The "Job Yearbook" is a very unique educational material edited by the Asahi Shimbun Company, which clearly introduces the unique jobs of various leading companies and organizations in Japan. In July of this year, it was distributed to all elementary and junior high schools nationwide, as well as some high schools.
Our company introduces the "unexpected uses and functions of natural wax," which are not well known to children, in the "Job Yearbook." ("Job Yearbook 2020," pp. 256-257, p. 333)
For example, what comes to mind when you hear the word wax? I'm sure many people think of the candles on a cake. Of that wax, the kind mainly produced by plants and insects is called "natural wax."
"Natural wax" is used in a variety of ways, often unnoticed, around us. Besides being used in hair pomade for topknots and the traditional Japanese candles seen in historical dramas on television, it's also used as a raw material in cosmetics such as hair wax and lipstick, capsules and tablets for health foods, gummies, gum, dumplings and rice crackers, and even in information recording materials such as CDs and copier toner.
With the development of convenience stores and online shopping, our interest in products has waned beyond their convenience, and we often fail to notice their true quality and value, such as what they are made from or how to handle them properly.
To use bamboo shoots as an example, nowadays supermarkets and convenience stores are filled with ready-to-eat packaged bamboo shoots, and I think many people buy them for convenience. However, not so long ago, people would buy bamboo shoots with the soil still attached and prepare them themselves. Only then could they truly appreciate the difference in taste and texture between real bamboo shoots and the processed ones sold in convenience stores, and realize the amount of effort that went into preparing them for consumption. In
this age of abundance of convenient things, I sincerely hope that this "Job Yearbook" will serve as an opportunity to learn about the essence of things around us, to take more interest in the things we eat and use without thinking, and to cherish each and every flower and weed blooming by the roadside that we previously overlooked. I hope that this sensitivity to nature and the natural world that people originally possessed will grow strong in children.
And with heartfelt hope that this era of natural product manufacturing, which is kind to people and the planet, will spread step by step to future generations of children around the world.