tokyo, the 21 Red Dot Award-Winning Designs Shaping the Home, included such marvels of modern technology as an IoT-connected postal box that lets you remotely speak to the postal carrier, making package-delivery and pickup easier and faster; ceramic wall tiles that help control room humidity and odours, now customisable with your own images; and 3D-printed metal faucets that blend cuttingedge technology and craftsmanship, reshaping how we interact with water.

Lixil Group Corporation, maker of pioneering water and housing products, saw 21 of its product designs from across its brand portfolio recognised with a Red Dot Design Award for 2019.

Below is a snapshot of some of Lixil’s winning products.

Inax: InSpout Filtration Kitchen Faucet

From the brand that developed Japan’s firstever commercial shower toilet comes a water faucet with a highperformance carbon filter in its spout. Years of developing ceramics and water filters have gone into creating a water filter with a diameter of this size. In Japan, it isn’t uncommon for kitchens to have a second faucet to filter tap water; integrating the water filter into the main water faucet now helps users free up sink space, as well as storage space since an undersink filtration system is no longer needed. For convenience, easy-to-use controls to turn the filter on and off, as well as change spray patterns, are located on the head of the spout.

Grohe: 3D Metal-Printed Faucet

Grohe is shaping the future of water through new manufacturing technologies, including a unique formula of granules for its 3D metal printers. Its Icon 3D faucets reinterpret the brand’s existing Allure Brilliant and Atrio lines, demonstrating how 3D printing can influence a new generation of design. By reducing the design of the faucet to its essentials, GROHE is not only saving resources but also evolving a new interactive experience with water.

American Standard: Easy-SET Exposed Shower Mixer With comfort and safety in mind, the shower and bath mixer by American Standard for its Asia-Pacific markets keeps water temperature comfortably constant, even when water pressure fluctuates, preventing both scalding and cold watershock. Featuring easy to use push and turn controls to preset water volume and temperature, the mixer also offers a surface and sidehook to keep bath essentials within easy reach.

DXV: AT200 LS Spalet

AT200 LS pairs luxury design and performance with personalised hygiene, while cleansing features a fresh, out-of-the-shower feeling. Advanced features harness the power of technology to keep your room smelling fresh, with air circulation, room refresh deodoriser, and an air shield deodoriser. The AT200 LS comes with a soft night light to illuminate the seat and bowl, aerated feminine wash and aerated posterior wash with dual adjustable self-cleaning nozzles, and a heated toilet seat.

Lixil: Smart Package Postal Box

Lixil’s Smart Package Postal Box is a IoT mail box that lets you talk to the postal carrier via your smartphone, enabling you to receive larger packages when not home. You can even leave your own packages inside for the postal carrier to pick up, cutting down on those trips to the post office, and ultimately providing users with “time value”. Integrating both a mail box and a package postal box, it also provides “spatial value”.

Nitto Cera and Lixil, Ondeman Ecocarat Wall Tiles

Ecocarat is a genre of tile that helps to keep indoor humidity levels comfortable and neutralise odours. And now its designs are customisable through a new service that lets users print images on the ceramic, whether family photos or designs. The tiles come with a magnetic backing so they can be fitted onto a steel sheet that is secured to a wall, meaning users can switch designs any time.

From a medieval fortress protecting Paris to one of the world’s biggest and mostvisited museums, the Louvre has been reinvented many times over the centuries.

Today it attracts 10 million visitors a year, most of them tourists drawn by star attractions such as the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.

On the 30th anniversary of the inauguration of IM Pei’s landmark glass pyramid within one of its courtyards, here is a look back over some of the colourful episodes in the long life of the Louvre.

1190: Watchtower

It started off as a Middle Age fortress set up by King Philippe-Auguste in 1190 as part of an enclosure to defend Paris, then several times smaller than it is today.

As part of the fortification, the moated Louvre Castle monitored entry from the river Seine just as the Tower of London did with the Thames.

The base of its “Grosse Tour”, a large tower that served in part as a dungeon, still exists today.

French contemporary artist and photographer JR watches his commemorative creation come together.

1546: Royal palace

As Paris expanded, the fortress lost its defensive role and was occasionally used as a royal residence. But when King Francis I returned after being imprisoned in Spain, he announced it would be converted into his main residence.

Celebrated French Renais sance architect Pierre Lescot designed the luxurious palace, with work starting in 1546 on its nowfamous facade interspersed with columns, bas-reliefs and statues.

It became home to successive monarchs, each adding to its transformation, but lost its status as a royal residence after Louis XIV moved in 1678 to Versailles, about 20 kilometres outside of the city.

