Dream Island and Sea Forest: The Afterlife of Tokyo’s Landfills

Japan has one of the most sophisticated waste managementsystems in the world and its household waste generation
has been steadily declining since 2003. However, before
the first national recycling Law was passed in 1991, the
country stood on the verge of a ‘garbage crisis’ with landfill
space around Tokyo quickly reaching the point of absolute
saturation. The bulk of the capital’s garbage was landfilled
in sea, using special technology. Within a few decades those
closed Landfills merged into a cluster of artificial islands in
the Tokyo Bay. This talk examines the afterlife of Tokyo’s
landfills, which constitute a tangible reminder of bubble
economy, conspicuous consumption, and new initiatives
for the capital’s revitalization. Yume no shima (The Isle of
Dreams), which features in Keiso Hino’s novel with the same
title, is the oldest among the garbage islands. Umi no Mori
(The Sea Forest! is one of the youngest, and a cornerstone
of Japan’s ambitious green initiative that is part of its ‘Tokyo
Vision 2020’ program. Both islands will serve as the venue of
the 2020 Olympic games.

Sponsored by the IHC’s Reinventing Japan RFG,the East Asia
Center, the Dept. of History, the Dept. of Anthropology, and
the Dept. of East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies.

An anthropologist and historian, Professor Cwiertka has pioneered the study of food in Japan and Korea of the twentieth century. She is now pursuing a new project on waste management in Asia. The talk draws from this new project.

For more information on Prof. Katarzyna Cwiertka, click the link below.

hm 4/17/15