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Last edited: 17 August 2023      
Ashikaga1
The Japan Solar Cooker Preliminary Convention was held 22-23 November 2016 at the Ashikaga University. The gathering was led by Professor Yuichi Nakajo, with the goal of creating a network for collaboration among manufacturers, distributors, traders, researchers, and others with a strong interest in solar cooking. Approximately 100 invited participants were in attendance. Professor Nakajo is planning to hold a larger convention next year, which will be open to anyone interested in solar cooking.

Events[]

Featured international events[]

SEforAll logo, 7-25-24
  • 12-14 March 2025 (Bridgetown, Barbados): Sustainable Energy for All Global Forum - Building on Prime Minister Mottley’s Bridgetown Initiative for the reform of development finance, the Forum will address the challenge of how we can mobilize sufficient finance on the right terms to meet global goals, especially for the most underserved communities, countries and regions – such as Small Island Developing States. The event wil be co-hosted by Sustainable Energy for All and the Government of Barbados, led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. Project site visits will take place Friday, 14 March. More information...

Requests for proposal[]

CONSOLFOOD 2025 logo, 4-28-24
  • The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15th December 2024 - Advances in Solar Thermal Food Processing (CONSOLFOOD2025) is being planned for the 5th, 6th and 7th of May, 2025 in Marseille, France. The gathering expects to attract, once again, top experts from all over the world to present and discuss topics related to advances in solar food processing and solar cooking. An exhibition of solar cookers will be available for viewing during the conference at the nearby the solar restaurant Le Présage. The solar restaurant, along with the demonstration cookers, will produce a solar lunch. The whole conference program will be delivered in hybrid format, so those who register, but are not present at Marseille, will be able to participate online. Your abstracts should be sent via email to Celestino Ruivo at cruivo@ualg.pt in .doc, .docx, or pdf format. You should limit your abstract to 400 words, and follow these guidelines. All abstracts will be reviewed and assessed by members of the scientific committee. The organizing committee will inform each author whether their submitted abstract has been accepted. The committee encourages all authors to write an optional full length paper for inclusion in our conference proceedings. Successful authors should pre-record their presentations, using Powerpoint, or similar software. They will be invited to submit either a) a short presentation, of about 7 minutes duration, or b) a longer presentation, of about 25 minutes to cruivo@ualg.pt by 30th March 2025. The expected conference fee is 200 euros before 1st April 2025. Interested people facing financial difficulties should contact the organizing committee.
See also: Global Calendar of Events and past events in Japan

News[]

Table-Type Solar Cooker image, 8-14-23

The Table-Type Solar Cooker, Image credit: Hideo Oguri

  • July 2023: The Table-Type Solar Cooker was designed by Hideo Oguri (Haru) living in Japan. He presented the prototype at CONSOLFOOD 2023. It incorporates a parabolic reflector mounted under a tabletop work surface. Hideo comments that this design is better suited to lower angles of the sun, which are more typical in Japan, than traditional parabolic designs. The cooker also incorporates a dual-axis tracking system to follow the sun while cooking, a combination of light sensors and actuators.
5th Japan solar cooker convention, 4-22-20

Fifth Japan Solar Cooker Convention in Chikusei, Nov. 2017

  • November 2017: The Fifth Japan Solar Cooker Convention took place on November 17th in Chikusei, Japan, which was well attended. The event was organized by Professor Yuichi Nakajo of Ashikaga University.
SCI article (Japanese), 12-19-16

(click to larger image of article above)

Ashikaga1

Attendees at the Japan Solar Cooker Preliminary Convention.

  • November 2014: The Japan Solar Cooker Preliminary Convention was held 22-23 November 2016 at the Ashikaga University. The gathering was led by Professor Yuichi Nakajo, with the goal of creating a network for collaboration among manufacturers, distributors, traders, researchers, and others with a strong interest in solar cooking. Approximately 100 invited participants were in attendance. Professor Nakajo is planning to hold a larger convention next year, which will be open to anyone interested in solar cooking.


