Vanguards and Rearguards in Environmental Politics

Abstract

Findings from a study of environmentalists in Shizuoka Prefecture and Spokane County, Washington, suggest that there are two basic types of environmental activists in Japan. In contrast to their U.S. counterparts, most Japanese environmentalists can be characterized as less concerned about environmental preservation, natural resource scarcities, and the dangers of rampant science and technology. However, the most active and knowledgeable among them are very much like the vanguard environmentalists found in the United States. The ability of Japanese environmentalist leaders to mobilize rank-and-file members is explained in terms of the victim compensation (versus preservation of nature) orientation of Japanese environmentalism and environmental law, plus the localistic character of Japanese politics.