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Since then Minamata has obtained the ISO14001 International Standard for Environmental Management. In addition, by encouraging originality in creating and verifying environmental measures, there has been an increase in such measures from year to year, one example being the original Minamata residents' version of the ISO for environmental management (ISO at Home).

Meanwhile, in terms of the environment, Minamata City is actively engaged in international cooperation including receiving observation-cum-study groups from overseas and organizing environmental seminars and lectures in Asian countries. In May 1995, a group of thirty persons representing the city visited Beijing University in China. The Mayor related his own experiences and lessons learnt from the Minamata Disease and lectured on reconciling industry with the environment and putting the brakes on the environmental destruction that is growing serious in China in the face of rapid economic growth. In addition, every year since November 2000, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has held its training course on Administration Management for Environmental Restoration and Conservation in Minamata. The participants, who come from many different countries, study how residents and the administration collaborate on environmental measures. International cooperation on the environment is an important issue worldwide. By taking advantage of its long list of accomplishments, Minamata City is trying to spread its know-how around the world.

In appreciation of these broad-based environmental measures, the central government designated Minamata an Eco-Model City in July 2008.

Kawano comments, "In the future, we will be looking at ways of further segmenting the categories for household waste including separating out the microelectronic devices (rare metals) used in mobile telephones and game machines. We are also building a second Eco-Town and we plan to invite more reuse and recycling businesses."

During the period of rapid economic growth after the end of the Second World War, there were frequent occurrences of harm to the water, soil, and atmosphere in every part of Japan, not only Minamata. As well as a groundswell of grassroots movements, local governments, corporations and residents all over Japan have cooperated to improve the situation and to prevent pollution. For example, in Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture, where there were many cases of asthma caused by soot and smoke emitted from a petrochemical complex since the early 1960s, the patients sued the plant and won their case in court. Since then, central and local government have strengthened pollution regulations and corporations have made progress with antipollution measures to reduce damage caused by soot and smoke.

In recent years, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide has become an important issue for every city, as people grow increasingly concerned about global warming.

Leading Green Cities

The Eco-Model City initiative under which Minamata City among others was recently selected to receive budgetary support took off with the policy speech delivered by then Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo in January 2008 in which he talked about Japan taking the lead in the international community and setting a precedent for the world by converting to "a low-carbon society." In April and May 2008, eighty-two applications (eighty-nine cities and municipalities) were accepted from a variety of cities and regions ranging from ordinance-designated cities to villages with 2,000 residents, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. To make the selection, the government vetted the detailed paperwork and conducted hearings regarding the proposals of twenty-four organizations that had passed the vetting process. Thereafter, the evaluation and selection was done on the basis of the five criteria (significant reduction in greenhouse gases, the leadership and reproducibility, regional suitability, achievability, sustainability) indicated in the application guidelines.

This time, six municipalities were selected including Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture and Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture in the category of large-city level with a population exceeding 700,000. Obihiro in Hokkaido and Toyama in Toyama Prefecture made the cut in the category of regional center level with a population of more than 100,000. In the category of small town level with fewer than 100,000 residents, Minamata in Kumamoto Prefecture, discussed above, and Shimokawa in Hokkaido were selected. During 2008, the selected municipalities will draw up action plans for the next five years, and as of the next financial year the central government will prioritize support for the budgets required to carry out the plans. In addition to the six municipalities selected this time, the government has named another seven candidate municipalities, including Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Miyakojima in Okinawa Prefecture, and announced a plan to make another selection to bring the total number of Eco-Model Cities to ten by the end of the year. The government has also decided to set up a Council for Promoting Low-Carbon Cities to facilitate innovative measures in Japan as well as taking the message overseas.

Yokohama

The port city of Yokohama, which was selected as an Eco-Model City in the large-city level, is the biggest city in Japan after Tokyo, with a population of 3.65 million people. But because it is a major city, there are many environmental issues; in particular, there is the problem of the large quantities of garbage produced in the city, which have continued to increase at a pace that exceeds the population growth. In response, Yokohama City launched a G30 Plan (G30) in 2003 with the goal of reducing the quantity of garbage by 30% from 2001 levels by 2010. The G30 Plan specifies what action residents, businesses and government are required to take.

Ochi Hiroyuki at Yokohama City Office comments, "Expanding the categories and items of garbage to be separated is the most symbolic among the initiatives that we are asking of residents. In the past, garbage in Yokohama was separated into five categories and seven items including kitchen waste, cans, glass bottles and PET bottles. We organized more than 10,000 information sessions in order to realize a recycling society and gain understanding among residents of the significance of G30. With the introduction of G30, separation was further segmented into ten categories and fifteen items."

Because many Yokohama residents acted diligently based on the G30 guidelines, the quantity of (un-recycled) garbage produced in fiscal 2005 was 1.06 million tons, down 34% on the 1.61 million tons produced in fiscal 2001. The target of a 30% reduction had been achieved five years ahead of schedule. The reduction in waste to be incinerated has also contributed to a decrease of greenhouse gas emissions in Yokohama.

Another initiative that has attracted attention in Yokohama is the City's wind power station, Hama-Wing. Construction of the turbine was financed by a public offering of bonds to residents of the city with the three hundred million yen municipal bond selling out in a mere three days. In operation from 2007, Hama-Wing has the capacity to generate enough power to supply the annual electricity consumption of approximately 860 households, and by operating the turbine, it will be possible to reduce CO2 by approximately 1,100 tons a year. This figure is the equivalent of the CO2 absorbed by 4,500 deciduous trees with a ten-centimeter thick trunk and a height of four to five meters.

In the midst of progress with initiatives to prevent global warming based on the ability of residents to take action, Yokohama launched the CO-DO30 action plan on global warming in 2008. The plan sets a high target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30% per resident by 2025, and by more than 60% by 2050 (compared to fiscal 2004 in both cases). Assuming steady implementation of CO2 reduction measures based on the CO-DO30 action plan as an Eco-Model City, there are plans for developing concrete projects featuring three keywords: share knowledge (encourage changes in awareness and action among residents), increase the alternatives (enable residents to choose activities and consumption that does not produce CO2), and promote action (encourage action and consumption that does not produce CO2 and regulate the inverse). This is how Ochi describes it, "Among the projects that we are going to promote in the future, there is, for example, the zero-carbon lifestyle. This includes promotion of energy conservation homes through the introduction of a performance assessment system of energy conservation for homes, and the setting up of the Yokohama Eco School to train "eco leaders" who will take on the job of organizing local activities to avert global warming. The goal is to reduce CO2 emissions from households by 40% through these initiatives."

In addition, the Yokohama Green Power Project aims to convert 10% of the amount of energy obtained from fossil fuels to renewable energy by 2025. The city has started a regional collaboration project for averting global warming that creates structures to support farming communities by maintaining and managing forests in cooperation with farming communities in Japan. The city is also promoting the zero emissions traffic project, which encourages the introduction of low-polluting vehicles with low fuel consumption. As for the zero emissions traffic project, the city has started to study the establishment of next generation traffic systems suited for Yokohama such as the promotion of electric vehicles (EV) in collaboration with Nissan.

Next-generation light rail transit (LRT) is also attracting attention as a low-polluting mode of public transport. As a matter of fact, Toyama, another Eco-Model City, introduced LRT in 2006 and a number of other cities are going ahead with plans to follow suit. In order to promote the introduction of LRT, municipalities which are building LRTs are eligible for subsidies from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.