Social Innovation, Sustainability, and Disaster Resilience: Lessons from Japan
Witten by Isla Scott
In April 2025, I joined a UCL team travelling to Japan for a fieldwork trip focused on social innovation and resilience, co-hosted by Tohoku University. While the UCL School of Management led the collaboration, I was fortunate to participate through my MSc in Business and Sustainability at the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources (BSEER). This opportunity was made possible through a cross-departmental partnership with the School of Management, reflecting the growing alignment between business, innovation, and sustainability in addressing complex global challenges.
I travelled alongside an inspiring group of peers and mentors: Dr Miwako Kitamura, Mika Sakai, Professor Davide Ravasi, Dr Gianluca Pescaroli, Shivaang Sharma, a PhD researcher at the UCL School of Management, and Silvia Tripinioti, an MRes student at UCL’s Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction. We were based in the city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, known as “the City of Trees” for its natural beauty and green spaces. Thus, visiting during cherry blossom season made the experience even more special.
I approached the fieldwork with a strong academic interest in environmental communication, shaped by my undergraduate work and current research. The Sendai region, recognised globally for shaping the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, provided a powerful setting to explore how environmental communication plays out in practice. However, what I left with was even more profound: an appreciation of how storytelling, culture, and community contribute to resilience, not only by aiding recovery but by preserving identity and passing lessons forward.
Over the course of the week, we engaged in workshops, site visits, and lectures exploring disaster response, climate resilience, and social entrepreneurship. At the joint UCL–Tohoku University workshop, I presented my research on environmental messaging and the role of inclusive communication systems in shaping trust, policy engagement, and behavioural change. I was joined by Silvia Tripinioti, who examined how awe-based storytelling can foster emotional resilience and collective care, and Shivaang Sharma, who explored the ethical design of human-AI coordination during crises. This was followed by a student-led workshop with Tohoku students and local high schoolers that further broadened the cross-cultural exchange, highlighting the different ways countries experience and address environmental risk.
We also visited towns heavily impacted by the 2011 triple disaster: the earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear meltdown. Through memorials, museums, and meetings with local leaders, we saw how communities are continuing to rebuild. In places like Onagawa, Ishinomaki, and Futaba, we met individuals who had lost their homes, families, and, in some cases, entire neighbourhoods. What stood out most was how storytelling and the decision to return and rebuild became acts of resilience in themselves.
One story that stayed with me came from Tsukihama, a small fishing town. A local leader shared a powerful ongoing story of community. He recalled how the tsunami swept away his home and separated the community into evacuation centres. In the weeks that followed, what they missed most was not just a physical place but a sense of shared ritual and connection. One of these was the town’s traditional lion dance. So, to help restore a sense of connection and hope, evacuees reenacted the dance using hotel pillows and slippers. It was a small act, but one that carried deep meaning. When the time came to return to Tsukihama, the community knew they would only return if they could do so together — and eventually, 34 families made the decision to come back. What the local leader emphasised was that they returned not just to rebuild but because they deeply missed their community, their culture, and their home.
In Minamisanriku, we visited Hotel Kanyo and took part in a kataribe storytelling tour, an oral tradition that has been revitalised in the aftermath of the 2011 disaster to preserve collective memory and support intergenerational learning. The hotel’s manager played a pivotal role in the community’s recovery. When the tsunami inundated the building’s lower floors, she transformed it into a refuge for over 1,000 displaced residents over six months. Despite losing basic utilities, she and her staff coordinated daily meals, care, and support. One example of her leadership in fostering community cohesion was when she converted part of the hotel into a temporary school for displaced children. She has since become a leading figure in community-led recovery. Through her efforts to preserve memory, revitalise local traditions, and create inclusive forums for dialogue, she demonstrated that rebuilding is not only physical, but also emotional, cultural, and intergenerational.
Drawing on learnings from the MSc in Business and Sustainability, including insights from Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Business Models and Principles and Paradoxes of Business Sustainability, this trip deepened my understanding of how ethical leadership, stakeholder inclusion, and the tensions within sustainable development play out in real-world resilience efforts. In Tohoku, I saw real-world examples of what resilience truly requires — how trust, transparency, and participation can either strengthen or undermine recovery. In cases where communities were excluded from decision-making, like in early Fukushima, mistrust and confusion took root. However, in places like Sendai and Onagawa, where communities were actively involved, recovery became a collective process of reclaiming their voice and shaping their own future. These experiences also highlighted the role of organisations across sectors. Whether through transparent communication, ethical leadership, or sustained community investment, institutions play a vital role in shaping adaptive, equitable systems. Hotel Kanyo and its owner offer a powerful example of this: a leader who anticipated needs, mobilised resources, and rebuilt with empathy, purpose, and vision.
This fieldwork also deepened the theoretical foundation of my capstone project, which explores how community-level communication around air quality can influence behavioural change and resilience. It strengthened my understanding that environmental communication is not simply about raising awareness, but about creating shared ownership and action. When communities, especially vulnerable groups, are included in designing environmental messages, the results are often more equitable and effective. This shift will guide my work as I explore how localised, participatory approaches can enhance both the effectiveness of environmental interventions and the policies that support them.
This fieldwork deepened my understanding of climate resilience in the context of accelerating global risk. Disasters are no longer only historical events; they are increasingly part of our climate future. Rising sea levels, extreme heat, floods, and wildfires will continue to test communities around the world. The question is not whether disaster and disruption will come, but how prepared and connected we are when it does. The Tohoku region showed us that communication, when rooted in inclusion, culture, and trust, can be a foundation for that preparedness and for building back better.
Ultimately, this trip reaffirmed my belief that sustainability is not just about carbon or infrastructure. It is about people. It requires listening, humility, and creating systems that enable those most affected by environmental harm to be included in shaping their own futures. Not only for remembrance, but as a foundation for more just, inclusive, and resilient futures.
I am grateful to Dr Miwako Kitamura and Associate Professor Mika Sakai for organising such a thoughtful and enriching programme. Thanks also to Professors Davide Ravasi and Gianluca Pescaroli, as well as fellow participants Shivaang Sharma and Silvia Tripinioti, for their insights. It was a privilege to learn and grow alongside such a collaborative and engaged group.
Bio: Isla Scott is a student on the MSc Business and Sustainability programme at UCL. Her academic interests include environmental policy, environmental communications, socially inclusive sustainability transitions, and sustainability strategy.
(Photo credit: Dr Miwako Kitamura)
