2020-08-09. This article introduces a report published in the monthly magazine THEMIS and examines the effectiveness and priorities of Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s policy of charging for plastic shopping bags. It discusses the proportion of shopping bags in Japan’s total plastic waste, marine plastic debris, corporate packaging, and the historical reasons plastic bags became widely used in Japan.

Whenever I saw an advertisement for the monthly magazine THEMIS at the bottom of a newspaper page, I thought that I would like to subscribe.
However, because it was available only by regular subscription, I had regarded the procedure as troublesome and had never done so.
But when I saw the lineup for this month’s issue, I decided that it was something I should read, and I initially subscribed for six months over the Internet.
The current issue arrived immediately.
This magazine, too, is essential reading for Japanese citizens who genuinely want to know the truth behind events.
The moment one begins reading it, one realizes something.
It is no exaggeration to say that most of Japan’s mass media—and perhaps the same is true throughout the world—do not report the real substance of events.
Yet what is written here is nothing extraordinary.
It is simply what should be obvious.
Doing what should obviously be done is the mark of the first-rate.
Being unable to do what should obviously be done is the mark of the second- or third-rate.
Because those who are first-rate always seek perfection, the failure of much of the media to report the truth demonstrates that much of the media consists of second- and third-rate people.
THEMIS perfectly substantiates the correctness of my argument in which I was the first in Japan to state specifically that the Asahi Shimbun is by no means Japan’s finest player.
The following are excerpts from an article headlined, in substance, “He Boasts of Running for LDP President in His Forties, but Shinjiro Koizumi’s Plastic-Bag Charge Is a Popularity Measure—With Few Visible Achievements as Environment Minister, Impatience and Political Performance Continue to Take Priority.”
【After Pursuing Media Attention】
The preceding section is omitted.
“Supermarkets and convenience stores have taken advantage of the introduction of charges for plastic bags, leaving even bagging purchases and processing point cards to customers. When someone unfamiliar with the process is present, a line quickly forms. Consumers are increasingly complaining that ‘the wasted time is worse than the environmental pollution.’”
“Koizumi says that ‘the global trend is toward a society with a lower environmental burden’ and has launched what he calls a ‘Plastic Bag Challenge’ campaign.”
“He has broadcast commercials featuring entertainers and even turned entire JR Yamanote Line train cars into advertisements.”
A source connected to the Prime Minister’s Office was quoted as expressing astonishment at what the article characterized as Koizumi’s political performance.
“Japan generates approximately nine million tons of waste plastic annually, but plastic shopping bags account for only about 200,000 tons. Much of the rest consists of snack packaging, trays used when selling meat and fish, PET bottles, and other containers used by companies for their products. In Japan, plastic shopping bags are often reused as garbage bags. In that sense as well, shouldn’t Koizumi first demand that companies reduce their plastic waste? Going further, most of the plastic waste washing up on Japanese coastlines originates from waste discarded in countries such as China and South Korea, and Japan should strongly demand that those countries thoroughly address the problem of plastic waste.”
The article continued:
“Of course, there is no indication that Koizumi has appealed to those countries to take such action.”
“Recently, Professor Kunihiko Takeda of Chubu University discussed why plastic shopping bags originally became widespread in Japan. According to him, they were developed as a way of making use of petroleum components that could not be used for gasoline or synthetic fibers.”
“He also said that stores originally distributed the bags free of charge partly as a measure against shoplifting.”
“Koizumi ignored this background and jumped on the issue as though all that mattered was attracting favorable media attention, imposing inconvenience on the public.”
Omission.
“A political desk editor at a national newspaper was also severe in his assessment: ‘He is not good at patiently negotiating or preparing matters and tends to postpone those tasks. He reaches immediately for things that appear likely to win quick praise, and as a result he ultimately fails to produce results.’”
“Even reporters assigned specifically to cover Koizumi had reportedly stopped attending informal press questioning at the Ministry of the Environment, using COVID-19 as the reason, because ‘even if we go every day, there is hardly any useful information.’”
End of excerpt.
These are excerpts from an article published in THEMIS.
The question raised here is not simply whether charging for plastic shopping bags is right or wrong.
The more fundamental question is what an environmental policy should address first.
What proportion of the country’s total plastic waste is actually made up of shopping bags?
What measures should be taken to reduce the enormous amount of packaging and containers used by corporations?
And what should Japan demand of other countries concerning plastic waste that reaches Japanese shores from abroad?
Faced with an environmental problem of enormous scale, policies that are easy to understand, attractive to television, and directly impose burdens on individual citizens should not automatically be given priority.
Policy should begin where it can achieve the greatest effect.
Are the priorities correct?
Do the measures actually reduce the environmental burden?
Or is creating the impression that “something is being done” taking precedence over the substance of the policy?
That is precisely the question raised by the THEMIS article.