1725: Arts salon

The Louvre evolved into a centre for arts, the prestigious Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture taking up residence in the 1690s.

In 1725 the academy exhibited its members’ work for the first time in its Salon Carre (Square Salon). Such “salons” or shows became major events in the arts world.

A handful of artists worked and lived in the Louvre during this time, including Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin and Rococo painter Jean-Honore Fragonard, but they were driven out as the space was reclaimed for a museum.

The area around the Louvre Pyramid is tidied up ahead of its birthday bash.

1793: Museum

Soon after the start in 1789 of the French Revolution that overthrew the monarch, the governing Assembly decided the Louvre should be turned into a museum and its royal collections displayed to the public.

The National Museum opened in 1793. Napoleon I played a key role in its formation, remodelling the space and increasing its collection with acquisitions from his various conquests. He married MarieLouise of Austria in the Louvre in 1810.

After a first presentation of just over 700 paintings and objects, the Louvre today exhibits about 35,000 pieces from a collection nearly 20 times larger.

1830: Artists stand guard

During the three-day 1830 July Revolution that overthrew another king, artists acted as national guardsmen to watch over the Louvre’s masterworks and stop looting.

Eugene Delacroix kept an eye on Egyptian antiquities; Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres safeguarded works by Raphael.

Both men are today proud features of the Louvre’s collection, which includes Delacroix’s most famous painting “Liberty Leading the People”, inspired by those “Three Glorious Days”.

1911: Mona Lisa missing

In 1911 the number of visitors to the Louvre reached a new peak with crowds flocking to see the empty space where Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” used to hang.

The painting, acquired by Francois I centuries before, had been stolen.

An Italian labourer was discovered to be the thief and the work was found two years later in Florence. It was returned by special train to the Louvre, becoming its star attraction.

Produced by Feld Entertainment, this production honours Walt Disney’s legacy by bringing acclaimed stories like “Moana” and “Toy Story” to life on the ice.

Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy join Mickey in a high-energy opening that is a modern take on the film that started it all, “Steamboat Willie”. With some help from the audience, Mickey and pals venture through the various Disney worlds sharing meaningful moments from treasured tales spanning generations.

“In this new Disney On Ice production, we pay tribute to Walt Disney and the true original icon, Mickey Mouse,” said Nicole Feld, producer and executive vice resident of Feld Entertainment. “Each section of the show was carefully selected to immerse families in an array of beloved stories that they have grown to know and love. With live hosts and interactive segments, we hope our fans have an amazing experience that leaves them with memories that last a lifetime.”

As Mickey looks back on unforgettable Disney moments, families will be taken on a highseas adventure with Moana as she sets out to save her island, journey to the wintery world of Arendelle as royal sisters Anna and Elsa discover true love is the most powerful magic of all, and experience the mysterious magic of “Fantasia” as a Sorcerer’s Apprentice makes brooms come to life. The Emotions – Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust – from Disney Pixar’s “Inside Out” make their Disney On Ice debut in Thailand as the hosts of the show relive classic and contemporary Disney stories in an emotional rollercoaster with Mickey and the gang. Fans will find themselves under the sea with their favourite, forgetful blue tang, as Dory embarks on a lifechanging excursion to find her family. Audiences will also join the Disney Princesses as they use perseverance, determination and hard work to inspire Mickey and children around the world to celebrate their favourite Disney memories. As the show builds to the finale, fans will have the opportunity to vote and pick outfits for Mickey and Minnie to wear during the final celebration.

Tickets cost from Bt700 to Bt2,700 at Thai Ticket Major counters, by calling (02) 262 3456 and online at http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.

Dance studio La Rueda and the Leo Latin Events Organisation are hosting the bash on Saturday from 4 to 8pm.

The Bt350-net admission price includes a drink. Book now at (02) 309 3288 or http://www.Facebook.com/amBarBangkok.

Only driven once!

The 11th Bangkok Used Car Show is at Impact Exhibition Halls 78 today through April 3. Buyers and sellers are making deals on second-hand vehicles of good quality and at the same time seeking to maintain the cars’ total market value for circulation. There are also many used but still excellent luxury cars on offer. Admission is Bt20. Get the details at (02) 522 17318, bangkokimportedcar.used¬car@gmail.com or http://www.BangkokUsedCarShow.com.

Feeling lucky at Levels

Saturday brings the “Hey Big Spender” party to Bangkok club Levels, a night of glitz, glam and fun with prizes to win, cash flying around, free shots and resident singers Foreign Xchange.

