Japan and the Global Environment 37

JAPAN AND THE GLOBAL dress global warming may be a sign of signif- ENVIRONMENT icant changes to come in Japanese environmental policy. However, international pressure remains on the many environmental issues Japan has yet to resolve, Including Alan S. Miller and Curtis Moore tropical deforestation and financing of Third World development projects that harm the environment. ABSTRACT Japan's environmental policy is most ef- fective when government and industry co- This paper presents some perspectives operate to find technical solutions to envi- on Japanese international environmental ronmental problems. Although In recent policies. The first section reviews domestic years Japan's energy consumption has risen factors, Including the role of environmental sharply, the Japanese have developed nu- values, the influence of the Japan Environ- merous technologies to reduce pollution ment Agency (JEA), the influence of women and Increase economic growth by improving on environmental policy, and prospects for a energy efficiency. It Is In these technologies stronger environmental lobby. The second that Japan has made the greatest strides and section describes some evolution in Japan's has the most to offer the global environ- policy toward addressing specific interna- ment. tional issues and suggests factors likely to shape future policy development .in this area. Finally, the concluding section fo- I. AN OVERVIEW OF ENVIRON- cuses on the relationship between Japan's MENTAL POLICY IN JAPAN energy and environmental policies, noting in particular the remarkable technological Inno- A. Environmental Values InJapan vation of Japanese industry in response to domestic pressures to control air pollution It is generally thought that the Japanese, and improve energy efficiency. because of their religious beliefs, value nature much more than Westerners, a cultural INTRODUCTION stereotype that has some historical basis. Joseph Kitagawa notes in his book On Un- Inmany areas, the word most often used derstanding Japanese Religion: to describe Japanese policy is "enigma." In some ways, Japan's record on environmen- Japanese Buddhism affirms the tal policy also has elements of mystery and sacrality [sic] of the world of nature. contradiction. On the one hand, Japan's his- This feature is probably the most tory and culture often are associated with a basic to the Japanese Buddhist un- reverence for nature. Indeed, Japan does derstanding of reality.1 lead the world In certain environmental areas, such as reduction of conventional air pollutants and compensation of air pollution ALAN S. MILLER is the Executive Director of the victims. On the other hand, Japan has been Center for Global Change, University of Maryland widely criticized for its poor record in preserv- at College Park. Ing Its domestic environment, contribution to tropical deforestation, and unwillingness to CURTIS MOORE is an environmental attorney, protect endangered species. analyst and writer based in McLean, Virginia. He served for eleven years as a consultant to the United States Senate Committee on the Environ- Today, the international community ment and Public Works. clamors for Japan to take its share of re- sponsibility, as an economic superpower, for The Authors would like to thank Harumi Befu, Mi- the global environment. To secure its place wako Kurosaka, Pat Murdo, Richard Forrest, In world affairs, Japan slowly has begun to Martha Harris, Margaret McKean and Jennifer respond to this pressure on issues ranging Whitaker for their comments on the draft of this from Ivory importation to reduction of CFC paper. The authors also gratefully acknowledge emissions. There Is some hope that the research and writing assistance by Susan government's particular willingness to ad- Conbere. ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & POLICY FORUM Edwin Reischauer adds in The Japanese: There is a huge parking area with shops, restaurants, horses to ride Early Shinto centered around the and photographers. Coachloads ar- animistic worship of natural phe- rive, crowds emerge and Immedi- nomenon-the sun, mountains, ately line up to have their pho- trees, water, rocks, and the whole tographs taken ....