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PoliticaleEconomic Governance of Renewable Chapter j 4 77

desire for harmony with others went hand in hand with a traditional desire for
harmony with nature. Nature came to be thought of as sacred and to come into
contact with nature was to experience the divine. Centuries-old customs of
cherry blossom or moon viewing attest to the special place nature has tradi-
tionally held in the Japanese heart.
However, in April 2011, China became the world leader of financial in-
vestment in “clean tech” with $54 billion invested, which was over
$10 billion than Germany, which took the second place, and almost double
that of the United States, which was at the third place (San Jose, 2011,p.8).
Wind was the favorite sector of renewable energy with $79 billion invested
globally. This article noted in particular a comment by a senior partner in a
venture capital firm, “a lot of the clean technologies are dependent on policy
and government support to scale up. In some other parts of the world (not
USA), you have more consistency in the way these types of funds are
appropriated” (San Jose, 2011,p.8).
The Japanese have had a long cultural and business history in commer-
cializing environmental technologies. The 2011 earthquake made Japan focus
back on that historical tradition. The future has yet to become clear and will
not be defined for some months and years ahead. However, in Japan, the
environment took a backseat to industrial development during the drive toward
modernization and economic development that began in the latter half of the
19th century. After nearly 300 years of self-imposed isolation from the world,
Japan was determined to catch up with the industrialized West in a fraction of
the time it took Europe and the United States to make their transitions,
eventually emerging as a great power in the beginning of the 20th century.
Economic development continued unabated until WWII, when its capacity
was destroyed by American bombings. Economic growth restarted again in the
postwar period at a rapid pace but with a distinctive orientation and concern
for the limited nature resources of the island nation. By the 1970’s, based on
the strength of its industry and manufacturing capabilities, Japan had attained
its present status as an economic powerhouse. Companies like TOTO (con-
cerned with water and waste conservation and technologies) along with the
auto makers concerned with atmospheric pollution emerged as global leaders.
A large part of this success was the need for the government to invest in
research and development organizations (e.g., METI) to support companies
and business growth, what would now be called the GIR. For example, high-
speed rail was started in Japan in the mid-1980s (see Chart C) and expanded.
The transportation systems were economically efficient as well as environ-
mentally sound and provided for the public at reasonable rates.
Although this incredibly successful period of development left many parts
of the country wealthy, it also resulted in serious environmental problems. In
addition, the oil crisis had hit Japan particularly hard because of its lack of
natural resources, making it difficult for the industrial and manufacturing