Air and Water Pollution in Tokyo

How would you feel if you were watching anime, your ramen cooking, and the fight between Kurasakunoharujibokoniyosutokinamiyotokiretakomichiwakoto-Chan Harunosukemokimokisarekajimotonyaborokichiyamo-Senpai was about to get to that one part where it’s so dramatic and junk, but THEN, suddenly, your power goes out. Screaming occurs outside your once tranquil home, the blood and massacred bodies fill the streets, people gruesomely turning from human, to a brainless, thoughtless, horror. Fighting for your life, and barely making it out alive. After weeks of walking, you finally make it to a nearby city, Tokyo Japan.

The vacated buildings looming over the street, while rats and mice scavenge for leftover food, water, anything they could find. You find the survivors camp and rest there until the breach is contained. Waiting, for how the world will turn out. Tokyo Japan is located 35.69 latitude, 139.69 longitude and elevated 44 meters above sea level. Japan itself is an island made up of four smaller islands located off the northern Pacific coast of Asia. while it can only use 18% of the land for cities and people to inhabit, it is home to 126.8 million people, 36 million of whom live in Tokyo itself. Post-war, it has had a rapidly progressing economy, and industrialization. The three main goals that will be introduced will be poverty, the health and well-being of Japanese citizens, and sustainable cities and communities.

The biggest goal in Tokyo is to stop poverty. Poverty, the scarcity or lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Poverty can leave an effect on many things, such as hunger, morals, whether you have shelter, education, and countless other things. In Tokyo specifically, more than 20 per cent of children live in what the government defines as an impoverished home. 10 per cent of all homes are not able to adequately feed themselves, and the parents in 15 per cent of homes say that they cannot afford to buy clothes for their children. There are multiple ways we could help or even solve this problem. There could be tax breaks for charity, more homeless shelters could be set up, and more job protection could be offered to part-time workers.

Shelters and job protection could help countless people that are struggling with money and food issues. Having a tax break to give to charity would be really helpful in raising money to afford food and shelter for people that are struggling with this. The education and welfare systems could also be overhauled due to financial difficulties. This would help with the problems in this city and help countless people if it manages to work. Another sustainable goal in Japan is good health and well-being for Tokyo. Health problems can range from things like mental health to physical conditions and also things that influence your health, like smoke or pollution.

Currently, in Japan, the worst problems regarding health are suicide, smoking, pollution, and access to health care itself. Japan’s suicide rate is high compared to u.s. In 2008, more than 30,000 people had killed themselves every year for the past decade. One study suspected that in 50 per cent of the suicides, health problems were a factor. Even some children took their lives, mostly because of extensive bullying in schools. In places like Denmark, it is one, or the happiest places on earth. The reasons for Denmark being one of the top happiest countries is based on these six criteria; freedom, health, generosity, social support, and trustworthy governance. If you have these things, suicide rates would go down way more, and it would help that country/city.

Public health, one of the biggest public health issues is smoking. Smoking in Japan kills 100,000 people every year and is responsible for 1 in 10 deaths, according to Tadao Kakizoe (honorary president of the National Cancer Center). Ways to reduce death by smoking would be to possibly provide help for people addicted to smoking, or be stricter with smoking laws. In Tokyo, there is a lot of air pollution. It is particularly bad in the winter because of not only industrial and vehicle pollutants but also polluted air masses from China. Post-war, Japan has been rebuilding its cities and has experienced rapid economic recovery and growth. However, it was promoted by heavy industries and chemical industries that aid in the amount of pollution they have now.

For many years now, the Tokyo metropolitan government has been promoting innovative environmental measures that are often ahead of efforts by the national government. They have made many laws that aim to reduce the pollution factories are giving off such as regulating smoke emissions and having factories report their activities that cause air pollution. Effective ways to stop pollution would be to stress the effects and importance it is first, and then tell people how to help. Such as taking fewer trips in your car, avoid using gas-powered lawn or garden equipment. Even small things like ensuring that your lights are turned off can help.

The third and last sustainable goal is to have sustainable communities and cities for Japan – Tokyo in particular according to the essay theme-. Sustainable cities and communities differ for every community, but the main focuses are a strong economy, well being of people, and a healthy environment. Waste management is a huge issue in Japan, which led to huge piles of trash, and with the limited space in Japan, that only made it harder. They started burning the trash, but that aided in having even more pollution. They now have a rather aggressive recycling program to try and help with the amounts of trash.

Another issue is the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster. Even though it was a while ago that it happened, the effects of the spill are still there, radioactive waves make it so nobody could be able to live there without getting poisoned from the area. Ways to help with having a cleaner more efficient community could be to do things like reuse stuff that you would have thrown away otherwise, for instance, instead of just throwing away something big, break it apart and separate it for further recycling. Use more clean technology like solar panels, geothermal, or water powered energy. 

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