Recycling & Upcycling

When my mom found this item in the women’s bag section in a department store in Osaka, Japan, the pattern on the brown material immediately caught her eye. It depicts women’s life in Africa. What is this bag made of?

Look! My mom, Yasuko, found this in a small village in Laos. Several plastic bottles containing yellow and red liquid are kept in a little wooden hut. What are they for?

Look at this table! You can see coffee beans in the center under the glass. Isn’t it a nice way to “promote” coffee in a coffee-producing country?

What a wonderful idea to use coconut shells as planters! The coconuts complement the orchids “beary” well; they generate a “beary” natural and exotic atmosphere.

Look! What is this? Yes, it is a tire. But it is not a whole tire. It is half a tire. My mom, who is working in Laos, found this in a village the other day. What is it used for in the village?

Look at this bag! Isn’t it “beary” lovely?　My mom says that when she goes out with this bag, almost all the people who see the bag ask her where she bought it. Guess where it is from.

The other day, when my mom visited a paper-product showroom in Tokyo, she found some unique paper products. She was “beary” impressed by those products, and asked a shop clerk what they were made of. The shop clerk told my mom that they were all made of elephant dung. Ha? Elephant dung? Paper made from elephant dung? Can you believe that?

Look! I am wearing a blue shirt today. Do I look stylish? Look at my shirt carefully. What do you think is this made of? Did someone say, “Cotton?” Yes, it’s made of cotton. But that is not the only answer I expected.　Look at my shirt more carefully.