Environmental issues in Japan
Repeated floods occurred in the Watarase River basin, and 1,600 hectares of farmland and towns and villages in Tochigi and Gunma prefectures were damaged by the floodwater, which contained excessive inorganic copper compounds from the Ashio mine.
[1] The local breeders led by Shōzō Tanaka, a member of the Lower House from Tochigi appealed to the prefecture and the government to call a halt to the mining operations.
Although the mining company paid compensatory money and the government engaged in the embankment works of the Watarase River, no fundamental solution of the problem was achieved.
Japan is the world's leading importer of both exhaustible and renewable natural resources[citation needed] and one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels.
In urban areas photochemical smog from automotive and industrial exhaust fumes also contributed to a rise in respiratory problems.
[3] These movements gained momentum as Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda's Income Doubling Plan placed a priority on economic growth at all costs, exacerbating environmental problems.
"[3] Responding to rising popular pressure and outrage, the Diet passed fourteen anti-pollution laws in a single session, in what was seen as a turning point in environmental policy.
[6] Another report in 2002 said that the mix of instruments used to implement environmental policy is highly effective and regulations are strict, well enforced and based on strong monitoring capacities.
New spent-nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant was constructed in Rokkasho in 2008, the site of the underground nuclear-waste repository for the HLW and LLW has not yet been decided.
[16] In a fact sheet released by the FAO in 2010, it highlighted that with the exception of 2007, Japan has been the leading importer of fish and fishery products since 1970s.
By 2004, the number of adult Atlantic Bluefin Tuna capable of spawning had plummeted to roughly 19 percent of the 1975 level in the western half of the ocean.
[23] However, because of the depletion of ocean stocks in the late 20th century and government intervention, Japan's total annual fish catch has been diminishing rapidly.
The massive nationwide rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of World War II, and the development of the following decades, led to even further urbanization and construction.
Alex Kerr, in his books "Lost Japan" and "Dogs & Demons",[24] is one of a number of authors who focuses heavily on the environmental problems related to Japan's construction industry, and the industry's lobbying power preventing the introduction of stricter zoning laws and other environmental issues.