You get all this plus dancers, DJs and much more, to be repeated monthly. Men get in for Bt400, women for Bt300. Grab a pass at http://www.LevelsClub.com/events.

Wedding fair at So Sofitel

Wedding bells will be ringing at the So Sofitel Bangkok on April 27 and 28, with an array of goods and services on offer for brides and grooms-to-be. Couples who sign up for a wedding package at prices starting at Bt300,000-net will receive an engagement ceremony or an after-party for 50 guests at no extra charge.

The hotel’s “Inspired Wedding” team can magically make dreams come true with fantastic floral arrangements, beautiful cakes, elegant décor and helpful advice from a wedding guru.

Learn more at (02) 624 0000 or H6835SL11@sofitel.com.

Where the heart is

Bangkok will be the setting for this year’s Chest Congress co-hosted by the Thoracic Society of Thailand and Chest at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre from April 10 to 12.

The public is invited to benefit from the Chest learning and training experience and meet the amazing people leading this congress. See more at Congress.Chestnet.org.

Is your life such a lonesome one? In the contemporary world, people often live far away from their hometown. They work long hours, having limited time to meet new people. So, the business model provides you with the subscription of relationship.

At first glance, this may seem an alternative form of escorting or a blind-dating service. But people are offered by a friend rental service to have friends and relationships for a specific purpose.

A birthday party, for example, may be too quiet if not so many come to join. Some friend rental service providers offer party girls under specific themes to join your birthday party. The girls can create a sensual experience by being show girls, private waitresses, party hostesses, and more. But they are short-term, existing only for the party just to create a rejuvenating experience and make the occasion more memorable.

In some countries, such as Japan, one friend rental service rents out members of its 800 staff who act as its customers’ friends. Some customers rent friends for dinner companionship. Some rent a group with various outfits just to take pictures together and post to Instagram. Some rent, frankly speaking, for a date for a wedding. Others may pay for the experience of having a boyfriend or girlfriend without physical intimacy. Ultimately, some hire friends to be a groom and stage an entire fake wedding. So, the customer feels like being married for one day while staying single for all the other days.

In Australia, one service claims to help hard working people keep themselves energized and up for new endeavors, or spice up the special moment with professional and skilled girls. Crown Showgirls of Melbourne Australia, which caters to the global elite and regularly to the Crown Casino high rollers in Melbourne, offers its customers incredible experiences with show girls, private dancers, personal waitresses, party hostesses, barmaids and more. The service has been leading the way not just in Australia with customers’ dating nights but also sending talents all over Asia while committing to customer privacy of bookings and ordering history. This is just to avoid making the customer shy and embarrassed about renting a friend.

As long as the relationship goes in the way you want, renting a friend for a short period of time, or for a specific event in your life, still makes your moment as memorable as ever.

KNOWN THE world over as the symbol of passion and love and considered the most valuable gem in the world after the coloured diamond, the ruby has inspired the house of high jewellery Van Cleef and Arpels ever since its founding. Indeed, in searching for these precious stones, the Arpels brothers made numerous voyages to India and the Far East, Thailand included, from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Inspired by Jacques Arpels’ favourite gem, Van Cleef and Arpels recently paid tribute to this legendary stone in a two-day, by-invitation-only exhibition, “Treasure of Rubies” at the Park Nai Lert Heritage Home in Bangkok. The exhibition displayed 60 unique pieces of a haute jewellery collection that brought together more than 3,000 carats of certifies rubies collected over the space of several years. Most of them are priceless.

XP was fortunate enough to be granted an interview with Nicolas Bos, president of Van Cleef and Arpels, who offered an insight into the Maison’s stylistic signatures.

CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE SOME BACKGROUND TO THE EXHIBITION “TREASURE OF RUBIES”

At Van Cleef and Arpels, when we work, we like to organise the creations to form collections so that they are not just isolated pieces. We centre them around a story, a theme and common elements to act as a source of inspiration. We do that once or twice a year. We also want to highlight the specific aspect of the house. Creating high jewellery is pretty much a two-step process and sometimes you start with the story. Let’s say ballet: you want to design the ballerina, and from the design you select the stone and create the piece.

Another tradition is to start with the stone, which you will identify and purchase for its specificity because we feel it is important to have precious and interesting stones. Once we have them, we’ll design the piece around the stone. This collection is a way to illustrate that aspect of creation, to show how we work, specifically from the stone and around the stone. We felt that to make it powerful and interesting, we should centre it on a single stone, which is the ruby. It’s an obvious collection with all the pieces based on dominant colour of red.

