Cherry Blossoms in Japan
The article Ecological impacts of climate change in Japan: The importance of integrating local and international publications, written by Yuko Ogawa-Onishi and Pam M. Berry (2012), explains the effects of climate change in Japan on the ecological level and how looking at both local and foreign publications would be beneficial. This article provides the first comprehensive review of the observed and projected impacts of climate change on plant and animal species in Japan, drawing extensively from both local and international publications (Ogawa-Onishi and Berry 2012). Observed phenology records showed two characteristic trends in Japan; greater shifts of plant phenology in autumn relative to spring and delays in insect appearance dates in spring (Ogawa-Onishi and Berry 2012). Future projections on phenology suggested varied responses between species and possible disruptions in ecosystem functions, while those on distributions indicated potential significant range reductions and changes in species assemblages and diversity (Ogawa-Onishi and Berry 2012). The research recommends that, to improve the evaluation of climate change impacts in countries where the common languages are not English, search efforts should be expanded to include locally available data and publications (Ogawa-Onishi and Berry 2012). Overall, this publication makes the point that research on climate change is in progress but there are some problems concerning the availability of research sources that still need to be worked out.
In the article Culture and climate change: Japanese cherry blossom festivals and stakeholders’ knowledge and attitudes about global climate change, the authors state that most global climate change models predict serious ecological and social problems (Sakurai et al 2011). This goes along with what Lazrus (2012) as well as what Ogawa-Onishi and Berry (2012) point out. Not as broad as Lazrus’ focus and closer to Ogawa-Onishi and Berry, this article dials in on how Japan has been affected be the recent changes in global climate and goes into how people in Japan connected to cherry blossom festivals feel toward climate change. In Japan, biologists have found climate change is affecting species and ecosystems, including the earlier flowering time of cherry trees which are an important cultural symbol in Japan (Sakurai et al 2011). Cherry blossom festivals are an important factor in the local economy. Organizers varied in their responses concerning the effects of global warming on the timing of the cherry blossoms (Sakurai et al 2011). This make sense knowing that in Japan, public opinion polling between 2005 and 2007 revealed that 10–52% of respondents thought the environment/ global warming was a serious issue for the world, yet only 1–6% listed it as a serious issue in Japan (Sampei and Aoyagi-Usui, 2009). Of the people who were seriously concerned, the majority were managers who were more dependent on the festivals for money (Sakurai et al 2011). This article shows us that people are concerned but that some people also do not know enough about the topic of global climate change to be concerned, something we should pay more attention too.
While the Culture and Climate Change article showed us a small percentage of what Japanese people think about global warming and climate change, the article Voluntary business activities to mitigate climate change: Case studies in Japan focuses more on what people and businesses have done to help combat the effects of climate change. It talks about what has been effective and what has not. Voluntary business activities, such as the voluntary action plans conducted by comprehensive business associations in Japan to reduce environmental damage, are viable policy instruments alongside regulations and economic incentives (Wakabayashi 2013). One of the important benefits of voluntary activities is their flexibility in phasing measures. This flexibility is greatly appreciated, since industries are able to retain control of their responses to future uncertainties, which allows them to tackle climate change issues aggressively (Wakabayashi 2013). It is concluded then that voluntary activities have been more environmentally effective than alternative policy measures under a proper institutional framework, which consists of effective motivation mechanisms for businesses, governmental measures to encourage their compliance, and capable industrial associations that can lessen the transaction costs both of the government and of industry (Wakabayashi and Sugiyama, 2007)). This article is important is showing that things are being done in the effort to combat climate change. It gives us hope that the people of this planet will continue to fight to make the Earth a better place to live.
Ogawa-Onishi, Yuko, and Pam M. Berry. 2013. Ecological impacts of climate change in japan: The importance of integrating local and international publications. Biological Conservation 157 : 361-71.
Lazrus, Heather. 2012. Sea change: Island communities and climate change*.
Nicholls, Robert J. 2011. Planning for the impacts of sea level rise. Oceanography-Oceanography Society 24 (2): 144.
Sakurai, Ryo, Susan K. Jacobson, Hiromi Kobori, Richard Primack, Kohei Oka, Naoya Komatsu, and Ryo Machida. 2011. Culture and climate change: Japanese cherry blossom festivals and stakeholders’ knowledge and attitudes about global climate change. Biological Conservation 144 (1) (1): 654-8.
Sampei, Yuki, and Midori Aoyagi-Usui. 2009. Mass-media coverage, its influence on public awareness of climate-change issues, and implications for Japan’s national campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Global Environmental Change 19 (2): 203-12.
Wakabayashi, Masayo, and Taishi Sugiyama. 2007. Japan’s keidanren voluntary action plan on the environment. Reality Check: The Nature and Performance of Voluntary Environmental Programs in the United States, Europe, and Japan: 43-63.
Wakabayashi, Masayo. 2013. Voluntary business activities to mitigate climate change: Case studies in japan. Energy Policy 63 (0) (12): 1086-90.