Moleskine Japan volunteers at a Tree Planting Event.

June 11, 2023 -- Moleskine Japan participated as volunteers in the Minamisoma City Tree-Planting Festival held in Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture, along with eight university students. Following that, a Moleskine-specific workshop was conducted using the Spiral Academic Diary.

This tree-planting festival is an annual event organized by the Minamisoma City Tree-Planting Festival Executive Committee since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. It aims to create forested seawalls along the coastline that was affected by the tsunami. This year, 1,200 volunteers participated and planted 20,000 seedlings on 0.5 hectares of land near the Kitaiwami Coast Comprehensive Park, where the pine forest was devastated by the tsunami.

University students who were interested in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) applied for this event and participated in the tree-planting festival and workshop.

At the orientation session, the students listened with interest to the explanations of the tasks.

Despite the rain, the students supported each other and worked hard on the tree-planting activities.

Under the guidance of the leaders, they planted several types of seedlings in the designated areas.

Split into teams, the volunteers spread straw for nutrition and protection to promote the growth of the seedlings.

After the volunteer work, we moved to a separate venue and conducted the Moleskine workshop. During this workshop, the student-oriented Spiral Academic Diary was used. The diary has a link to sustainability (SDG 12) as it’s cover is made from 15% recycled fruit waste. From the diary, we utilized three features: "Yearly Goals," "My Action Plan," and "Habit Tracker," to facilitate a workshop on sustainable goal setting and habit formation for the future.

They learned about the new diary and goal setting using case studies and showing interest as they flipped through the pages.

In a group discussion, they brainstormed about the lessons learned from the volunteer activities and discussed their future participation in various activities.

After the discussion, the students worked on setting their goals.

Each student wrote their habits in the Habit Tracker and planned their future actions

After setting their goals, the students presented their goals and action plans to the group。

They also showed great interest in the pages that enrich their student lives such as the project planner, class schedules and grade records.

"I usually find it challenging to manage my university life without a schedule book, but I felt that the Academic Diary not only allows me to record my schedule but also my goals and grades. It is a schedule book that truly supports university life."

- Megumi Ibaraki, 2nd year, Faculty of Liberal Arts, International Christian University

Through this tree planting volunteers work and workshop, the participating students learned about the importance of tree planting and gained firsthand experience in goal setting for the future. It was a valuable learning experience for both the Moleskine team and the participating students.

Have a look at the habit trackers of the 8 participants▼

Left: Mr. Ueda, 3rd Year, Faculty of Literature at Tokyo University / Right: Ms.Ogawa, 2nd year, Faculty of Human Life Sciences, Ochanimizu Women’s Unveristiy

Left: Ms. Miyazaki, 2nd year, Faculty of Liberal Arts, The University of Tokyo / Right: Ms. Nagasawa, 3rd year, Faculty of Liberal Arts, The University of Tokyo

Left: Ms. Ibaraki, 2nd year, Faculty of Liberal Arts, International Christian University / Right: Mr. Hatsukawa, 1st year, Faculty of Science II

Left: Mr. Tsuchihashi, 2nd year, Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University / Right: Mr. Sakihara, 3rd year, Medical School, The University of Tokyo