Climate change is not much of a social issue in Japan. Even in the wake of three recent weather-related disasters, there has been little discussion across the political spectrum that climate change contributed to them. In Europe and the United States, left-leaning groups demand action to mitigate the effects of climate change, which they say is the result of human activity, while right-leaning groups tend to dismiss human impact and even question whether climate change is real.
In a discussion that appeared on the Aera Dot website on Oct. 23, associate professor Kohei Saito of Osaka City University said that one of the reasons Japan has not addressed climate change is that the average person has yet to be affected by it, even though weather-related disasters have increased in frequency and intensity.
In developed nations, climate change exacerbates economic differences: The top layers of society spend money to shield themselves from its effects while the bottom layers are defenseless. Saito points out that Tokyo, which is relatively wealthy, managed to survive the recent typhoons without much damage, while regional areas and vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and the poor, were disproportionately affected. So-called climate change deniers complain that addressing the problem will hinder growth. Progressives in the United States who advocate for change propose schemes such as the Green New Deal, whose goal is to support growth and sustainability.