Appreciate the ephemeral side of nature
The country's environment, culture and economy have influenced its relationship with nature. Japan's geographical and tectonic location on the "Ring of Fire" means it is subject to major natural hazards, notably earthquakes and volcanism. The violence of these phenomena has permeated the country's culture. In the past, a legend attributed earthquakes to the movement of a catfish, Namazu, living in the depths of the Earth. Some deeply-rooted popular beliefs see natural disasters as the punishment of mankind. To better understand the Japanese relationship with their environment, we must also examine it in the light of Shintoism and Buddhism. Shintoism celebrates communion with nature, with venerated deities whose habitats are springs, mountains or rocks. Rice festivals are community ceremonies that have been held for over 2,000 years, in homage to the fertility deities. Buddhism teaches us not to become attached to things, emphasizing impermanence. Hanami, the Japanese custom of appreciating the beauty of blossoming trees in springtime, illustrates this attitude of contemplating the ephemeral side of life, in the image of this extreme beauty that the slightest breath of wind can dissipate. This learning of detachment enables us to accept the vagaries of life and move forward. In the 12th century, Kamo no Chômei wrote in Notes from my monk's hut: "The same river flows endlessly, but it's never the same water. Here and there, on the tranquil surfaces, specks of foam appear and disappear, never lingering long. It's the same with people here on earth and their homes." Tokyo has been destroyed and rebuilt several times in its history, first by the earthquake and fire of 1923, then by the bombings of the Second World War. Today, the Japanese live in anticipation of the " big one ", a very strong earthquake that could strike Tokyo within the next thirty years.
When development brutalizes nature
The economy has also helped shape the Japanese relationship with their environment. With the Meiji era in the 19th century, industrialization began, resulting in a relationship of destruction and predation of nature, which accelerated after the Second World War. Vast industrial complexes were built along the coast. Tokyo, for example, sacrificed its coastline to the development of its port and Haneda airport. In the cities, waterways were concreted over, and the air and rivers suffered from pollution. On the fishing front, commercial whaling resumed in 2019 despite protests from the international community. Over the centuries, mountains have suffered from deforestation. Erosion has led to the formation of sand, and conifers have gradually replaced the primary forest, laurisylva. So the traditional image of "blue pines and white sands" is the result of a man-made construction. The decline in biodiversity can be illustrated by the drop in firefly populations. Fragmentation of their habitat and agricultural pollution are the main factors in this decline, along with the trade in fireflies that transports them to restaurant and hotel gardens.
Japanese gardens or nature created by man
Japanese gardens are an intellectual construction. The earth and the water are symbolic elements, represented by the ponds, that the visitor can contemplate or walk around. Extremely worked, revealing a great sensibility and aesthetics in each season, they are above all the projection of a paradise. Zen gardens or dry gardens, almost exclusively mineral, are spaces that invite meditation. The traveler visiting Tokyo and especially Kyoto will be spoilt for choice to immerse himself in the atmosphere of Japanese gardens. It is estimated that there are more than 300 monastery gardens in the ancient capital! The Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) Temple Garden in Kyoto has a dry garden (called "Sea of Silver Sand") and a moss garden with ponds, bridges, small streams and plants. The Saiho-ji Temple Garden, nicknamed the "Moss Temple", has a circular path around the "Golden Pond". In Tokyo, the Koishikawa Botanical Garden, attached to the university, will delight naturalists. Shinjuku Gyoen Park is a vast 58-hectare area with a wide variety of species and over 1,500 cherry trees.
National Parks
The country has many different types of protected areas, including 34 national parks, 56 "quasi-national" parks and prefectural nature parks. Their purpose is to preserve extremely varied ecosystems. These include Daisetsuzan National Park and Shiretoko National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the island of Hokkaido. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is home to Mount Fuji, while Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, on the island of Kyūshū and listed by UNESCO, protects volcanic ecosystems.
From the destruction of nature to the environmental movements
In the course of its history, Japan has experienced a number of serious accidents that have provoked reactions and given rise to the first movements that could be described as environmentalist. At the end of the 19th century, the discharge of effluent from the Ashio copper mine contaminated rivers and rendered land infertile, sparking revolt. In 1910, this event fueled a speech by Shōzō Tanaka, advocating the reappropriation of "natural harmony", drawing on Confucianism and Buddhism. Today, it is considered a forerunner of the ecology movement. In 1973, Japan also experienced a very serious industrial accident at Minamata, resulting in a mercury spill that polluted the natural environment and contaminated the entire food chain, causing death and serious illness. As with the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, when it became apparent that safety systems had been under-designed to cope with the risk of flooding, the accident was hotly contested. Demonstrations by citizens bearing paper sunflowers symbolized this desire to restore the balance with nature. The 1970s also saw the emergence of another vision of agriculture, based on agroecological methods. Masanobu Fukuoka published The Revolution of a Single Strand of Straw, the inspiration for Permaculture today. However, organic farming in Japan is underdeveloped, and you'll find very few organic stores. This is due to the stranglehold of cooperatives, the absence of government subsidies, and consumers' taste for standardized, packaged products. However, civil society is mobilized around environmental issues. Tokyo residents, for example, have decided to clean up the city's coastline. Thanks to their efforts, a beach is now accessible to bathers, which had not been the case since the 1970s due to pollution.
On August 24, 2023, Japan begins the discharge of treated water from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. These operations are scheduled to take place over the next 30 years. Japan's neighboring countries (including China, South Korea, Taiwan, Russia and the Philippines) were opposed to the project, as were Japanese fishermen and environmental organizations.
Towards zero waste
Certain ancestral values are part of Japanese culture, such as the fight against waste and living simply, without the superfluous. This " wabi-sabi-inspired " way of life facilitates the deployment of the "zero waste" approach promoted in the country. Add to this a regulatory framework (selective collection) and awareness-raising, and you'll see a host of attractive initiatives flourish. These include furoshiki, or the art of wrapping with recycled fabrics, tawashi, a sponge made from used fabric, andoriculi, a bamboo ear pick. The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper is made from a recycled paper composed of water and seeds; once you've finished reading, simply plant it... and you'll have flowers. The reuse of broken objects is also made possible by the kintsugi technique. In Tokyo, an ephemeral bar, thee Gomi Pit, has opened its doors in 2019 in a waste incineration plant, to raise awareness in situ. After all, the least polluting waste is the one we don't produce! Plastic consumption, particularly in relation to packaging, is still very high, and we need to continue our efforts to prevent it.
Climate and air quality: burning issues
The city of Tokyo embarked on an anti-diesel policy in the late 1990s. The campaign focused on health and was based on measures to reduce the number of diesel vehicles. At the same time, the government issued binding regulations in this direction. Between 2001 and 2011 the concentration of fine particles in Tokyo decreased by 55%. However, in 2010, the government did an about-face... in the name of the fight against the greenhouse effect (diesel being considered less emissive than gasoline). Sales of diesel cars would have increased by 80% between 2012 and 2014 in the country! The issue of energy transition remains a current challenge in Japan, where the government's objectives are not up to the climate challenges, namely carbon neutrality by 2050. The share of fossil fuels in the country's energy mix remains significant. In 2020, major industrialists, pushed by their customers and supported by a powerful business lobby, asked the government to increase the country's share of renewable energy by 2030. In terms of transport, active mobility, including cycling, is developing in Japan, particularly in the major cities, combined with intermodality (cycling and train).
