Recently many problems have arisen concerning the destruction of the coastline and these need urgent attention. According to the information given out by the Environment Agency in 1981, only 49.1 percent of the coastline of Japan has been preserved. As to Tokyo Bay, there is very little netural beach remaining. This is because of land reclamation activities under the rapid economic growth policies. For example, the reclamation in Takasago beach, Hyogo Prefecture was started in 1961, and the people were deprived of the use of the beach, famous for its beautiful "white sand and green pine trees". The coastline preservation group in this city first used the word "irihama-ken" (coastal access rights) in Japan. We might say that the deprivation of Japanese coastline gave birth to the concept of "coastal access rights" as the theoretical basis for coastlin preservation. The Nagahama Case was the first legal test of the concept of coastal access rights in the Japanese courts. Nagahama is a twon located in the western part of Ehime Prefecture, with a population of some 13.000 people and opens to the Seto Inland Sea. On May 29, 1978, the Matsuyama District Court ruled against coastal access rights. It seems that the ruling of the court followed the traditional legal view : the free use of the seacoast, one of the natural public properties, was a favour granted to the people by the state. I doubt this decision. I think coastal access rights constitute a part of the property rights under Article 29 of the Constitution of Japan.Most of the lawyere try to adopt the concept of "environmental tights" as the legal basis of coastal access rights. In short, according to their view these rights seem to be a part of the environmental rights. However, the environmental rights have not yet been legally recognized and enforceable in Japan. This is the reason why I do not agree with this view. In Japan, there has been a coastal access rights novement in existence since 1973. The association for the movement-established initially in Takasago city-gained support from various people all over Japan. "The Coastal Access Rights Declaration" was written and adopted on February 21, 1975 for the purpose of advocating the establishment of coastal access rights. Above all, agter the decision of the Nagahama Case, the members of the movement have tried to develop the "public trust" theory.
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