Abstract:

"The tremendous economic power of Japan rests upon a delicate balance of often opposing needs -- space, food, resources, industrial products for both domestic and foreign markets, a satisfactory distribution of wealth and opportunity. An example of the way these conflicting forces operate in Japan is the history of the Ashio Copper mines. They were a threat to agriculture with copper pollutants as well as stripping the hills of valuable timber. Despite protests, full pollution control was not established until 1968. But the mine was closed 4 years later depriving the miners of their livelihood and the last major domestic source of copper. Complex economic problems such as almost complete dependency on foreign sources for raw materials and energy require complex and difficult solutions."