ABSTRACT
Since 1960 Japan has undergone rapid economic growth. The ‘miracle’ of such sustained growth has been tied to, and not incidentally resulted in, the toleration of immense industrial pollution. The problems of a deteriorating natural and social environment are neither an unexpected nor an unavoidable byproduct of high economic growth. The impact of kogai, the general term for environmental pollutants, has exceeded tolerable limits. As government and business become more successful in establishing gigantic industrial complexes, the more kogai is produced. Consequently the health of the Japanese people and the natural beauty of the landscape are in jeopardy.
