Abstract
Globally, many national, regional, and urban governments are facilitating circular economy transitions through various pathways. The European Union and China have spearheaded the worldwide shift towards circularity by adopting primarily ecomodernist and technocratic approaches. However, the relevant literature has highlighted the need to integrate conceptualisations of circularity that are more politically and spatially embedded to better suit the local contexts and actual social needs of specific populations. In this paper, we therefore argue that the Japanese approach to circular practices exemplifies a place-bound and just pathway and offers a potential alternative to the European and Chinese methods. Accordingly, we first trace the historical roots of spatial circularity in Japan and then articulate some contemporary circular concepts. Next, we present a detailed analysis of wastescapes in the city of Onomichi to demonstrate through the lived experiences of its citizens that the rather orthodox understandings of circularity that permeate Japanese discourse on circularity coexist with alternative considerations that promote human interactions with nonhuman nature, acknowledge spatial ranges of operations, and value traditional knowledge.
Highlights
During the past decade, governments of many cities, regions, and countries across the globe increasingly began to transition towards circularity [1,2,3]
Some Historical Context on Japan’s Environmental Management Since Industrialisation In Japan, a territorial approach to the circularity or metabolism of materials has existed for many centuries
Our focus in the discussion is primarily on the differences between Europe and Japan, we want to acknowledge the wealth of literature on the Chinese approach, and the link between Chinese and Japanese circularity since China based its approach on the Recycling-Based Society Law in Japan
Summary
Governments of many cities, regions, and countries across the globe increasingly began to transition towards circularity [1,2,3]. Circular Economy and Sustainability its principles and roots are not new.The CE is a broad concept with global roots, some of which are hundreds or even thousands of years old, as shown by various researchers [6, 7]. Circularity has hundreds of definitions [5], which, in a narrow sense, share the vision of retaining the value of materials for as long as possible in a society. This can be done through different strategies, including narrowing, closing, and impeding material (and other resource) loops [11]
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