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Environmental issues
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It has to be said that first impressions of Japan's natural environment tend not to be very positive. In the postwar era there has been a massive shift towards an urbanized society, a society where successful people move to the city not away from it and where, for the younger generation in particular, contact with nature can be limited to walks in the park with the dog. Cities sprawl in all directions, a confusing mess of power cables and pulsing neon, with little evidence of planning controls. When you do reach the countryside, electricity pylons march across every view, cliffs are shored up with concrete and the coastline consists of nothing but sea walls and offshore breakwaters.
This can partly be explained by the desire to control, or attempt to control, the violent natural forces at play - devastating earthquakes, tidal waves, monsoons, volcanoes - and partly the economic and political might of the construction industry. In the words of one of Japan's leading activists, Yamashita Hirofumi, "Japan's postwar development has had a disastrous impact on the natural environment". Whatever the reason, it comes as something of a shock. After all, this is the nation justly famous for its cherry blossom and fiery autumn colours, which announces the changing seasons on the national news and which prides itself on its heightened aesthetic awareness. However, nature does still play a pivotal role in Japanese life, as well as its literature, art and religion. Spectacular areas of unspoilt natural beauty are still to be found and there's a growing awareness of the need to safeguard them. The best require a little effort to reach, but even the largest cities contain important havens in their parks and shrine gardens.
Catherine Whyte
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