The idea of a collection is that you have common elements, consistency. We hope to show that through the designs and craftsmanship, we can express the diversity of style and ways to wear the pieces, even though they all start with a ruby. Also to present the stone itself, to show that rubies are not all the same, that within that frame you have different origins, shades and form. If you choose them carefully, you can tell different stories according to what makes them special.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO COME TO THAILAND?

For a number of reasons: One of them is that the stone originates in this region – Myanmar, Thailand or Siam as it was. There is also a great deal of travel literature associated with the rubies, from the times when Arpel brothers came here and brought back the stone to Paris. Surrounding the ruby is this idea of exoticism, magical stones that you find in the jungle, and, of course, Bangkok is always central to the cutting and the trade of rubies.

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE POTENTIAL OF THE THAI MARKET?

The market here is very well perceived. This is our international event; we’ve brought guests from around the world. We have organised several activities here over the past few years and we have opened a store. We are happy to share all this with clients, and editors from all over the world.

The tradition of jewellery and precious stones in this country is strong. We see the great clients and collectors in Thailand. They are very knowledgeable. And local jewellers have a collection of stones; it’s a very demanding market. We feel that we can develop alongside the Thai community and also consolidate our position in the tourism sector.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO COLLECT |ALL THESE RUBIES?

Some rubies we collected over 10 years, but the project specifically for the purpose of the collection that could express diversity started roughly five years ago.

HOW DO YOU PLAN TO KEEP THE BRAND |RELEVANT TO MODERN SOCIETY?

The brand has been relevant for more than a century – around 110 years, – and while the house has seen a lot of changes and revolutions in fashion, lifestyle and economies, we have always been able to stay true to the brand’s identity. I believe that the appeal for jewellery – high jewellery, exceptional jewellery, daywear, or design jewellery – is something that will continue to exist. Jewellery has been part of civilisation for thousands of years. I don’t see it disappearing anytime soon.

We strongly believe in keeping our integrity, the style of the house and the quality. So we are not trying to change that. The world is moving all the time. We are presenting collections in countries we have not visited before. We are also using digital tools.

I don’t believe there are any reasons to change who we are. We have the opportunity to tell our stories today just as we did 20 years ago. We are also still keen on books and prints, and mix them with social media.

So keeping true to your identity, using the new ways of expressions to convey it both seem to me the way to keep the brand relevant.

COULD YOU TALK ABOUT THE BRAND |CREATIVITY AND ITS DIRECTION?

The long-term success is based on a balance between creativity, expertise, and craftsmanship and business development. We try to create new designs and collections that will translate into commercial success. So it goes hand in hand. If a business relies on absolutely pure creativity and doesn’t attend to the business aspects, it is not possible to make it last for a long time. To do a collection like this, you need time, materials, workshop, craftsman, experts and a business that can support it. Yet if you concentrate only business and lose creativity, after a while clients stop following you. The challenge is to maintain the balance on a daily basis.

From the early days of the house, the expertise, craftsmanship, creativity, and technical development have always been maintained. We also try to develop new types of settings, always using the traditional form of jewellery but still bringing innovations to it, like in our watches.

WHAT IS MEANT BY THE MAISON’S SPIRIT OF ‘PIERRES DE CARATERE’?

It’s an expression we used a few years ago to express and describe how we select stones. Stones go by objective criteria, origin, weight, size and dimension. But they also go for more subjective criteria that cannot really be defined, especially colour stones. Diamonds can be assessed in term of quality, the clarity, and so on. Colour stones are much more difficult. You can have two stones, do everything in the same way – the cutting and so on. But the one we love has personality, is very strong, vibrant, very happy. One may be dull and not so interesting. This is almost impossible to put into numbers or scientific rating. This is what we call character of personality, which is what we look for in the stone, the elements that go beyond physical characteristics. That stone we pick because it speaks to you with certain energy or vibrancy. Another dimension is the emotional value, to find something special, very exciting in the stone, regardless of its value or rank.

Digitally designed and fabricated, this site-specific work reflects a new generation of architecture, showcasing advances in material innovation, technology and creativity. It is formed in modules that shift from a wood and bioplastic composite in the courtyard through to translucent bioplastic in the palazzo’s garden.

Each bio-brick is made from fully compostable resources printed in the form of interlocking structural lattices, optimising material use and allowing light to permeate the structure as visitors travel through the installation. The result is a journey from the manmade through to the natural world, and from the old to the new.

