Japan to waste more water and cut down more trees.

[aljones15]

First they've been urged to have more babies, now they're being asked to USE MORE WATER. Yes,

"Tokyo households have become so skilled at conserving water that municipal authorities are preparing to “punish” them by raising rates. The trend towards careful water husbandry is enabled by appliance manufacturers, such as Toto, Matsushita and Sharp, which produce washing machines, toilets and dishwashers that use a fraction of the water of their forebears five years ago. As a result, over those five years average water consumption in Japanese homes has fallen 10%, and water bills have tumbled, since most water use is metered. Consequently, Tokyo and Yokohama residents now face possible water-price hikes of 20%.

For the past two decades, the local water boards have been engaged in an expensive frenzy of dam-building and other engineering projects, to ensure a healthy water supply. The local governments never reckoned that people would use less water, and they still have to pay for these projects. Even after a recent government crackdown on unnecessary dam construction, there are 200 live projects at any given time nationwide."

From The Economist's Tokyo travel blog which also has a few other gems including Tokyo's decission to cut down more trees: "because Japan’s forests are slowly expanding. These forests are the legacy of a reforestation drive following the second world war, which did not take account of the allergenic properties of the fast-growing cedar tree.

So, on the insistence of its hay-fever-struck governor, Shintaro Ishihara, the metropolitan government is hitting back. It has begun asking the nose-running, eye-watering masses to donate \1,500 ($13) each to a project that would see 1.8m cedar trees felled in a forest west of Tokyo. "

other qoutes:
"Mr Ishihara opened the event, which is the largest international convention of its kind and the site of hundreds of commercial deals. The outspoken governor, who once argued that the French could not count properly, stunned his audience with the declaration that he hated Mickey Mouse for the way the Disney rodent lacks the unique sensibility of Japanese cartoons"
http://www.economist.com/cities/briefing.cfm?city_id=TK

[kamome]

That last quote from Ishihara took place at an anime convention and is part of a different story not related to the cedar tree story. Your quote is a bit confusing unless one clicks on the link to read the full story.

[aljones15]

it does say other qoutes. it was just intended to be a summary of the page not the articles.

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A

[Hanakuso]

If they made public water so expensive that it would be cost effective to install a tank and collect you're own and made it so that somehow didnt screw poor ppl (i.e. owners pay water not renters and just generally poor folk can get exemptions from pricey water)

Theres my not very thoroughly thought out thought to solve water conservation probs!

[amdg]

If they made public water so expensive that it would be cost effective to install a tank and collect you're own and made it so that somehow didnt screw poor ppl (i.e. owners pay water not renters and just generally poor folk can get exemptions from pricey water)

Theres my not very thoroughly thought out thought to solve water conservation probs!

I'm not sure its a water conservation problem but more in the vein of the government not being able to recoup on the money they've already spent on water projects. It doesn't seem that Japan has much of a problem with water shortages compared to other countries. In any event, if they did have water shortages, all they'd need to do is decrease rice production by 0.2 percent and they'd be fine.