Bequeathing Water to Future Generations and Conveying Its Importance through Mizuiku, Suntory’s Education Program for Nature and Water

Focusing on “Experience” and “Outputting”

As part of Suntory Group, Suntory Publicity Service Limited has been providing branding and community co-creation services for 60 years, through the management of corporate PR and cultural facilities. We manage Suntory Mizuiku - next-generation environmental education program, including the development of program instructors. In both our Outdoor School of Forest and Water as well as our Teaching Program at Schools, we emphasize the importance of experience and outputting for children. The Outdoor School of Forest and Water shows children how water is nurtured in forests and how to protect forests through experiences in nature. We value what children feel with their five senses in the forest, and what they think. With this as our goal, we believe it is important for children to experience nature to the fullest. Similarly, in our Teaching Program at Schools, children learn through firsthand experience, not by listening to a one-sided lecture. Teaching materials include a board game that lets children experience the earth’s water cycle, and experimental equipment that demonstrates visually how forests function.

Utilizing experimental equipment developed in collaboration with academic institutions, instructors offer easy-to-understand explanations of how forests nurture water.

We also believe that having children output their experience is important. When they describe experiences in their own words, they get comments from other children who shared those experiences, and by doing so, they can learn to organize their thoughts and better grasp what those experiences mean to them. When I see children exchanging all sorts of opinions with their peers, I feel it is truly child-centered learning.

In the Teaching Program at Schools, Suntory instructors collaborate with schoolteachers to present content to fourth to sixth-year elementary school students.

“Whenever I’m with children who are experiencing nature for the first time, I can feel its power”

Among the children participating in the Outdoor School of Forest and Water, many are excited and look forward to the experience, while others are somewhat reluctant at first. On one occasion, I watched a child hanging back because they had never been in the forest before. But when he took a deep breath of forest air, in that moment his face lit up, as though the fear of a few moments ago was unreal. At that moment, I strongly felt that nature’s power is amazing.

"It's very rewarding to be there for the children's first experiences." said Mr. Tanaka.

In the forest, we give the kids lots of experiences of nature using all five senses. That only makes it more essential that we ensure that safety comes first in Mizuiku. In the Outdoor School of Forest and Water, a program to experience nature firsthand, our staff members don’t begin anything until we have first prepared by taking a walk around the area, squatting to put our eyes at the same level at that of the children. A small branch at the height of an adult’s abdomen can be at the height of a child’s eyes, which is very dangerous. Even if we say, “Look at that tree,” a child can find it difficult to do so. At the same time, children may notice mushrooms on the forest floor that are difficult for adults to find. This is why in doing program preparation, a child’s-eye view is essential.
We apply the same approach in our Teaching Program at Schools, taking care to use teaching materials with rounded corners so the children can’t hurt themselves. We also make sure that lettering is big enough, and colors are selected to make it easy for the kids to see. In these and other ways, we are careful to adopt the child’s perspective.

“Because of water’s abundance, it is hard to recognize that Japan is facing a water environment crisis”

Mizuiku is now in progress not only in Japan, but globally. In April 2024, Suntorians leading Mizuiku in countries around the world gathered in Vietnam for the Global Mizuiku Summit. I was there too, representing Japan, and exchanged opinions with other Mizuiku educators. One thing I discovered was that different countries and regions are facing completely different water-related challenges. The main theme of Mizuiku in Japan is focused on the water cycle and forests and nature located in those environments nurture water. But I clearly realized that the program approach outside Japan is tailored to local water-related challenges that differ according to living customs and water environments in each country.

Children from Thailand were invited to participate in the School of Forest and Water at Hakushu Distillery. “Some of the children told us they bathe in a river more often than take a bath, which brought home to us the difference in customs for using water,” noted Mr.Tanaka.

Thanks to the Global Mizuiku Summit, I once again asked myself what Japan’s water issues were. I’ve come to believe that because of water’s abundance, it’s hard for people to recognize that Japan is facing a water environment crisis. In fact, through lack of care, there are many forests that accumulate insufficient water. As a result, disasters are occurring. For example, localized intense rainfall due to climate change is causing landslides. In Japan, we take it for granted that if we turn the tap, water will come out. But if we fail to consider the future of water and the forests that nurture it, we may be unable to sustain our current lifestyle or Suntory’s “Mizu to Ikiru” (Living with Water) business activities. When I think about these water challenges in Japan, I feel the need to communicate the importance of water environments and having a sense of crisis not only to children, but to adults as well. In the future, I think it would be great if Suntory could make time for dialogue with junior high and high school students and adults through Mizuiku.

In August 2024, as a special event to commemorate 20 years of Mizuiku, a Mizuiku education experience was held with participation by people in their 20s and 30s who were elementary school students when Mizuiku was launched. “Many participants commented that it was a good chance to study the water cycle and how forests work, subjects they studied in elementary school but had forgotten,” said Mr. Tanaka.

Under its Environmental Targets toward 2030, Suntory Group has set the goal of extending water awareness and access to safe water to more than five million people globally by 2030. The Suntory Tennensui natural mineral water we enjoy today is a blessing of nature that can only be received because our predecessors valued nature highly. That is why we must do what we can now. I hope to go on communicating the wonders of nature and the importance of water to as many children as possible.