(Wjhen the sun process of fertility.2 lights Fujisan It reveals the tin cans and other rubbish left behind by the In the Judeo-Christian visitors who had come to see tradition, man was 8 placed above and apart from the rest of na- Japan's symbol of ultimate purity. ture at creationl.3 In contrast, Shinto and Buddhist beliefs maintain a reverence for In a 1989 fourteen-natlon survey com- natural things and view the entire4 universe- missioned by the United Nations Environ- animate and inanimate-as one. ment Programme ("UNEP"), only 44% of the Japanese public polled expressed a willing- Japan and the United States begin with ness to contribute money or labor to Improv- different views of nature, which has had pro- ing their environment. Other nations In the found effects on their respective environ- survey expressed a 60% to 100% willing- mental policies. Localized opposition move- ness to contribute to betterment of the envi- ments protested against continued pollution ronment. Although they expressed great in Japan at least as far back as the late nine- apprehension about global climate change, teenth century, but pollution only became a Japanese respondents cited polluted drink- national issue with the mercury poisoning at ing water as their foremost environmental Minamata and air pollution lawsuits against concern, followed by the pollution of lakes 9 major industries in the 1960s.5 In the United and rivers. However, In a country where States, however, environmentalists have pollution has had devastating effects on focused on conservation of the wilderness human health, the Japanese believe far less since the nineteenth century; Americans often than respondents from other nations assign strong symbolic and cultural that environmental deterioration threatens significance to their national parks. The public health. Japanese hold more utilitarian views, con- sidering nature a resource for humanity to B. Lack of a Strong Citizen's Lobby enjoy.6 The management of Japanese national parks generally is oriented toward facili- The modern Japanese environmental tating maximum visitation and recreational movement began in the early 1960s with activity, possibly including resort develop- anti-pollution citizen movements that op- ment. The Shiga Heights area, home for posed crippling and even lethal industrial tribes of mountain monkeys, had one hotel pollution. These anti-polluion movements before designation as a national park. As of had a significant impact on the government's 1987, "ilt now has twenty-two ski resorts overall environmental policies. The govern- and 101 hotels."7 ment tightened environmental regulations significantly and in some areas, particularly In the United States there is a great deal control of traditional air pollutants, Japan be- of public support for protecting even the came a world leader. However, in contrast to remote parks of Alaska, although few Amer- experiences in the United States and Eu- icans expect to go there and the land may rope, Japanese environmentalists have contain substantial oil reserves. In contrast, failed so tar to build a strong national move- threats to the forests of Hokkaido and the ment able to influence the national political coral reefs in Okinawa, both of which the agenda. The UNEP poll showed that most average Japanese is likely to visit, evoke Japanese do not believe voluntary agencies much less concern in Japan. Perhaps the or community organizations in Japan play an most glaring example of this lack of concern important part in resolving environmental is Mount Fuji, revered for centuries in problems, which they view as the responsi- Japanese paintings and poetry. The land- bility of the government. Onlj 26% of scape of the mountain today reveals a Japanese respondents, compared to 80% different attitude among the Japanese to- to 90% of other respondents, expressed ward nature: support for leaders of such organizations.10 Eugene Linden of Time Magazine notes, JAPAN AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT 37 [i]f anything will hold back progress The feeling that the government is too [on environmental issues], it will be big to fight contributes to the prevailing pub- Japan's lack of environmental ac- lic apathy about the environment,1 8 and the tivists and experts. Only about inaccessibility of important government 15,000 Japanese-most of them documents reinforces this perception. The bird watchers-belong to conserva- national government has no Freedom Of In- tion groups, and the country does formation ("FOI") Act. Some towns and pre- not have an extensive network of fectures do have FOI ordinances, but these environmentalists, like those who often unduly limit access to information. Ac- monitor policies in the United States cording to the Japan Times, "[p]oliticians and Western Europe." have begun to define as public documents only those papers that have been officially A brief examination of the Japanese en- stamped by a set number of officials. Bu- vironmental movement's evolution will eluci- reaucrats have learned to avoid stamping date Its current status and prospects for sensitive documents to keep them out of change. The first environmental activists public hands." An environmental protection were pollution victims and their families, and12 committee in the town of Oiso that opposed others who lived in contaminated areas. the construction of a chemical research labo-

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