Bad Water: Nature, Pollution, and Politics in Japan, 1870–1950

285 Pages·2014·1.442 MB·English

by  Robert Stolz

BBAADD WWAATTER
Asia- Pacific culture, politics, and society
Editors: Rey Chow, Michael Dutton,
H. D. Harootunian, and Rosalind C. Morris
Nature, Pollution, and Politics in Japan, 1870– 1950
Robert Stolz
Duke University Press Durham and London 2014
© 2014 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞
Typeset in Arno Pro by Westchester Books
Designed by Courtney Leigh Baker
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Stolz, Robert, 1970–
Bad water : nature, pollution, and politics in Japan, 1870–1950 /
Robert Stolz.
Pages cm — (Asia-Pacifi c: culture, politics, and society)
ISBN 978-0-8223-5690-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8223-5699-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Environmental protection—Political aspects—Japan.
2. Pollution—Political aspects—Japan. I. Title.
II. Series: Asia-Pacifi c.
TD187.5.J3S76 2014
363.730952'09041—dc23 2013050759
Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian
Institute, Columbia University
Th e Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute
of Columbia University were inaugurated in 1962 to bring
to a wider public the results of signifi cant new research
on modern and contemporary East Asia.

Contents
Ac know ledg ments ix
introduction 1
one
A De cade of Leaks 19
two
Pollution and Peasants at the Limits of Liberalism 51
three
Nature over Nation Tanaka Shōzō’s Environmental Turn 85
four
Natural Democracy 117
five
The Original Green Company Snow Brand Dairy 159
conclusion
Bad Water, a Theoretical Consideration 191
Appendix
Tanaka and Kōtoku’s Appeal to the Meiji Emperor 207
Notes 211 Bibliography 243 Index 259

ac know ledg ments
Bad Water is the result of a project over a dozen years in
the making. Over this time I have benefi ted from the help
and support of numerous teachers, friends, institutions,
and family. I apologize in advance to anyone I failed to
mention but who nonetheless deserves my thanks.
I must express my deepest gratitude to Tetsuo Najita
and James Ketelaar for their insistence on the importance
and intellectual stakes of historical investigation. Both de-
serve special thanks for teaching me to be a better reader,
writer, and thinker. Th eir passion for sustained, deep
thinking not only, I hope, informs this book but is also a
model I have tried my best to emulate in research and the
classroom. With them, Harry Harootunian has also inter-
vened at key points of this pro cess, helping me to try to
combine theoretical analysis with daily practice. Needless
to say, any stumbles in this area in the pages that follow
remain mine alone.
Brett Walker and Julia Th omas kindly read the entire
manuscript when it was at its roughest. Carol Gluck
graciously took on this project at the Weatherhead East
Asian Institute at Columbia University, and she and Dan-
iel Rivero stuck with it through all the ups and downs. I
am also thankful to the readers from both the Weather-
head Institute and Duke University Press, whose substan-
tial and thoughtful comments surely improved the fi nal
version. Others who read parts include Prasenjit Duara,
Norma Field, Anne Walthall, Douglas Howland, Gregory