ABSTRACT
In the early seventies Japan gained notoriety as a country willing to commit ecological suicide for the sake of economic growth, yet in the later seventies it came to be considered a model for Western European countries in terms of effective pollution control. The reasons for this reassessment of Japan's situation include improvements in some aspects of air pollution, especially the reduction of sulphur dioxide concentration in the air. It is well known that many of the older parts of Japanese cities are divided into well-defined neighbourhoods. The Ojima neighbourhood in northeast Kt-ku was established during the prewar industrial development of Tokyo, and thus did not originate as either a rural hamlet or a traditional merchant quarter. The urban environment of Ojima lies mainly below sea level, partly overcrowded with low rise wooden houses. General statistics on Kt-ku indicate that the largest number of inhabitants are immigrants from other parts of Tokyo.
