Lecture Friday to focus on environmental movements in Japan

Sidney Atkins, from the Osaka City University Research Center, will speak on campus Friday, April 29, on Japan's domestic environmental policies. The event will take place in Communications Facility Room 125 on the Western Washington University campus.

In his lecture, "Japan: Dam Nation and the Forging of a Nationwide Environmental Movement," Atkins will discuss the controversy over the building of the Nagara River Estuary Dam in central Japan in the 1990s and how that was a major turning point for citizen awareness and government policy toward rivers and wetlands in Japan. The action led to formation of Japan’s first real nationwide environmental movement in opposition to further dams. Since then, ongoing disputes over similar river and wetland projects have been at the center of Japan’s domestic political and financial power struggles. While tracing the history of the seminal Nagara River anti-dam movement, Atkins will outline subsequent developments and the current state of affairs in Japan’s domestic environmental policies.

Atkins has a background in cultural and historical geography, environmental studies and East Asian languages. While a college teacher in Japan, he was an active participant and eyewitness observer in the controversy over the Nagara River Estuary Dam. Currently a Bellingham resident, he works as a translator, editor and consultant for several Japanese research institutes. He also serves on the editorial board of the Japanese Journal of Human Geography and works as a documentary photographer.

This presentation, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Huxley College of the Environment speaker series.