With growing global warming issues, the association between technological innovation and environmental pollution has created significant debate in recent years. This paper examines the long-run and causal impact of technological innovation, economic growth, and renewable energy on consumption-based carbon emissions in Japan. The study utilized quarterly data spanning between 1990 and 2015. The study utilized recent econometrics techniques such as Maki co-integration, ARDL bunds test, FMOLS, DOLS, and frequency domain causality techniques. To the author's understanding, no prior studies have been conducted in Japan using consumption-based carbon emissions as a proxy of environmental degradation. Thus, this empirical analysis contributes to the literature. The findings from the ARDL bounds and Maki co-integration tests revealed evidence of co-integration among the series. The results of FMOLS and DOLS reveal that both renewable energy and technological innovation improve the environmental quality, while economic growth harms the quality of the environment. The results of the frequency-domain causality technique reveal that technological innovation, renewable energy, and economic growth can significantly predict consumption-based carbon emissions in Japan. Based on these outcomes, we suggested that Japan's government should be careful when formulating policies that trigger growth, which will have a detrimental impact on the environmental quality. Our empirical outcome also revealed that any policy that encourages renewable energy should be encouraged since it enhances environmental quality.

Though, the attention of researchers on exploring the impact of economic policy uncertainty on carbon emissions is on increase, however, the impact of different types of economic policy uncertainty remains unexplored. Thus, this study investigates the impact of different types of economic policy uncertainty on carbon emissions in Japan. A monthly data from 1987M1 to 2019M12 was used, while the FMOLS, DOLS, CCR and ARDL estimators were employed for examining the cointegration among the variables, as well as the long- and short-run relationship between types of economic policy uncertainty and carbon emissions. The study findings revealed a long-run cointegration among energy consumption, per capita income, fiscal, exchange rate, monetary, and trade policy uncertainties and carbon emissions. Moreover, this study found energy consumption, exchange rate, monetary, and trade policy uncertainties to contribute significantly to the increase of carbon emissions in Japan. Finally, this study suggests that environmental policy makers in Japan should take into account the economic policy uncertainty so as to promote robust information for climate policy that will be targeted at ameliorating the carbon emissions in Japan.

On March 11 2011, a tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake devastated the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan.The present study was conducted to assess environmental health risks of the areas affected and socio-psychological status of the dislocated people in Ishinomaki. Samples of sludge, water, flies and rodents were collected in 20 urban neighborhood associations affected by the tsunami in July and August 2011, and in August 2012. A socio-psychological survey was conducted in two urban and one rural temporary housing complexes in 2012. Animal feed concentrates and fish from damaged factories were scattered along the coast which caused a strong odor and great number of flies. Removal of fish and feed along with spraying insecticides reduced the odor and the number of flies by August 2011. The sludge and water samples contained potentially hazardous bacteria, but none were highly pathogenic. Heavy metals in sludge were not in alarming quantities. A rodent was captured in one unit in August 2011, and monitoring in two units found that the log number of rodents captured increased significantly over time (slope=0.08, p = 0.005). In temporary housing complexes, those who originally lived in rural fishing villages wished to return to their homes more (64.2%, 9/14) than in urban areas (30.6%, 11/36, p = 0.06). Risk factors for depression included absence of friends (p = 0.011) or trusted person to counsel in the housing complexes (p = 0.003) and illness of the respondent or a family member (p = 0.003). In conclusion, overall environmental health risk was acceptable for living, and monitoring of rodents population was recommended. In addition, psychological and economical support was needed for evacuees in temporary housing complexes.

The negative influence of agrochemicals (pesticides: insecticide, fungicide, and herbicide) on biodiversity is a major ecological concern. In recent decades, many insect species are reported to have rapidly declined worldwide, and pesticides, including neonicotinoids and fipronil, are suspected to be partially responsible. In Japan, application of systemic insecticides to nursery boxes in rice paddies is considered to have caused rapid declines in Sympetrum (Odonata: Libellulidae) and other dragonfly and damselfly populations since the 1990s. In addition to the direct lethal effects of pesticides, agrochemicals indirectly affect Odonata populations through reductions in macrophytes, which provide a habitat, and prey organisms. Due to technical restrictions, most previous studies first selected target chemicals and then analyzed their influence on focal organisms at various levels, from the laboratory to the field. However, in natural and agricultural environments, various chemicals co-occur and can act synergistically. Under such circumstances, targeted analyses might lead to spurious correlations between a target chemical and the abundance of organisms. To address such problems, in this study we adopted a novel technique, “Comprehensive Target Analysis with an Automated Identification and Quantification System (CTA-AIQS)” to detect wide range of agrochemicals in water environment. The relationships between a wide range of pesticides and lentic Odonata communities were surveyed in agricultural and non-agricultural areas in Saga Plain, Kyushu, Japan. We detected significant negative relationships between several insecticides, i.e., acephate, clothianidin, dinotefuran, flubendiamide, pymetrozine, and thiametoxam (marginal for benthic odonates) and the abundance of lentic Epiprocta and benthic Odonates. In contrast, the herbicides we detected were not significantly related to the abundance of aquatic macrophytes, suggesting a lower impact of herbicides on aquatic vegetation at the field level. These results highlight the need for further assessments of the influence of non-neonicotinoid insecticides on aquatic organisms.

