Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [59]
Concrete is an unfortunate theme of Japan’s environment. Decades of public works projects have produced a land of mountainsides, embankments, shorelines, rivers and streams covered with concrete or otherwise reinforced. Landslides and erosion are real threats in Japan, but often the countermeasures seem like overkill: witness massive concrete fortifications built up around minuscule brooks.
Fortunately, environmental consciousness is on the rise in Japan, and more effort is being put into recycling, conservation and protection of natural areas. Through this, hopefully some of Japan’s remaining areas of beauty will be preserved for future generations.
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In 2000 Japan’s cement production was around twice the global average, according to the Japan Times. Some 5570km of Japan’s coastline, or nearly 50%, has been completely or substantially altered by cement.
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Alex Kerr’s book Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Modern Japan is a primer on the country’s addiction to wasteful construction projects. Check out Kerr’s website at www.alex-kerr.com.
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THE LAND
Japan is an island nation but it has not always been so. As recently as the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago, the level of the sea rose enough to flood a land bridge that connected Japan to the Asian continent. Today, Japan consists of a chain of islands that rides the back of a 3000km-long arc of mountains along the eastern rim of the continent. It stretches from around 25°N at the southern islands of Okinawa to 45°N at the northern end of Hokkaidō. Cities at comparable latitudes are Miami and Cairo in the south and Montreal and Milan in the north. Japan’s total land area is 377,435 sq km, and more than 80% of it is mountainous.
Japan consists of some 3900 small islands and four major ones: Honshū (slightly larger than Britain), Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku. Okinawa, the largest and most significant of Japan’s many smaller islands, is about halfway along an archipelago that stretches from the western tip of Honshū almost all the way to Taiwan. It is far enough from the rest of Japan to have developed a culture that differs from that of the ‘mainland’ in many respects.
There are several disputed islands in the Japanese archipelago. The most important of these are the Kuril Islands, north of Hokkaidō. Seized by Russia at the close of WWII, they have been a source of tension between Japan and Russia ever since. While the Japanese have made some progress towards their return in recent years, they remain part of Russia.
If Japanese culture has been influenced by isolation, it has equally been shaped by the country’s mountainous topography. A number of the mountains are volcanic, and more than 100 of these are active, many of them on the southern island of Kyūshū. The Meteorological Agency watches 34 volcanoes in Japan around the clock. One of the latest eruptions was Mt Asama, a volcano northwest of Tokyo that sent smoke 2km into the air and cast ash over parts of the capital in February 2009.
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A MIXED BAG Timothy N Hornyak
Japan is known for designing energy-efficient products, and its arts and traditional culture have a deep sensitivity to nature and the seasons. But what’s the view on conservation among the Japanese?
It’s a mixed bag. Most Japanese cooperate with complex municipal waste policies, and throw away only half as much as Americans do. But it’s not unusual to see country roadsides littered with unwanted vehicles and appliances. Old TVs, PCs and other Japanese ‘e-waste’ often end up in unregulated