NIMBY Politics in Japan

This work explores occurrences of negative reaction to undesirable facilities in one's neighbourhood - "not in my backyard" - in Japan, where communities have delayed or stopped projects for power plants for which there is a legitimate social need. The book draws on local and corporate sources.

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This work explores occurrences of negative reaction to undesirable facilities in one's neighbourhood - "not in my backyard" - in Japan, where communities have delayed or stopped projects for power plants for which there is a legitimate social need. The book draws on local and corporate sources, as well as interviews with participants, to reveal the bargaining processes involved in social choices and their public policy outcomes. The author examines why some siting decisions have taken an extraordinarily long time to complete while others have proceeded rapidly. He focuses on the intensity of conflict, relative strengths among participants and the role of compensation, and he shows how innovative uses of compensation often enable negotiated compromises to be reached. Stressing the importance of dynamic bargaining and creative responses to social and political problems, Lesbirel shows the value of negotiated compromises in Japansese consensual politics.