Rapid Socio-Economic Transition and Material Flows in Japan

Material Flow Accounting (MFA) is a useful tool to describe interactions between the environment and human activities. An international comparison of economy-wide material flows over the past 25 years was undertaken for five industrialized countries and successfully described the similarities and dissimilarities of the studied countries. This paper shows the relevance of MFA to Japanese environmental policy issues and summarizes the characteristics of recent Japanese material flows based on the outcomes of the international comparison study. In addition, it attempts to analyze longer-term trends in demographic changes and economic growth, as well as changes in material and energy production/consumption. An attempt is also made to offer some insights on the upcoming matured and aging society.