Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific

Volume 72, No. 2

 

Whither Japan's Environmental Movement? An Assessment of Problems
By Robert J. Mason

 

Abstract

Although several thousand local recycling groups, food cooperatives, and other small groups are active in Japan, there is not a strong national environmental movement. This is explained not so much by Japan's emphasis on wa (harmony) as it is by systematic state policies that make citizen participation in government affairs costly and difficult. Most environmental NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are not legally incorporated and do not have tax-exempt status. Recent social and political developments, including enactment of legislation that makes it easier for NGOs to become incorporated, hold promise for the development of a more vigorous civic environmental culture. Nonetheless, increasing opportunities for citizen participation are likely to be accompanied by greater government cooptation of the environmental movement.