This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

In Japanese, Furoshiki, a simple square cloth can be used for many things -- a bag for grocery shopping, a table cloth, gift wrap. What if we could use the traditional art of Furoshiki to reduce waste in Chattanooga? In this talk, Asami Nakano will show how Furoshiki can promote environmentally friendly behavior with this traditional Japanese practice as well as introduce the idea of "mottainai": the understanding in Japan, a small country island, that its people should always be taught to not to waste things.

Since 2013, Asami Nakano has been the Japan Outreach Coordinator in the UTC Asia Program. The Japan Outreach Initiative promotes US-Japan understanding at the “grass roots” level in smaller communities rather than taking this cultural outreach to large cities. Nakano grew up in Nagasaki, Japan, and was a public school English teacher. She speaks fluently in Spanish and English. She has presented workshops at more than 20 K-12 schools and six different colleges Tennessee. Nakano’s art background is helpful with presentations on calligraphy, e-tegami (creating pictures and letters with a calligraphy brush), kamishibai (Japanese picture story telling) and origami (traditional paper making).