Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
orchestration and ideological manipulation, around the twin notions of a
harmonious and homogeneous society. The post-war Japanese economic trajectory—
Figure 8.2
Rocks are strewn across the Ichinoe waterway in east Tokyo with
artificial casualness. Ecologists have criticised this redesigned waterway, and drawn
attention to failures to provide natural habitats.
Source:
Author's photograph
whether in its earlier high-growth or later low-growth phase—has several salient
features which have a particular bearing on the state of the Japanese environment.
These include the state's success in co-opting and then diluting opposition to
industrial development; the size and influence of the construction industry; the
reliance on public works to act as a motor for economic growth; and the continued
faith placed by Japan's elites in the redemptive power of technology. In other words,
the state has attempted to ensure political stability through a rigorous application of
a technocratic programme of construction-led growth (Broadbent 1998; Hein
1993). Even in recent years of capitalist crisis in Japan, and despite the recent
strengthening of the position of forces campaigning for greater 'ecological justice',
the ideological linkage of economic growth with construction in concrete and the
political alliance between politicians and agents of the construction industry both
remain solid. All this has been highly damaging to human health and the natural
environment. It has also resulted in the casting in concrete of mountain slopes and
long stretches of Japan's heavily indented coastline. A similar fate has befallen the
beds and banks of many waterways as they flow through Japan's densely populated
urban areas, most of which are located on flat alluvial flood-plains on or near land
reclaimed from the sea. Rivers and related issues of water management have become
