ABSTRACT
The comparison between cases of different scale and in different East Asian countries which, although both have a lot in common culturally and historically, remain as different as Taiwan and Japan aims to provide an analytical tool for the socio-history of conflicts between the environment and industry, and a prospect for transnational studies on these issues. In Taiwan, the institutional democratization which started in the 1990s has encouraged the victims of industrial hazards to bring their grievances to court, an act that would have been almost impossible during the period of martial law. The chronic pollution that has plagued the Anshun area can be traced back to 1942, when the Japanese chemical company Kanegafuchi Soda, asubsidiary of the firm Kanebo, started the production of caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, liquid chlorine and toxic gas to be used in the war effort. Caustic soda was made through electrolysis of the chloralkali process using large quantities of mercury.