  • January 2014: JSEEA visit students in Fukushima Prefecture Members of the Japan Solar Energy Educational Association traveled to Fukushima Prefecture in May 2013 to conduct a workshop on solar cooking for children in this region impacted by radiation leaks from their nuclear power plant. SJEEA trainers told the students about climbing Mount Everest and using solar cookers in 2003. Although the group cooked fried eggs and tea instead of rice, SJEEA reports that the students enjoyed their first solar cooked meal.
  • September 2013: The Japan Solar Cooking Association (JSCA) participated in the Eco Life Fair on June 1 and 2 in central Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park. The fair received 78,000 visitors. To demonstrate the power of their solar cookers, JSCA made popcorn, cooked rice, and baked cakes and cookies.
  • November 2012: Yuichi Nakajo, Director of Collaborative Research Center Ashikaga University, reports on his solar cooker usage research - Yuichi Nakajo's area of interest is the development of solar cookers for use in mid-latitude regions. He concentrates on designing cookers that will work in Japan throughout the year. The solar panel cooker, Educooker 003, was designed to be robust, and at the same time offer good concentration for the wide range of the sun's elevation, by employing a ray tracing technique. Now we are going to put the durable plastic version, developed through the joint research with the Japanese largest aluminum foil company, Toyo Aluminum K. K., onto the market. Our other products include plastic concentrator types with discretely approximated parabolic reflectors for uniform and safe heating. To satisfy the need and wants from all users, we prepare the kits with various types with a wide price range. Many Japanese, say solar cookers are only educational materials and are not reliable, because you cannot use it on the rainy days. But I do not believe it. Last March I sent all the members in my laboratory the Educooker to several disaster areas by request, but unfortunately I did not receive any replies. I suspect most of them were never tried. We cannot force them to use solar cookers, but at least warm food and warm drink could be of considerable help. I reconfirmed the importance of everyday education of solar cooking for everyone. That is the reason I conduct more than fifty classes each year. For more information, contact Yuichi Nakajo at nakajo@ashitech.ac.jp.
  • November 2012: Niconet Tsukuba has been introducing solar cookers to local citizens in Japan to increase people’s awareness of environmental and global issues, as well as to make small changes from their fossil-fuel-centered lifestyles. Our programs are usually performed in an informal and relaxed manner, by our motto “Niconet’s 3E = Enjoy, Environment, and Eating.” Solar cooking is, in fact, effective for promoting communication with others. In 2011 -2012, we worked with the faculty of a local university to conduct an analysis on the efficiency of the Sun Peace solar cooker, which was developed by our member Yuko Tomioka, by using thermo-graphic devices. We plan to include the results in our solar cooking recipe booklet, which will be available on the web this year. In recent years, we also have focused on hand-made “retained heat cookers”. We found that newspaper can be used as an effective material for insulation in the retained heat cooker. While we are mainly active in the local area in Japan, some members are also active in other countries. Our member Fumi Sakurai stayed in Madagascar for two years, where serious deforestation is evident. She introduced villagers to the solar cooker Sun Peace. This solar cooker is easy to make because it does not require measurement. She suggested to some key persons in villages to use aluminum sheets of used snack packages for reflective material. It was found to work successfully in the sun-rich climate. Some villagers who learned how to make/use solar cookers became “teachers” and started to share the skills with others. In Japan, introducing such information is also useful for educational purposes.
JSCA festival 2, 12-8-12
  • June 2012: The JSCA participated in "Eco Life Fair 2012" held on June 2nd and 3rd at Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo. The fair was sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment, and was attended by 66,000 visitors. We exhibited many types of solar cookers and demonstrated solar cooking in the "Solar Zone" created for the first time this year. We cooked rice, made popcorn, and baked cakes and cookies.
  • May 2012: The Japan Solar Cooking Association participated in "Jambo! Kiyosato Tanzania Village" held May 3 through the 5th, and hosted by the Educational Experiment Project in Kiyosato, Yamanashi Pref. The event introduced nature and culture of Tanzania with movies and craft shops. Since we have been promoting solar cookers in Tanzania for several years, we exhibited solar cookers and demonstrated solar cooking in the village.
  • October 2011: Two members of Japan Solar Cooking Association, Yasuko Torii and Toyoko Nishikawa visited five villages around Kitulo National Park, located in the south western part of Tanzania to promote solar cooking. This was the fourth visit since January 2008. They exhibited parabolic cookers, handmade box and panel type cookers and demonstrated cooking at October Mpeto Festival 2011 held on October 2 in Matamba town. Many visitors watched and enjoyed tasting solar baked cakes and popcorn.
Solar_cooker_from_JP_(Balloon_Cooking)

