HEI in Japan
Island Living
Island living may have a romantic ring to it. But what if you lived on a group of islands that together are
smaller in size than California but have a population more than three times that of California? You would
have to find creative ways to make the most of your limited land area, which is exactly what the
Japanese people have done. Less than 20 percent of Japan’s land is habitable, meaning
that Japan’s population can live only on a small portion of the land. The majority of Japan’s land is
mountainous, with plains regions scattered along the seacoast. As a result of the limited land area, the
Japanese have been modifying their landscape for hundreds of years.
To add to the country’s land area, Japanese people reclaimed land from the sea and river deltas, built
dikes to control the water, cut trees, and terraced the land for rice. More recently, the Japanese have
flattened hills and small mountains to make more room for building. Reclamation has extended Japan’s
shorelines and produced additional islands. Tokyo, the capital, has expanded over reclaimed land built
into Tokyo Bay. Kansai International Airport was built on an island in Osaka Bay and opened in 1994.
Shortage of land has meant that farmers take advantage of every available acre for farming, a practice
called intensive cultivation. Rice paddies, in particular, are created everywhere in the countryside: on
coastal land, wetlands, alluvial plains, and mountain slopes. The paddies are often built as terraces on
the hillsides. This terraced farmland produces all of Japan's rice.
Making Room in Japan
About 78 percent of Japan’s 126 million people live in cities, with the remaining 26 million people
residing in the countryside. To make room for the population in the crowded cities, building up and not
out has become the norm. Japan's cities have many tall buildings; 40-floor residential buildings are quite
common. But even so, the need for living space grows. Japanese engineers and architects have been
brainstorming a plan to build a "sky city" almost two-thirds of a mile high. Space is not only limited for
the living in Japan, but also for those who have died. Many public cemeteries in Japan are full. As a
result, more families are cremating deceased family members. Instead of visiting a grave and placing
flowers by a headstone, some citizens visit virtual cemeteries. A program allows them to place flowers
on a grave, water them, and honor the dead from the comfort of their living rooms.
Manufacturing has made Japan wealthy, but what can be done with the waste created in the process?
Their landfills, big garbage heaps or holes, are almost all full and there is little land left to build new
ones. Japan recycles much of its consumer waste, ranging from bottles, papers, and cans to computers,
cell phones, and household appliances. Recycling prevents waste from being dumped into
landfills. Japan has a law, for example, that insists that discarded appliances be disassembled and reused
in making new ones. According to one estimate, more than 1.4 billion appliances have been recycled
in Japan since 2001.