2006 年 36 巻 2 号 p. 345-354
After the enactment of Japan's Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law in 2002, landowners, particularly private firms and enterprises, were obligated to shoulder a new risk. Compared with other countries, Japan's implementing of government regulations and providing fiscal support in this field have been too little and too late. Consequently, Japan should promptly consider necessary means of implementing environmental protection measures, information disclosure, and a system of financial support.
The purpose of this research is to verify practical measures that can be taken in the future to address the issue of contaminated areas in Japan. In order to survey and summarize the overall situation regarding soil-contaminated areas, we relied on the experience in Germany, where the economic situation is similar to that in Japan. With reference to a case study conducted in Germany, we analyzed practical measures to achieve purification, considered the influence of the central government and municipalities, and characterized the difficulty of practical implementation.
This paper is a revised version of the theme on which it reported at the international Meeting PRSCO (The 19th Pacific Regional Science Conference) held by the Nihon University College of Economics Tokyo on 24 July 2005.
To our regret, it became difficult to continue this research due to the sudden death of the superintendence Prof. Keiichi Tanaka, who headed the research. Therefore, this research project ended with a temporary respondent report.
JEL Classification: H20, Q51, Q58
