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Paper short abstract:

This paper argues that a shift in economic behavior during the high-growth era was a critical factor behind a swift tempo in which plastics infiltrated every aspect of life in Japan. This is why recycling is doomed to remain of marginal importance as the solution for the plastic waste problem.

Paper long abstract:

The city of Minamata made history as the site of one of the most disastrous environmental pollution cases in Japan, giving its name to Minamata disease, a neurological syndrome caused by methylmercury poisoning from the industrial wastewater released by the Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory. Minamata has become a definitive symbol of both the dark side of postwar Japan’s high growth and the rise of its citizens’ movement. But one detail that has fallen into obscurity is the pivotal role played in Japan’s postwar history of the product to which the citizens of the Minamata Bay succumbed. PVC was the first of many types of plastic materials that have since the 1950s infiltrated the Japanese landscape.

Plastic was not merely indispensable for the growth of the automobile and electronic industries, but also functioned as a critical fabric in the construction of postwar life, from vinyl tunnels and FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) bathtubs to multilayer onigiri wrapping and Heattech underwear. Half a century after the embrace of the promise of comfort and convenience embodied by such products, plastic has emerged as a major social problem in Japan, as per capita plastic waste generation skyrocketed. While the ideal of circular economy remains at the forefront of public debate about the solutions for the plastic conundrum, the Japanese industry explores new avenues of growth.

As this paper will demonstrate, a spectacular growth of the Japanese petrochemical industry was a critical factor behind a swift tempo in which plastics infiltrated every aspect of life in postwar Japan. The strategy of constantly developing new products was not only crucial for the success of the high-growth policies, but also generated a shift in the ethics of economic behavior that has never faded away. This is why, as this paper will argue, recycling is doomed to remain of marginal importance as the solution for the plastic waste problem in Japan. Instead, we need to pay more attention to the process of replacement of fossil fuel resins by innovative materials, which will allow for the tenacious continuation of the dizzying cycle of consumption inculcated during the era of high growth.

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Paper short abstract:

Militarism in Okinawa is a controversial issue, especially when looking at accompanying environmental problems. Activists pushed this topic into the focus of anti-base protest in the last two decades. The paper examines relations between military sites, endangered species and anti-base activists.

Paper long abstract:

Okinawa Prefecture hosts roughly 70% of the U.S. military presence, most of it on Okinawa Island. As a response to China’s growing economic and military power, the Japan Self Defense Forces are additionally increasing their presence throughout the Ryukyu Archipelago, by detaching new weapon systems and by building military facilities on islands like Yonaguni, Ishigaki and Miyako. At the same time, the loss of biodiversity on a global level pushes the fate of endangered species more and more to the centre of national and international attention. In the case of Okinawa, the habitat of such species often overlaps with already existing or planned military facilities. This is for example the case with the habitat of the Okinawa dugong, a critically endangered marine mammal, that was frequently spotted in the waters of Oura Bay, where the Japanese government is currently constructing a new military base for the U.S. Marine Corps. Another example of this overlap between military usage and endangered species’ habitat is the Northern Training Area, situated in the Yanbaru forest of northern Okinawa Island. Parts of this forest adjoining the Northern Training Area have been declared a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site, as it is home to rare species like the Okinawan woodpecker and the Okinawan rail.

The paper explores the connections between these endangered species, sites of military usage and local as well as international protest by environmental activists against these bases. In order to find strategies how to deal with the current extinction crisis our planet is facing, I argue, that close attention must be paid to specific sites and the specific relations endangered species have to these spaces. In the case of Okinawa, militarism (among other factor such as mass tourism and coastal armouring) plays an important role in understanding the threats to the entanglements between specific spaces and their human and nonhuman inhabitants. The paper builds up on multispecies ethnographic fieldwork conducted throughout the prefecture in 2021 and 2022.