Some basic facts on Japan according to the CIA Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html
 

• Total area of Japan is 377,835 sq km; it is slightly smaller than California.
• Four core islands exist: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.
• Among them, Honshu has major concentration of population and industrial centers such as Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya (Toyoya).
• Japan is an advanced industrial nation and has several environmental issues: air pollution from power plant emissions results in acid rain; acidification of lakes and reservoirs degrading water quality and threatening aquatic life.
• Japan is one of the largest consumers of fish and tropical timber, contributing to the depletion of these resources in Asia and elsewhere.
• Japan's population is over 120 million (it is the about 8-10th largest population in the world).
• Japan is almost entirely racially homogeneous (99% are Japanese and others are 1% (Korean 511,262, Chinese 244,241, Brazilian 182,232, Filipino 89,851, other 237,914) (2000).

Research Questions:

• Where are the most heavily polluted areas in Japan?
• Who are the most disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards esp. since the nation is virtually homogeneous?
• What are some of the demographics that characterize the regions that are most heavily polluted in Japan?

Data:
 

• ArcView 3.2 Shapefile of Japan (from ESRI Japan and University of Tokyo)

• Census Data (Japanese Census Bureau)

• Hazardous Waste Site Facility Locations (Sanpai Net)

Some indepth information on Hazardous Waste Sites in Japan

"Specially Controlled Waste Disposal Sites" in Japan

There are two types of waste disposal sites in Japan: general waste disposal sites and 'specially controlled waste disposal sites.'  Both waste disposal facilities must obtain a permission from local governmental authorities (special city or prefecture).  As for the year 2000, 907 general waste disposal facilities (permanent waste management, thus it does not include over 2000 temporal waste disposal sites) exist in Japan.  They deal with only less dangerous and non-toxic wastes that are not specified in the list of the Ministry of Health and Labor.  In the same year, 35 companies obtained permission for permanent specially controlled waste disposal facilities.  These companies can have facilities in more than one regions with this permit.  They can deal with highly toxic wastes such as dioxin, poisoned industrial wastes, and virus infected medical wastes.  They must satisfy several requirements to be a facility for this category.

These 'specially controlled waste disposal facilities' are of three different types.  They include:

1. 1) Permanent 'specially controlled waste disposal facilities' which are those hazardous waste facilities that are permanently situated in an area and are likely to serve as the final destination in which hazardous wastes end up;
2. 2) Temporary 'specially controlled waste disposal facilities' which are those that keep wastes for a limited amount of time and are eventually moved to the final (permanent) disposal sites.  Sometimes wastes are transformed into a less toxic state here before they are moved
3. 3) Transporter 'specially controlled waste disposal facilities' are points where transprotation companies collect wastes and hold until they move to a temporary or final disposal site.

72 Permanently Specially Controlled Waste Disposal Facilities in all of Japan ----LOOK HERE!!!!!!

Some preliminary analysis using the census data:

Number of Industrial Companies

Seeing that the facility point locations correspond to areas where there is a high number of industrial companies locations can be a good cross check to make sure that the facilities are in fact in areas that would 'make sense.'  I would expect to see the especially hazardous waste facilities to be in close proximity to a high concentration of industrial companies and indeed, in this map, we can see that this is true.

Percent Unemployed

Nighttime Population

Conclusions Thus Far:

• Need to control each variable to see the real factors that determines the location of the hazardous waste facilities in Japan.
• Based on the maps above, each of the variables (industrial area, unemployment rate, residential area) tested seems to have an effect

In order to do a closer study of Japan, I have broken up the nation into 8 regions as follows:

A Preliminary Study at the Prefectural Level

Even within these 8 regions, it may be more meaningful to look at an area at the prefectural level.  At this point in time, I have yet to discover which regions would be the most ideal areas for this type of study.  In order to take a first stab at figuring this out, I have further conducted another preliminary study looking at a few prefectures based on two hypothetical factors that are likely to affect where facilities are likely to be sited in Japan.  These two factors are degree of industrialization and geography.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS STUDY!