Mottainai - a famous Japanese phrase

Do you remember a lady called Ms. Wangari Maathai?
She was was a social, environmental and political activist.

And she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her works.
She is from Kenya and was the first African woman to win the prize.

She became really popular in Japan when she visited the country after her Nobel Prize win.
She came to be impressed by the Japanese phrase Mottainai (もったいない) which can be translated to mean "it is a waste".
She used it as part of her further work to encourage environmental philosophy - and of course, it became a big fad in Japan at the time.

Ms. Maathai further felt that the Japanese word added a further element to the English phrase.
It included an element of respect for nature.

The daily phrase can be used to express regret when something that could still be used is not, or when something is thrown away or otherwise wasted - so in a sense also includes the nuance of "it is a shame".

But when applied to nature, it also means that we should realize the wealth that nature provides for us humans, and how wasteful it is to misuse or abuse it.

The staff at JOI made a short video about this topic in 2009.
Please have a quick watch here: