Appreciate the ephemeral side of nature
The environment, culture and economy have influenced the relationship with nature in the country. Japan, because of its geographical and tectonic situation, on the "belt of fire", is subject to major natural risks, in particular earthquake and volcanism. The violence of these phenomena has permeated the culture of the country. In the past, a legend attributed earthquakes to the movement of a catfish, Namazu, living in the depths of the Earth. Some deep-rooted popular beliefs see natural disasters as a punishment for humans. To better understand the Japanese relationship with their environment, it is also necessary to examine it in the light of Shintoism and Buddhism. Shintoism celebrates communion with nature, the venerated deities whose habitats are springs, mountains or rocks. Rice festivals are community ceremonies that have been held for over 2,000 years in honor of the fertility deities. Buddhism teaches not to be attached to things, emphasizing impermanence. Hanami, the Japanese custom of appreciating the beauty of trees in bloom in the spring, illustrates this attitude of contemplating the ephemeral side of life, like this extreme beauty that the slightest wind can dissipate. This learning of detachment allows one to accept the hazards and to move forward. In the twelfth century, Kamo no Chomei wrote in Notes from my monk's hut: "The same river flows endlessly, but it is never the same water. Here and there, on the still surfaces, patches of foam appear and disappear, but never linger for long. It is the same with men here on earth and their dwellings Thus, Tokyo has been destroyed and rebuilt several times during its history, such as during the earthquake and fire of 1923, and then during the bombings of World War II. The Japanese are now living in anticipation of the " big one ", an earthquake of very high magnitude that could strike Tokyo in the next thirty years.
When development brutalizes nature
The economy has also helped to shape the relationship of the Japanese to their environment. With the Meiji era, in the 19th century, industrialization began, resulting in a relationship of destruction and predation of nature, which continued in an accelerated manner after the Second World War. The coasts are developed of vast industrial complexes. Tokyo has thus sacrificed its coastline to the development of its port and the Haneda airport. In the cities, the waterways are concreted, the air and the rivers suffer from pollution. In terms of fishing, commercial whaling has resumed in 2019 despite the protest of the international community. The mountains have suffered over the centuries from deforestation. Erosion has led to the formation of sand and conifers have gradually replaced the primary forest, the laurel. Thus the traditional image of "blue pines and white sands" is the result of an anthropic construction. The decline in biodiversity can be illustrated by the decrease in firefly populations. Fragmentation of their habitat and agricultural pollution are the main factors of this decline, along with the trade of which they are victims, to transport them in the gardens of restaurants and hotels.
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 various types of protected areas, including 34 national parks, 56 "quasi-national" parks and prefectural nature parks. Their purpose is the preservation of extremely varied ecosystems. Among them are Daisetsuzan National Park and Shiretok National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Hokkaido Island. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is home to Mount Fuji, and Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, located 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 several 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 effluents from the Ashio copper mine contaminated rivers and rendered land infertile, giving rise to revolt movements. This event fueled a speech in 1910 by Shōzō Tanaka, advocating the reclaiming of "natural harmony," drawing on Confucianism and Buddhism. It is considered today as an ancestor of the environmentalist movements. Japan also experienced a very serious industrial accident in 1973, in Minamata, which resulted in the release of mercury, polluting the natural environment and contaminating the entire food chain, causing death and serious illness. It was the subject of strong protests, as was the case for the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, when it became clear that the safety systems had been undersized in the face of the risk of flooding. This led to demonstrations by citizens with paper sunflowers as a symbol of the desire to restore the balance with nature. The 1970s also saw the emergence of another vision of agriculture, based on agroecological methods. This is how Masanobu Fukuoka published The Revolution of a Single Straw, from which permaculture is inspired today. However, organic farming is not very developed in Japan and you will find very few organic stores. The reason for this is the control of cooperatives, the lack of government support, and the taste of consumers for calibrated and packaged products. However, civil society is mobilized around the environment. For example, some inhabitants of Tokyo 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.
Towards zero waste
Certain ancestral values are part of Japanese culture, such as the fight against waste and the fact of living with simplicity, without superfluous. This art of living inspired by "wabi-sabi" facilitates the deployment of the "zero waste" approach promoted in the country. Add to this a regulation (selective collection), awareness raising, and you will see beautiful initiatives bloom. Among them, let's mention the furoshiki or the art of wrapping with recycled fabrics, the tawashi, a sponge made of used fabrics, or the oriculi, a bamboo ear pick. The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper is made of a recycled paper made of water and seeds; once the reading is over, you just have to plant it... to get flowers. The reuse of broken objects is also made possible with the kintsugitechnique. In Tokyo an ephemeral bar,the Gomi Pit, opened in 2019 in a waste incineration facility, to raise awareness in situ. Because the least polluting waste is the one we do not produce! The consumption of plastic, particularly in relation to packaging, remains very high, and efforts must be continued in terms of prevention.
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).