The piece vertically integrates design and construction, forming a direct connection from design to build through a dialogue with robotics: the architect is at once designer and maker. Inspired by patterns within the palazzo’s architecture, the geometry of Conifera comes from the square motif, which is very present at Palazzo Isimbardi, through the courtyard to the tiles.

“Conifera offers a glimpse of the future, the potential of design and the possibilities which open up through collaboration,” said Karin Gustafsson, creative director of Cos.

“The installation has grown from the seed of an idea and has been shaped by Mamou-Mani’s creativity, the expanding horizons of technology and our shared focus on material innovation and craftsmanship. The final piece brings together so many influences reflective of our values and our focus on pushing the boundaries of design while maintaining a careful balance of the man-made and the natural. We can’t wait to share Conifera in Milan.”

From bento boxes to individually wrapped bananas, plastic reigns supreme in Japan. But amid global concern about single-use waste, new legislation could help end the country’s love affair with plastic.

The push comes ahead of the G20 summit, which Japan will host in Osaka in June. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government wants to use the meeting to push for an agreement on reducing marine plastic waste.

But the country’s own record on single-use plastic is hardly exemplary: Japan generates more plastic packaging waste per capita than any other country except the United States, according to the UN.

“We believe there is room to reduce that volume and we are now considering ways to do that,” says Kentaro Doi, director of plastic waste strategy at Japan’s environment ministry.

In 2018, Japan’s government unveiled a proposal to start tackling the issue, with the goal of reducing the country’s 9.4 million tonnes of plastic waste a year by 25 percent by 2030.

A key part of the proposal is to require businesses to charge for plastic bags – a measure that has been already been widely adopted around the world.

“What we are going to do is to put a value on it… we would like people to think about whether it is really necessary to use them,” Doi says.

But government officials acknowledge Japan is coming to the issue late – dozens of countries already require businesses to charge for plastic bags, and many have banned their use outright.

“Other countries were ahead of us,” concedes Doi, adding that the policy in Japan “will be introduced in 2020, at the earliest.”

So far, the proposals also lack any specific measures on limiting other types of single-use plastic waste, such as straws or cups.

With the national government moving slowly, local governments and businesses in Japan have in some cases taken up the mantle themselves.

The town of Kamikatsu near Kyoto has set a goal of zero plastic waste by 2020, while Kyoto city has long required large retailers to charge for plastic bags.

At a supermarket in Makuhari, east of Tokyo, customers line up with their groceries and reusable shopping bags.

The store belongs to the Aeon group, which since November 2013 has been charging customers for plastic bags at all 1,631 of its large supermarkets.

“Most customers understand the purpose of it and bring their own bags, and if they forget to, they are willing to pay a little bit for a plastic one,” said Haruko Kanamaru, division manager of Aeon’s corporate social responsibility unit.

Customers who request a bag can pay five yen (Bt1.50) to receive a biomass bag that is biodegradable.

Kanamaru said the firm estimates the policy saved 270 million plastic bags in 2017, though customers can still use smaller plastic bags for fruit and vegetables and cold items free of charge.

“About 80 per cent of customers now bring their own bags or turn one down,” she told AFP.

Yumi Takahashi is one of those consumers, and says she now tries to keep a reusable bag with her whenever she is out.

“It takes only a little effort to not use plastic bags and plastic items,” she says, explaining her shock at seeing images of marine life suffering the effects of such litter in the ocean.

But Kanamaru adds that not everyone felt the same.

“Some customers actually left and said they would shop elsewhere,” she sighs.

“So it’s time for the government to introduce this system across all businesses… Not 100 per cent of customers will accept this system if only Aeon does it.”

A key obstacle, activists say, has been the association representing Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores, which are sprinkled across every block of the country’s major cities.

When Tokyo’s local government wanted to ban free plastic bags in the city, the association strongly opposed the plan and it was dropped, says Kenji Ishihara, a campaigner with Greenpeace Japan.

“That was a very symbolic case showing that the association has a very strong economic and lobbying power,” he said.

Greenpeace and other environmental NGOs want Japan to commit to the bolder goal of reducing plastic waste by 50 per cent by 2030 and more concrete measures including bans on single-use plastics.

Ishihara says while public awareness about plastic waste is growing in Japan, the country’s famed waste sorting and pristine streets had the effect of “hiding” the scale of the problem.

He praised a decision by Japan’s government in February to ban plastic straws and cutlery in its cafeterias, but said the country was still lagging behind other nations.

“The Japanese government needs more ambitious goals if they truly want to lead the G20 summit,” he says.

“The current proposals are not enough.”