Environmental Politics in Japan

Japan experienced rapid industrial growth after World War II, but its economic miracle brought dramatic environmental deterioration. In the early 1970s, as local protest movements grew more vocal, the Japanese government moved relatively swiftly to regulate industrial pollution and succeeded in reducing its air and water pollution, but not many other environmental problems. This book analyzes the social, cultural, and political-economic causes of Japan's dramatic environmental damage and eventual partial restoration from 1955 to 1995. A case of regional heavy industrial growth and environmental protest in rural Japan provides the local details of how pro-growth and pro-environment coalitions mobilized, struggled, and affected policy outcomes in Japan. The author uses the case-study finding to comment on sociological and political science theories about the effects of culture and social structure on state policy-making, social control, protest movement mobilization and success, and environmental problem-solving.