On a new energy saving lighting technology by United Solar Guide, Inc. in Tokyo, the director, Hiro Okahashi, had this to say:

...As to why the company chose to target California for its sales, Okahashi said that the public, the power companies and local governments there are more eager to promote energy saving than those in Japan, partly because the state experienced an electricity supply crisis that led to widespread blackouts in 2000 and 2001...

...But in Japan, he ruefully remarked, such measures [cash rebates to consumers, government tax breaks] to reward energy savers have not been introduced, and this lack of incentives discourages companies and households from reducing their use of power...

The waste of energy and resources is readily apparent in Tokyo except to visiting journalists who discover such things as architects who have fuel cells powering their apartments and report it as sort of a common thing in Tokyo. Perhaps it will change, but if it does it will be thanks to companies after profits and consumers out to save money. Not to the Kyoto Accords or any imaginary spirit that exists uniquely in Japan.

(The national government and media is more concerned with other, more important things such as: Will the next ineffective, bumbling, slow-footed LDP leader be a right-wing nutjob, or a mere bore.)

Green fading to brown

Car makers are not doing enough to meet the European Union's proposed targets for cutting carbon dioxide emissions, with several Japanese car brands facing the biggest challenge to make the grade, a report said on Tuesday....

...While Toyota and Honda rank fourth and fifth in the table of efficiency, with 15 and 16 percent cuts to be made, Nissan, Mazda and Suzuki are three of the four worst-performing brands and face heavy cuts...

Just a few years ago, Toyota sullied its reputation as a "green" company somewhat by opposing tougher standards in the US at the time when they were about to bring out their huge pickup (Tacoma as I recall).

Money talks. Good intentions are no more than good intentions. The only way that any progress will be made on global warming is if it becomes profitable (or necessary by law) for companies and consumers to change.

I am very skeptical about global warming. Not that it is occurring or that human activity is a or the major factor, but that anyone is serious about attempting to do anything about it.

While not directly Japan-related, NPR's Science Friday has an interview with Dr. Paul Ehrlich in which he discusses the possibility that the planet may be on the verge of a 6th major mass extinction. About 14 minutes through the interview, he discusses why continued population growth is not a good thing and that wealthy countries should be attempting to cut population growth.

I don't live a fantasy of returning to a dreamworld nature and eating pine cones while living in a grass hut, but who knows, 50-100 years from now, Japan's now shrinking population could turn out to have been a blessing in some ways. It may be in better shape than the US with its predicted 440,000,000 people. (2050).

The interview is quite interesting. He asserts that the environment is in much worse shape than scientists are willing to say publicly. (The Boy George administration helps with the silence too.)

Gas and Global Warming

I was a little late in returning home last night because I had coffee with a civil servant. He's an interesting guy usually and talking to him is sometimes educational. For example, last night he explained that it is now a season called Obon and filled me in on the details of what it is. He does me the same favor every year for every holiday. Don't know if he does this favor for me because I am a non-Japanese who could not be expected to know such things no matter how long I live here, or if it is because I am of the ignorant peasant class and not a bureaucrat.

Anyway, I got on a relatively empty train home and stood near the door so that I could make a transfer a few stations later without being pushed, shoved, and trampled very much. I am fast enough that I can move through the doors and be out of the way before the main mob tries to rush out all at the same time.

I was again first in line at my transfer station and the train soon arrived with a number of empty seats. Even though I was first in line this time, I did not rush through the doors like a man with his ass on fire in order to get a seat while pretending that I didn't really want one. I leave that sort of thing to the children as it seems un-adult to do it. I have not yet fully adapted to the unique train riding culture.

A few minutes after the train departed, I smelled a rather sulfurous odor. At first I thought it was the breath of a guy who had moved closer to me to talk to his girlfriend, but his mouth was not pointed in my direction. Another thought entered my mind. I looked around to see if former Prime Minister Abe was on the train. I did not see him, so I had to assume that it was some other person with bowel trouble.

Then I started to worry as I often do when this happens. Was it me? After all, I am certain that one could find people---often foreigners---who would claim that Japanese don't fart and even if they did it wouldn't smell bad. You know, someone like the New York Times fashion section reporter who a few years ago wrote an article in which he claimed that the Japanese have "almost no body odor."

