Mottainai (もったいない, 勿体無い) (pronounced moht-tai-nai) is a Japanese term meaning "a sense of regret concerning waste when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not properly utilized."[1] The expression "Mottainai!" can be uttered alone as an exclamation when something useful, such as food or time, is wasted, meaning roughly "Oh, what a waste!"
Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai visit
ed Japan at the request of the Mainichi Shimbun for an event related to the Kyoto Protocol in 2005.[4] At this time, she learned this word while discussing ecological issues with the Mainichi Shinbun's editor-in-chief. She was impressed by the depth of similarity between the Japanese meaning of the word and equivalent concepts in English and Swahili concerning people's responsibility to respect the earth through frugality and conservation. At the Kyoto Protocols, she wore a shirt with the word "MOTTAINAI" written on it in all capital rōmaji, and asked the audience to use the word in their everyday lives. She became a widely recognized celebrity in Japan for discovering and promoting what is referred to as a "MOTTAINAI" movement. Maathai told Japanese TV that she tried to find equivalent words to mottainai in other languages, so as to spread the concept all over the world, but in vain. She promoted the concept of mottainai as a term that is roughly equivalent to the English phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" or the proverbial phrase "Waste not, want not". Therefore, she promoted the use of the word mottainai as an international expression.
