Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

SPONSORED: Yokohama, frontier of SDGs future city, shares its values with Scotland

In 2018, the Scottish Government and the City of Yokohama shared the philosophy of “growing together” in a joint declaration on interchange and collaboration.

The two bodies are currently fruitful partnerships in culture, tourism, marine industries, sports, inter-university exchanges, and, importantly, both bodies share the same values when it comes to SDGs.

In 2020, the Scottish International Development Agency participated in the virtual “Yokohama Sea Expo 2020”, while the Scottish Government and the City of Yokohama are both working to protect the global environment and aiming for true sustainable development.

But what has Yokohama achieved up till now?

Yokohama SDGs Design Centre promotes sustainability

Yokohama City established Yokohama SDGs Design Centre in 2018. It was a successful attempt to achieve SDGs in cooperation with various companies and universities. The centre has four functions: marketing, coordinating, innovating and promoting.

Working every day on community renovation, which enhances attractiveness, the centre creates new innovations and attracts people or companies to Yokohama by sharing its SDGs with an array of stakeholders.

 width=
Under the Sea Classroom Project

It also supports companies and organizations, as well as implementing several pilot projects by itself.  Among these are its “Under the Sea Classroom,” which connects the sea and classrooms with live video; its “On-Demand Bus,” which is an initiative for boosting transportation in communities with ICT; and the “Yokohama Wood Straw Project,” which produces and distributes straws made of wood in Yokohama.

Organisations are nurtured by an SDGs certification system

In 2020, Yokohama SDGs Design Centre launched the Yokohama City SDGs Certification System, “Y-SDGs,” to recognise the efforts of companies and organisations to achieve SDGs.

It expects the system to encourage companies and organizations to transform their activities into sustainable operations and management, leading to an expanded customer base and an increase in business partners.

Furthermore, Yokohama SDGs Design Centre hopes Y-SDGs will provide investors and banking establishments with good indication as to whether or not a business is sustainable.

 width=
Yokohama Wood Straw Project

Yokohama aims to be 100% accessible with the WHILL

The WHILL is a newly invented, short-range mobility chair which is extremely comfortable to ride. Yokohama City has implemented a WHILL sharing service, with the concept in mind of “making joyful and smart transportation for all.”

Creating the ideal SDGs future city, where everyone wants to live and continue to live, is Yokohama’s main priority. It aims to be a city which is totally accessible, even for those who find it difficult to walk for prolonged periods of time, and where both domestic and foreign tourists can enjoy full days of strolling or sightseeing with the WHILL.

 width=
WHILL, the short range mobility chair

Diaries aim to nurture children’s awareness of the global environment

Yokohama City’s future will be more people-friendly, as elementary school students have begun depicting Yokohama and its daily life along with their feelings on the global environment in special diaries.

The “Environmental Picture Diary,” in which elementary school students freely express the things discussed at home, or which they think by themselves, fosters a citizen’s views on Yokohama’s future.

These diaries encourage conversation and enhance knowledge by discussing and debating over environmental issues with children – the city’s future.

 width=
The On-Demand Bus Project

The frontier of design and business extending across the seas

The City of Yokohama aims to be one which continues to create new values and prosperities through economy, culture and art, all centred on the environment.

It aims to create a Yokohama-type metropolitan model to solve environmental, economic, and social issues in an integrated way.

Working with them, Scotland can aim to develop and extend its business across seas and continents.


This article is sponsored by City of Yokohama in collaboration with Scottish Development International. 

Read Yokohama Undercover on Yokohama Official Visitors’ Guide here.

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.