Japans environmental policies review part one.

Current Japanese environmental policy and regulations were the consequence of a number of environmental disasters in 1950s and 1960s. Cadmium poisoning from industrial waste in Toyama Prefecture was discovered to be the cause of the extremely painful itai-itai disease (イタイイタイ病 Itai itai byō, lit. "ouch ouch sickness") which causes severe pain in the back and joints, contributes to brittle bones that fracture easily, and degeneration of the kidneys. Recovery of cadmium effluent halted the spread of the disease, and no new cases have been recorded since 1946. In the 1960s, thousands of inhabitants of Minamata City in Kumamoto Prefecture were poisoned by methylmercury drained from the chemical factory, known as the Minamata disease. The number of casualties in Minamata is 6,500 as of November 2006.

In Yokkaichi, a port in Mie Prefecture, air pollution caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions led to a rapid increase in the number of people suffering from asthma and bronchitis. In urban areas photochemical smog from automotive and industrial exhaust fumes also caused the rise in respiratory problems. In the early 1970s, chronic arsenic poisoning attributed to dust from arsenic mines occurred in Shimane and Miyazaki prefectures.

Consumers Union of Japan was founded in 1969 to deal with health problems and false claims by companies, as Japan's rampant industrial development was seen as causing problems for consumers and citizens. In the 1970s, Consumers Union of Japan led the opposition to nuclear power, calling for a nation-wide Anti-Nuclear Power Week Campaign.

Japan maintains one third of its electric production from nuclear power plants. While a majorities of citizens generally used to support the use of existing nuclear reactors. Since the nuclear accident at the Fukushima dai ichi power plant on March 11 2011, this support seems to have shifted to a majority wanting Japan to faze out nuclear power. Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan was the first leading politician to openly voice his opposition to Japans dependance on nuclear energy and suggested a faze out form nuclear towards renewable energies.(http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/08/japan-nuclear-debate-idUSL3E7F70K320110408) Objections against the plan to construct further plants has grown as well since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami which triggered the nuclear melt down of three reactors at the Fukushima dai ichi plant in Eastern Japan. {http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/japan-pm-naoto-kan-vows-nuclear-free-future/story-fn3dxity-1226109855727}

The treatment of radioactive wastes also became a subject of discussion in Japan. New spent-nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant was constructed in Rokkasho in 2008, the site of the underground nuclear-waste repository for the HLW and LLW has not yet decided. Some local cities announced a plan to conduct an environmental study at the disposal site, but citizens' groups oppose strongly against the plan.