ABSTRACT
Japan is poised to take on the responsibilities of environmental leadership. The environment is a “new” issue and the assumption by Japan of an activist role will not provoke unease in Asia about Japanese intentions or be viewed in the United States as a challenge to its global hegemony. Japan more than any other country appears to have broken the link between economic growth and ecological degradation. It offers a cognitive model to other nations, especially its East Asian neighbors concerned by the nonsustainability of current growth models. Japan also deploys financial and technological resources that make a leadership bid credible.
