Kogai in the 21st century: Environmental issues in Japan

At the end of 20th century, Japan successfully overcame an environmental crisis and improved the citizens’ quality of life. The crisis, referred to as kogai in Japanese, primarily comprised physical and chemical pollution issues. Nowadays, priorities on both global and national environmental agenda usually include the climate change issue (such as creating a low-carbon economy), biodiversity concerns (and problems of land cover changes), and waste and resources management (such as implementing a circular economy, or Sound Material-Cycle Society in Japan). However, some pollution-related challenges have not yet been fully resolved. The aim of this research is to assess the quality of environment in Japan based on national statistics and monitoring data. The problems considered are as follows: air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, vibration, urban noise, land subsidence, and offensive odors. It has been found out that, despite Japan having made significant progress in solving these problems, there still remain such issues as pollution of air with fine particles and photo-oxidants, pollution of lakes and ponds with organic pollutants and of all types of surface waters with dioxins, cadmium soil pollution. The problems of noise and offensive odors in cities have not been solved. The article also features the achievements on the way towards solving the stated problems and instruments of environmental policy (an established monitoring system, open data access, active participation in international environmental policies, active engagement of local government, and responsibility of businesses). These instruments, when used in conjunction with others, allow Japan to successfully move towards the goals of sustainable development. 

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