One area where it felt Japan was ahead of the UK was in its efforts to change citizens’ behaviour.
The judgement on which approach is best will depend on the speed and scale of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions. Superficially it felt less ambitious than the much earlier deadlines that many councils in the UK have set, but it also felt more carefully planned. The national government has set a 2050 net zero target, and the prefecture and municipalities we visited have done the same. The theme was net zero, and I was interested to see how things had changed in the intervening 16 years. The Kyoto Agreement is from Japan, but people leave cars idling and shops use so much packaging.”Ī few weeks ago I returned to the country as a member of the Japan Study Tour, which gives British local government figures a chance to learn first-hand about the sector in Japan. When my three-year stint teaching English in Japan came to an end in 2007, colleagues in the Board of Education asked me to write a farewell article for the municipal newsletter.Īs well as expressing appreciation for the friendship of so many people, and admiration for so many aspects of Japanese society, I mentioned some of the contradictions that surprised me: “The countryside is beautiful, but there is lots of new construction, concrete and dams.
Japanese local government: ‘A localist’s paradise’ Government ‘minded’ to intervene at Croydon Leisure sector still faces ‘widespread closures’ despite extra funding
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