A recently identified chemical, 2-((4-Methylpentan-2-yl)amino)-5-(phenylamino)cyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione (6PPD-quinone; 6PPD-Q), is a transformation product of an additive used in the manufacture of tire rubber and causes acute lethality in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in urban watersheds. Despite its potential presence and ecotoxicity in receiving waters worldwide, information on the occurrence and fate of 6PPD-Q is limited. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 6PPD-Q and its parent chemical, 6PPD, in road dust collected from arterial and residential roads in Tokyo, Japan from May to October 2021. 6PPD-Q concentrations were highest from May to June, when atmospheric ozone concentrations are the highest in Japan; a correlation between 6PPD-Q and photochemical oxidants, as an alternative to ozone, corroborated this finding. We also found that 6PPD-Q concentrations at photochemical oxidant concentrations ranging from 35 to 47 ppbv were higher in dust collected from roads with high traffic volumes (i.e., arterial roads; median: 8.6 μg/g-OC) than in dust collected from roads with lower traffic volumes (i.e., residential roads; median: 6.3 μg/g-OC), indicating that 6PPD-Q is generated from traffic-related sources. We also found that 6PPD-Q was leached from dust particles within a few hours, with a log partitioning coefficient between organic carbon and water (KOC) of 3.2–3.5. The present results will help to understand the environmental occurrence, fate, and behavior of 6PPD-Q.

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient but may become a pollution source in the environment when the N concentration exceeds a certain threshold for humans and nature. Nitrate is a major N species in river water with notable spatial and temporal variations under the influences of natural factors and anthropogenic N inputs. We analyzed the relationship between riverine N (focusing on nitrate) concentration and various factors (land use, climate, basin topography, atmospheric N deposition, agricultural N sources and human-derived N) in 104 rivers located throughout the Japanese Archipelago except small remote islands. We aimed to better understand processes and mechanisms to explain the spatial and temporal changes in riverine nitrate concentration. A publicly available river water quality database observed in the 1980s (1980–1989) and 2000s (2000–2009) was used. This study is the first to evaluate the long-term scale of 20 years in the latter half of Japan's economic growth period at the national level. A geographic information system (GIS) was employed to determine average values of each variable collected from multiple sources of statistical data. We then performed regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) for each period. The forestland area influenced by the basin topography, climate (i.e., air temperature) and other land uses (i.e., farmland and urban area) played a major role in decreasing nitrate concentrations in both the 1980s and 2000s. Atmospheric N deposition (especially N oxides) and agricultural N sources (fertilizer and manure) were also significant variables regarding the spatial variations in riverine nitrate concentrations. The SEM results suggested that human-derived N (via food consumption) intensified by demographic shifts during the 2000s increased riverine nitrate concentrations over other variables within the context of spatial variation. These findings facilitate better decision making regarding land use, agricultural practices, pollution control and individual behaviors toward a sustainable society.

Excessive nutrient balance is a very crucial issue for environmental hazards. The constant addition of high-amounts of nutrient sources in agricultural production generates negative environmental conditions in Korea and Japan yet to be resolved. Therefore, it is obligatory to comprehend the nutrient (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) balance that is assessed by the difference between nutrient input and output in the soil surface in Korea and Japan. Among 34 Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, Korea and Japan had the highest N and P balances and thus both countries are primarily responsible for severe environmental pollution via nutrient release. The cultivable land area in both countries has constantly decreased during 1990–2017 at approximately 20 and 15% in Korea and Japan, respectively. Even N and P use efficiency sharply decreased with increasing N and P balance in both targeted countries. Japanese P balance, Korean N and P balances were decreased after the mid-1990s whereas, Japanese N balance almost unchanged for the last 28 years. Unlike chemical fertilizer input, Korean manure input level significantly increased from 78 kg N ha⁻¹ in 1990 to 157 kg N ha⁻¹ in 2017. Japanese manure input level was higher than that of chemical fertilizer without any big change for the last 28 years. The lion share of high N and P balance in both countries could generate from manure inputs, therefore, the number of livestock and their produced debris need to be used with more cautious for the reduction of national N and P surpluses at a benchmark level. These findings ensure to make a more environment friendly policy that can further reduce nutrient balance as well as improve soil health.

Seabirds are widely used as indicators of marine pollution, including mercury (Hg), because they track contaminant levels across space and time. However, many seabirds are migratory, and it is difficult to understand the timing and location of their Hg accumulation. Seabirds may obtain Hg thousands of kilometers away, during their non-breeding period, and deposit that Hg into their terrestrial breeding colonies. We predicted that Hg concentration in rectrices reflects exposure during the previous breeding season, in body feathers reflects non-breeding exposure, and in blood collected during breeding reflects exposure during current breeding. To test this hypothesis, we measured total Hg concentration in these three tissues, which reflect different timepoints during the annual cycle of rhinoceros auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) breeding on both sides of the North Pacific (Middleton Island in Alaska and Teuri Island in Hokkaido), and tracked their wintering movement patterns with biologging devices. We (i) identify the wintering patterns of both populations, (ii) examine Hg levels in different tissues representing exposure at different time periods, (iii) test how environmental Hg exposure during the non-breeding season affects bird contamination, and (iv) assess whether variation in Hg levels during the non-breeding season influences levels accumulated in terrestrial plants. Individuals from both populations followed a figure-eight looping migration pattern. We confirm the existence of a pathway from environmental Hg to plant roots via avian tissues, as Hg concentrations were higher in plants within the auklet colonies than at control sites. Hg concentrations of breast feathers were higher in Alaskan than in Japanese auklets, but Hg concentrations in rectrices and blood were similar. Moreover, we found evidence that tissues with different turnover rates could record local anthropogenic Hg emission rates of areas visited during winter. In conclusion, Hg was transported across thousands of kilometers by seabirds and transferred to local plants.