Buried Cries, Judged Silence: Teshima, Environmental Crime and the Dawn of Administrative Responsibility (2000)

Buried Cries, Judged Silence: Teshima, Environmental Crime and the Dawn of Administrative Responsibility (2000)

Teshima, a small island nestled in the calm waters of the Seto Inland Sea. Beneath its tranquility lay 600,000 tons of industrial waste. Since the late 1970s, the waste has been brought in one after another by disposal companies licensed by Kagawa Prefecture, piled up in the open without being incinerated. The government continued to turn a blind eye, and the residents' complaints were ignored for a long time.

In 1990, however, the islanders rose to their feet. They formed the "Teshima Residents' Council," exposed the true nature of the stench and smoke, and appealed directly to the Environmental Agency. National media coverage joined in, and in 1992 the Environmental Agency referred to Kagawa Prefecture's responsibility. In 1996, the residents applied for pollution mediation, and in 1997, Kagawa Prefecture finally acknowledged its responsibility, leading to the first "pollution mediation" in Japan.

In 2000, the cost was expected to exceed 10 billion yen, and local governments across Japan became acutely aware of the weight of this cost. The era of simply issuing permits is over, and an era of monitoring and accountability has dawned. The lessons of Teshima have quietly but surely taught us that "administrative silence" can be an accomplice to environmental crimes.

It was not just pollution that this island complained of. It was an indictment of the gaps in the system, the vacuum of responsibility, and the long history of silencing the voices of citizens. Toshima asks the question. Are you not turning a blind eye?