Environment in Japan Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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With a population of approximately 127,417,000, Japan is one of the most remarkable success stories in the post-World War II era. Shifting the focus from war-making to economic progress allowed Japan to become the second major industrial power in the world, outranked only by the United States. Unfortunately, along with industrialization and economic growth, Japan has also become a major environmental polluter. To offset this, the country has also become a leader in antipollution technology. In a 2006 study conducted by Yale University, Japan ranked 14th in environmental performance.

The quality of life in Japan is high, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Reports ranks the country 11th in overall quality of life. All Japanese have access to clean water and proper sanitation, and the amount of malnourishment in the country is negligible.

With only 4.6 percent of its population in agriculture, Japan is a major importer of food products. Despite the fact that they are small in number, Japanese farmers use more pesticides per acre than any other nation in the world. Local governments were assigned the responsibility for monitoring industrial and agricultural pollution until the mid-20th century, when major environmental fiascos called for greater national oversight. However, local governments retained the right to pass supplementary environmental legislation, which is often more rigid than national laws.

Japan is an island chain located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. The topography is generally rugged and mountainous, and the climate varies from tropical to cool temperate. Japan is also a land of volcanoes, with some 1,500 seismic occurrences each year, along with typhoons and tsunamis that cause major flooding and environmental damage. Japan has suffered both politically and economically from a dearth of natural resources, possessing only fish and a few mineral deposits. Environmentally, Japan’s major problems are air pollution from power plants that have caused acid rain and the acidification of lakes and reservoirs that have lowered the quality of drinking water and posed a hazard to marine life. In addition to threatening its own environment, Japan has been called an “eco-outlaw” because it creates major environmental problems in others nations, particularly through the depletion of tropical timber. Japanese industrialists have also set up businesses in countries such as Indonesia, Venezuela, and Brazil, where environmental laws are less strict. As a result, these countries have increased levels of pollution.

Almost 80 percent of the Japanese people live in urban areas. Consequently, Japan is responsible for 5.2 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, which are believed to be the major reason for global warming. In order to cut down on these emissions, the Japanese government has begun using low-emission vehicles for official use and has enacted the NOx (nitrogen oxides) law of 2001 that tightened pollution standards for diesel vehicles. Other attempts to control pollution include stricter standards for the use of pesticides and tighter control over the emission of nitrate nitrogen, fluorine, boron, and ammonia into water sources.

Japan’s long history of organized environmental support began in the late 19th century, when locals discovered that the Ashio Copper Mine, 100 kilometers north of Tokyo, was releasing large clouds of sulfuric acid into the air and polluting the water of the Watarase River used by rice farmers. In addition to health problems, the pollution was destroying nearby forests. The Ashio Riot of 1907 lasted three days, culminating with miners setting fire to the mining complex. Martial law was subsequently declared to restore order. Environmental protests were revived in the 1960s due to high-profile lawsuits involving the cadmium poisoning of residents of Toyama, the mercury poisoning of the inhabitants of Minamata and Niigata, and high incidences of asthma caused by exposure to sulfur dioxide in Yokkaichi.

Other illnesses during this period were traced to high emissions of sulfur dioxide and to industrial and agricultural pollution of water sources due to the lack of adequate treatment facilities. Between 1960 and 1965, the concentration of sulfur dioxide in Japan rose from .015 ppm to .060 ppm, resulting in high incidences of asthma and other respiratory diseases. Between 1960 and 1980, concentrations of nitrogen oxide rose from .005 ppm to .03 ppm. In the Inland Sea, scientists discovered red tides, caused by chemicals in the water that stimulated the growth of algae and destroyed marine life. The incidence of red tides increased from 60 in 1968 to 300 in 1977.

During the 1970s, some 3,000 Japanese environmentalists groups were formed, and the government responded by passing new environmental laws and establishing stronger enforcement mechanisms. The Japan Environment Corporation, which funded business costs of installing environmental control equipment, was also established. In 1968, Japan passed the Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control and forced industries to compensate the victims of industrial pollution, even in the absence of overwhelming evidence to link particular pollutants to local health problems. The law has since been revised, with stricter regulations and enforcement. In 1971, Japan created the Environment Agency to monitor environmental compliance and provide aid to victims of environmental pollution.

Good on its Pledge

When the major industrial nations attending the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, pledged to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions, Japan was the only nation to follow through. However, economic problems in the 1980s and early 1990s led to decreased attention to the environment, despite the fact that physicians and scientists had identified nitrogen oxide in the air as a major cause of respiratory illnesses. Interest in environmentalism was rejuvenated in 1995 and 1997, when Japan experienced nuclear reactor accidents, and a major oil spill in the Sea of Japan in 1997 further aroused public interest. However, 90 percent of Japan’s 4,500 environmental groups are locally based, and they have little power at the national level. Japan Tropical Action Network has been the most effective Japanese environmentalist group, successfully promoting a decrease in the amounts of tropical timber imported into the country.

The processes of industrialization and afforestation, and converting open land into forest to supply timber demands, have left Japan with almost no wilderness and with major problems in sustaining the wildlife population. Of Japan’s 144,687 square miles (374,744 square kilometers) of land, only 6.8 percent is under national protection. Critics claim that formerly protected land has been given over to recreational areas. Japan is home to 188 species of mammals, and 37 of these species are threatened with extinction. At least 210 species of birds reside in Japan, and approximately 34 of those species are currently threatened. Japan has also been harshly criticized by environmentalists around the world for its continued support of the whaling industry.

Since the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the Japanese government has remained committed to curbing environmental pollution and is attempting to achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gases 6 percent by 2012. This is being accomplished in part through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) program that ties development loans to other countries to the purchase of carbon credits, as is permissible under the Kyoto Protocol. The government also requires such countries to purchase Japanese products and services. In 2001, the Japanese created a Ministry of Environment to replace the Environmental Agency. The new ministry was given the responsibility to establish new regulations for air, water, and soil conservation and to protect wildlife and national parks. Recycling has become a major goal of Japan’s new environmental policies, as is regulation of chemicals, radioactivity, wastewater treatment, and conservation of all natural resources.

Japan participates in the following international agreements designed to promote improved guardianship of the environment: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, and Whaling.

Bibliography:

Brendan F.D. Barrett and Riki Therirel, Environmental Policy and Impact Assessment in Japan (Routledge, 1991);
Jeffrey Broadbent, Environmental Politics in Japan: Networks of Power and Protest (Cambridge University Press, 1998);
Kevin H. Hillstrom and Laurie Collier Hillstrom, Asia: A Continental Overview of Environmental Issues (ABC-CLIO, 2003);
Nimura Kazua, The Ashio Riot of 1907: A Social History of Mining in Japan (Duke University Press, 1997);
David Wallace, Environmental Policy and Industrial Innovation: Strategies in Europe, the United States, and Japan (Earthscan, 1995);
Anny Wong, The Roots of Japan‘s International Environmental Policies (Garland, 2001).