Eco-ethica is a new ethics proposed by the Japanese philosopher Tomonobu Imamichi (1922-2012). It is an academic study that replaces traditional religions and morals and examines new ethics, or ethical standard of all thoughts, in every field of society.

Eco-ethica is a new term combining “eco” and “ethics”, coined by Professor Imamichi. ‘Eco’ means ecology, which is a science that studies living organisms. It is a branch of sciences such as geography, zoology, botany, and biology. In the broad sense, “eco” also means habitat.

The endorsement of “An Introduction to Eco-ethica” published in 1990 says, “Today there are various arguments for ethics such as bio-ethics, medical ethics, environmental ethics, and technology ethics. Eco-ethica includes all of these ethics and it is an ‘ethics that encompasses human habitat’. The author presents a question of creating new virtues to address ecological changes of human beings in the technological environment and seeks to explain how human beings can live better. He argues that the time has come to establish Eco-ethica”.

In the preface to “An Introduction to Eco-ethica”, Professor Imamichi said, “I am discussing a new ethics necessary for the new age. It is called ‘Eco-ethica’. This is a new ethics for the new habitat of human beings...I proposed Eco-ethica in the mid-1960s, which became a globalized academic term in the 1970s. At Tomonobu Imamichi Institute for Eco-ethica, we publish annual reports written by globally recognized researchers, which have received attention around the world...Unfortunately, although Eco-ethica was born in Japan, it has not yet gained enough recognition in the country...I consider that this book is a new exploration of Eco-ethica as a research publication with academic standards”.

At Shiozaki Building, we deeply agree with the concept of Eco-ethica and adopted it as our guideline to address environmental issues.