Pollution Japan

From its hilltop perch overlooking the North China Plain, the Jietai Temple provides a stunning contrast between the ancient serenity of China and its modern industrial roar. The dark wood and gray brick Buddhist temple, built in AD 622 during the Tang Dynasty, is a gracious retreat nestled in a pine and cypress grove 25 miles west of Beijing. But on the plain 1,200 feet below, veiled by a thick cloud of sallow smoke, the massive Capital Iron & Steel Corp.

From its hilltop perch overlooking the North China Plain, the Jietai Temple provides a stunning contrast between the ancient serenity of China and its modern industrial roar. The dark wood and gray brick Buddhist temple, built in AD 622 during the Tang Dynasty, is a gracious retreat nestled in a pine and cypress grove 25 miles west of Beijing. But on the plain 1,200 feet below, veiled by a thick cloud of sallow smoke, the massive Capital Iron & Steel Corp.

An industrial boom is leaving an environmental mess in many parts of Asia. Burgeoning populations in some countries make matters even worse. A few governments are taking steps to halt the fouling of air and water, but others are doing little, sacrificing the environment for economic development. "There is a realization among all these countries that they've got problems," said Bob Keen, principal of the Center for Environmental Studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic.

The U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, continuing this week in Rio de Janeiro, has drawn diverse comment from the world's newspapers. A sampling: "There is no doubt that most of the damage to the global environment has been caused by the destructive production-consumption pattern of industrialized nations. If developing nations with three-quarters of the world population go down the same road as the industrialized nations, destruction of the environment will accelerate.

Since time immemorial, spring winds have blown yellow dust from China's vast central deserts to the western shores of Japan. Now, as China's industrialization gains momentum, those same winds blow clouds of sulfur, nitrogen and carbon dioxide across the sea. Experts estimate that 50% of Japan's acid rain is caused by Chinese industrial pollution. Hiroyuki Fujimura's dream is to make money fighting that 1,000-mile stretch of toxic clouds.

It's pouring rain, but Eri Hayashi has dragged her husband and two preschool-age sons to an electric car fair at Yoyogi Park to take a look at the latest models. "We come here every year," says Eri, an architect who co-manages a real estate development company with her husband. She blames her two sons' severe asthma and skin allergies on Tokyo pollution. By the end of the year, she plans to get into the business of selling electric cars.

During the 1960s, Japan's economic miracle brought the nation to the brink of environmental disaster. Thousands of Japanese were poisoned by mercury, arsenic and other toxic substances that found their way into the air, water and food. Tokyo's skies were a smelly yellow haze. An explosion of public anger late in the decade, however, initiated a flurry of legislation in 1970 that forced Japanese industry to become among the cleanest in the world.

The men from the local post office put up a good fight, but they were no match for the fishermen's wives paddling furiously across the finish line to the frenzied beat of gongs and drums. It was the first time in village history that a women's team had ever competed in haarii , or the dragon boat races, traditionally held during the annual Sea God Festival in the southern Ryukyu Islands.

At a dinner party in Washington not long ago, the eminent classicist Bernard Knox told the story of how in the Spanish Civil War he had been left for dead in a pool of his own blood. He was wounded while serving with the Commune de Paris, the 2nd battalion of the 11th International Brigade, and as his strength ebbed away, his will to live was miraculously restored by the appearance of my father-in-law, journalist Claud Cockburn, with a bottle of good scotch.