Solar cooker from JP (Balloon Cooking)

Balloon Solar Cooker

  • November 2009: The Ogawa Crown Company has begun manufacturing small, portable parabolic solar cookers that fold up in a similar fashion to an umbrella. The 1-meter diameter reflective shell of the “Sunny Cooker” is made from a unique aluminum-coated polyester cloth, structurally supported from the center and along the outer edge by flexible plastic poles. This lightweight shell essentially hangs from a metal pot stand that sits atop a foldable tripod and is fixed to the shell at two points. The central pole of the tripod connects to the pot stand through a zipper in the shell. The vertical angle of the reflector is adjustable by zipping or unzipping the shell to the appropriate distance and literally locking the zipper in place with a key. The Sunny Cooker sells for approximately $350, weighs about 3.5 kilograms, and comes with an iron kettle. A sample of the Sunny Cooker was kindly provided to Solar Cookers International by the Japan Solar Energy Educational Association. SCI Staff and board members have experimented with the cooker and have successfully boiled water and cooked popcorn. The device has been shown at multiple events, including demonstrations at Google’s international headquarters in Mountain View, California, and at National Defense University and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Reported in the November 2009 Solar Cooker Review.
  • Spring 2007: Solar Cooker Challenge for Africa is the name of a proposed project by an NGO in Japan called Solar Cooker Japan (SCJ). Its goals are to promote the planting of the Jatropha trees while also promoting solar cooking using a new prototype: the Balloon Solar Cooker by Mr. Toshi Omhura, one of the founders of SCJ. Mr. Kazimito was in Nairobi, Kenya recently, holding preliminary discussions with Solar Cookers International East Africa Office Director Margaret Owino about a partnership. A team from SCJ later followed with the prototype cookers for field tests in Kenya. SCI (EA) welcomes this new development and will conduct field tests on the new cookers on behalf of SCJ. Their goal is to enable in-country production of the same cookers, should they pass the field test.

Articles in the media[]

Audio and video[]

  • September 2022:
Living_in_Tokyo_without_Public_Electricity-2

Living in Tokyo without Public Electricity-2

Reports[]

Resources[]

Possible funding[]

History[]

Clean Energy Utilization Research Study Group

The Clean Energy Utilization Research Study Group was established in Japan in 1994 to organize activities for a range of environmental initiatives within the country. A Solar Energy Festival has been held annually in the north of Japan; the Solar Energy Society's International Symposium was first held in the country in 1992. Most Japanese people have not been interested in solar cooking for themselves, as they use gas or electricity for cooking, which they find satisfactory. But many view solar cooking as an opportunity to teach people about larger energy issues. A book on solar cooking, "Cooking by the Sun" was published in Japanese in 1995, edited by members of the group. It includes and several types of cookers manufactured in Japan, which are largely for learning more about the technology and used in research.

Yasuko Torii

Japan has had one particularly faithful solar cook, however. Her name is Yasuko Torii, and she has invented a number of cookers that she displayed at several world conferences. One was a very small box cooker, the other a larger version made of an aluminum product used in Japan as a drip pan for ovens. She has been an active promoter of solar cooking for many years. She created a solar cooking mailing list for the country, with most of the individuals living in Tokyo.

Recently, an announcement was made about the manufacture in Japan of a household size parabolic for sale in the Japanese market. The device is a dish reflector, mounted on a tripod. One other related commercial product manufactured is a stainless steel well-insulated hay box made by Toyota, and has been sold in various countries. Both devices are expensive and not well suited for poor countries, but they could be marketed to middle class audiences in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Archived articles

Climate and culture[]

See also:

Solar cooking blogs[]

Web pages[]

Books on solar cooking[]

External links[]

Contacts[]

The entities listed below are either based in Japan or have initiated solar cooking projects there:

SCI Associates[]

NGOs[]

Manufacturers and vendors[]

Individuals[]

Government agencies[]

Educational institutions[]

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