Industrial Policy, Industrial Development and Pollution Control in Post-war Japan: Implications for Developing Countries

There is a self-serving belief that the ‘Japanese experience’ with industrial pollution was a paragon of success in conquering environmental problems encountered in the process of rapid economic development and that this experience can be transplanted to late-comer developing countries. On the other hand, there is also the idea that the ‘Japanese experience’ should be presented to the developing countries as a negative lesson on serious pollution damage and failure of environmental policy. It is possible to view both of the arguments as standing on the common premise that Japan’s experience can provide some kind of model for environmental pollution and policy.