I teach at a public university in Tokyo. “SDGs” is clearly a current buzzword being promoted by government policy in Japan. I subscribe to the paper edition of

I teach at a public university in Tokyo. “SDGs” is clearly a current buzzword being promoted by government policy in Japan. I subscribe to the paper edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and nearly every day there are multiple advertisements and articles that mention “SDGs,” often prominently. Not only Japanese companies but also Japanese universities have been quick to adopt it. Some examples of university programs with “SDGs” in their titles are at [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. In my experience, the currently promoted buzzwords are often included in university program names in order to attract government funding. Five or ten years ago, the leading buzzword was “global.” My own university has probably a dozen or more programs with “global” in their titles; my colleagues often remark how hard it is to remember which is which. Another current buzzword, in both business and academia, is “DX” (digital transformation). Though the SDGs bandwagon is still going strong, some Japanese commentators have started to question it. A person interviewed in an article posted on Friday to a radio station’s website [6] calls SDGs “fraudulent.” He also notes that Japan leads the world in Google searches for “SDGs,” followed by Zimbabwe. [1] https://www.nara-edu.ac.jp/ESDC/ https://www.nara-edu.ac.jp/ESDC/ [2] https://www.chubu.ac.jp/academics/college-education/sdgs/ https://www.chubu.ac.jp/academics/college-education/sdgs/ [3] https://www.senshu-u.ac.jp/social/senshu_sdgs/challengeprogram.html https://www.senshu-u.ac.jp/social/senshu_sdgs/challengeprogr... [4] https://www.koeki-u.ac.jp/academics/personnel-training-program/SDGs-tankyu_program1.html https://www.koeki-u.ac.jp/academics/personnel-training-progr... [5] https://www.it-hiroshima.ac.jp/about/gp/center/sdgs.html https://www.it-hiroshima.ac.jp/about/gp/center/sdgs.html [6] https://web.archive.org/web/20220828044344/https://www.joqr.co.jp/qr/article/63159/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220828044344/https://www.joqr....