Publications

Low birth rates, restrictive immigration policies, and decades of economic stagnation are marking Japan’s transition to a post-growth society. All levels of government have hurried to address the new challenges ahead. In this desperate run for survival, the development of new high-speed railway lines in peripheral areas has been met with high...

Japan is still the largest market for timber from Sarawak. Thus, it is important to understand the latest trends of the policy and initiative for timber legality and sustainability. Japan issued the Act on Promotion of Use and Distribution of Legally-harvested Wood and Wood Products (Clean Wood Act) in 2016. The objective of this new act is to...

Despite being a finite resource, both the quality and quantity of groundwater are under tremendous pressure due to rapid global changes, viz. population growth, land-use/land-cover changes (LULC), and climate change. The 6th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) aims to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”...

Scenario analyses have been used in multiple science-policy assessments to better understand complex plausible futures. Scenario archetype approaches are based on the fact that many future scenarios have similar underlying storylines, assumptions, and trends in drivers of change, which allows for grouping of scenarios into typologies, or archetypes...

This paper explores how high-speed railway (HSR) development can aid the survival of peripheral depopulating regions by increasing their connectivity. It focuses on the recently opened ‘Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station’ of the Hokkaido Shinkansen in Imabetsu town, the smallest locality in Japan to enjoy a Shinkansen station. Based on this case study...

Combining bioenergy and nature conservation: An example in wetlands

This article examines the REDD+ engagement types preferred by Japanese private firms at the project level including their motivation and rationale for the engagement and explores the challenges and opportunities in relation to their participation. We analyzed 148 responses to a survey questionnaire mailed to participants across Japan and the...

Using “the sharing paradigm” as a guiding concept, this book demonstrates that “sharing” has much greater potential to make rural society resilient, sustainable and inclusive through enriching all four sharing dimensions: informal, mediated, communal and commercial sharing. The chapters are divided into two parts, one that focuses on case studies...

Roundtable discussion on SDGs were held during SBE Tokyo 2019 in August 67, 2019. SDG7, 8, 9, 12, 13 were discussed during the roundtable. Hotta made a presentation on SDG 12 by briefly introduce SDG 12 and policy design for SCP as well as plastic pollution issues.

The International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP) is held annually to share information and facilitate diverse discussions on sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific, with the participation of front-line experts and diverse stakeholders from international organisations, governments, business and NGOs. ISAP began in 2009 as...