Environmental Policy in Japan (review)

Japan's rapid industrialization in the post-war period has brought with it a number of positive developments. Though manufacturing activities are often accompanied by the generation of massive amounts of pollutants, Japan, Hidefumi Imura and Miranda Schreurs argue, has nevertheless succeeded in controlling industrial pollution while maintaining economic growth. A number of contributions by various authors seek to demonstrate and explain this relationship. This book is the result of four workshops that resulted in a cohesive and readable volume.

The volume may have been better titled "Environmental Policy for Pollution Control in Japan." As the editors clearly state, the bulk of the book is devoted to tracing the development of environmental policy instruments aimed at reducing the substantial amount of pollution generated in post-Meiji Japan. This is not the book to go to for information on Japan's policies on issues such as wildlife, marine, fisheries and climate change policy, as might have been expected from the broader title. The volume is, however, a great source to explain what factors have made Japanese pollution control policy so successful.

The book begins with detailed historical reviews of the development of Japanese pollution control policy. It then covers the economic effects of pollution control policy instruments, the politics of Japanese pollution control policy, international influences on domestic Japanese environmental politics, and issues of policy design and implementation. It also addresses environmental policy instruments, both traditional (regulatory) and non-orthodox (voluntary). There is a chapter on government-industry agreements, an analysis of financial instruments, and an analysis of environmental technologies and industries in Japan. In conjunction with earlier chapters on environmental management and the lessons that can be learned from Japan's pollution control strategy, the volume may even have analyzed pollution a bit too extensively.

Discussions on the involvement of nongovernmental organizations are surprisingly quite thin, except for some coverage in Jeffrey Broadbent's chapter on Japanese environmental politics. This omission is a bit astonishing, since for anti-toxics environmental groups tend to be quite vocal and efficient at mobilizing. Given the focus of the book (and of Japanese environmental policy) on reductions of polluting emissions, one would expect nongovernmental organizations in Japan to tackle these issues quite powerfully. There is little in the book, however, on the role of Japanese environmental NGOs in pressuring government and industry to minimize pollution. Broadbent touches on the topic, and Schreurs goes a bit further in her chapter. The likely reason for the lack of attention to this issue, as Imura and Schreurs indicate, is that Japan has done little in the way of involving civil society in environmental decision-making.

A notable chapter in the volume is Schreurs' comparison of environmental policy styles in Japan, the European Union and the United States. This chapter examines Japanese policy style from the institutional perspective, but also explains how anti-pollution and conservation movements arose. This chapter alone touches on issue areas (wildlife, protected areas, and climate change) beyond pollution, albeit somewhat briefly. Schreurs indicates that the Japanese environmental policy style has evolved towards a less-regulatory approach, a trend that has become prevalent worldwide. She finds that Japanese innovations have been in the areas of point-source pollution control, in air and water, as well as in developments in energy efficiency, and argues that this model can and will be exported to other Asian countries. Imura concurs in his conclusion to the volume, suggesting that Japanese pollution control policy can and should be used as a model for other industrialized and industrializing nations.

The book draws two additional lessons: first, that pollution control problems require substantial investments in pollution minimization equipment, and second, that a good way to tackle a contaminant-related problem is to link it with the public health implications. Knowing that their activities generated itai (pain) might have had an impact in the way corporate managers dealt with issues of pollution generation.

Overall, Imura and Schreurs have unveiled the intricacies of Japanese pollution control policy in...