I felt somewhat relieved to see another Westerner on the train who could also serve as a suspect in the silent fart attack. Everyone on board was acting innocent and pretending that nothing was wrong, so the guilty person could not be determined.

While enjoying this fun-filled sardine can trip home, I got to thinking about gases and global warming and Japan's leadership in fighting it. Earlier that afternoon I had walked through Denenchofu and was able to keep cool on a very hot day just by standing in front of the open doors of Magi (26 August: oops! Actual name is Maggy.) as they had their AC blowing full blast. A few other shops were doing the same. It used to be even more popular in many areas of Tokyo and one could always enjoy a refreshing breeze standing in front of a shop with its doors wide open and the air conditioning blowing out into the street.

Now this is the way to cool down the earth and save the polar bear. Forget the closing of 24-hour 7-11s at night. More aggressive action is needed. And besides, it's a tradition. Stores in Tokyo have been cooling the sidewalk and planet for decades with their air conditioners. It's all part of the unique relationship with, and respect for, nature.

How green are Japan's urbanites? (Japan Times)

The Japan Times lists just a few more areas in which, as posted below, Japan is not as splendidly "green" as believed:

"Yet in a recent poll of consumers from 14 countries by National Geographic and the international polling firm GlobeScan, Japanese houses were found to be the second-least sustainable, only outranking ones in the United States.

I think they mean "only outranked by the ones in the US." Follow the link for more.

Added at 1227pm: And another JT article by Takamitsu Sawa on PM Fukuda's low-carbon society:

Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the Japanese government has done little or nothing. As I recall, the only actions taken were enacting the 1998 Energy Conservation Law and encouraging people to dress lightly in summer to save energy. As a result, the volume of greenhouse gases emitted in Japan in fiscal 2006 was 6.2 percent above 1990 levels....

Again, follow the link for a relatively detailed and thorough examination of the internal opposition Japan faces in regards to Kyoto.

What he said.

I have always thought---and tried unsuccessfully to put into words---that Japan's reputation as a leader in the fight to reduce global warming or in about any other environmental issue was/is highly exaggerated. In fact, in many areas of environmental conservation/preservation, Japan is anything but a leader or role model.

Andrew DeWit has published a piece on Japan Focus: The G8 Mirage: Toyako, Japan's Potemkin Village, and the Environment which I wish that I could have written. He starts out by listing some of the often overly enthusiastic foreign and domestic media reports on Japan's environmental record especially as far as energy conservation and CO2 reduction is concerned. He then goes over some of the statements of Japanese politicians and bureaucrats who naturally want to add to the idea of Japan's special---dare we say unique?---role in this fight. Then he notes:

The Japanese elite enjoy the brand-name benefits conferred by “Kyoto,” but have made little attempt to meet its explicit targets or achieve its proposed trajectory towards more stringent and comprehensive mechanisms.

(I recall that Japan did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol until after Bush had walked away from the agreement. This was in 2000 or 2001, 3-4 years after Kyoto. Yea, very enthusiastic.)

He then shows that although Japan is "at best on par with" the EU, it is not the global leader in the energy efficiency and environmental fields. He uses data from the German Watch’s Climate Change Performance Index (compares emissions trends and climate protection) which showed that Japan is dropped from 39th place in 2007 to 42nd in 2008 while China (of all places) improved from 44th to 40th in the same period.

One of his more interesting points is that while Germany's (and others) economy was growing faster than Japan's from 1997-2007, its energy consumption was falling while Japan's was increasing. During this period Germany's population was growing while Japan's was---and still is---falling.

Dewit then explores other areas of energy use in Japan, and ends with a look at what two Japanese environmental experts Iida Tetsunari of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, and Kameyama Yoshiko of the University of Tokyo-based National Institute for Environmental Studies have to say about the myths and distortions of the Japanese leadership. Their research shows that Japan actually slipping behind and will not even be able to meet the Kyoto target of a 6% energy cut this year.

There is much, much more information in that article. It is the kind of research and writing that is needed concerning Japan, but is rarely ever found in the mainstream media. They are too busy reporting on fantasy Japan.