Environmental Histories of Japan - Environment and Society in the Japanese Islands: From Prehistory to the Present and Bad Water: Nature, Pollution, and Politics in Japan, 1870–1950 and A Concise History of Japan

Over fifteen years ago in late 2000, I completed an introduction and annotated bibliography focused on environmental history for Henry Smith's “Japanese History Bibliography” graduate colloquium at Columbia University. It can still be found on Smith's Columbia website. I entitled it “A Basic Guide to Resources on Environmental History.” The title is no exaggeration. In retrospect, I recognize that my knowledge of the field was indeed basic, though over the years a few colleagues have perhaps humored me by mentioning that it served as a useful introduction. More importantly, it is striking how limited the scholarship on Japanese environmental history was at the time. In the last decade and a half, the field has flourished, as exemplified by the trio of books—a monograph, an edited volume, and a survey history—that are the focus of this short review essay. That new interest is a reflection of humankind becoming much more cognizant...