CHAPTER 18 . Management of Tokyo Bay
327
The following sections attempt to address the question, what might be the evolution of uses of the bay in the future. More explicitly, what mix of uses, and therefore
outputs from Tokyo Bay as a finite resource, would yield maximum net social benefits
to the metropolitan inhabitants and businesses.
18.2.1
Land Reclamation
The history of land reclamation of Tokyo Bay starts early in the Edo Era. The first recorded reclamation was in 1603 when Ieyasu Tokugawa reclaimed Hibiya Inlet, now
Hibiya Park, by sands and gravels from Kanda Hill. This was intended to dig a moat
for the ~do Castle and to prevent flood around the castle. Land reclamation in the bay for
residential expansion and solid wastes disposal has continued and has grown since then.
After the Meiji Revolution, much larger reclamation projects began to be carried
out to construct the ports of Tokyo and Yokohama and to construct coastal industrial
factories in Kawasaki. Conflicts between reclamation and nori cultures or shellfish fishery were seen in relation to the reduction of shallow waters and water pollution caused
by wastewater from vessels and from factories.
However, it was after the World War II when land reclamation was done on an enormous scale. The major objective ofland reclamation was to create land for industrial expansion for recovery and growth of the Japanese economy. In 1956 a Tokyo Port Plan proposed a large land reclamation project in the Tokyo Port area. This proposal triggered
the explosive expansion of land reclamation of the bay. During the' 60S and '70S, reclamation was done particularly rapidly and in grand scale in the eastern (Chiba) side of the
bay, in which development pressure had previously been less intense, and thus the original coast in that area had been largely left untouched until then, as shown in Fig. 18.2.
By that time, fishermen with fishing rights in Tokyo Bay were increasingly willing,
or at least less relucta1).t, to give up their fishing rights because:
1. compensation for forfeiture of fishing rights had to be paid,
2. more, and in many cases better, alternative employment opportunities became available as the economy developed, and
3. the water of the bay had become increasingly polluted, so that more effort was required than previously to catch a given amount of fish.
In Tokyo Bay, 74 fishermen's cooperative associations existed in 1960, with 15 thousand member fishermen altogether. 64 fishermen's cooperative associations forfeited
their fishing rights and were dissolved and 12 thousand member fishermen changed
their jobs after they received compensation. Compensation paid over the years for fishing rights in Tokyo Bay totalled some 200 billion yen (approximately 700 billion yen
at 1980 price level).
The reclaimed area during the fifteen years after 1960 was four times as large as the
total area reclaimed in Tokyo Bay before 1960. The extraordinary rush of land reclamation in the bay was put to an end when the Japanese economic growth slowed down
after the oil crisis in 1973. By the mid-1970S there was little shallow sea area left for major
land reclamation in Tokyo Bay, and public opinion was keenly against industrial pollution and development after the early '70S.
327
The following sections attempt to address the question, what might be the evolution of uses of the bay in the future. More explicitly, what mix of uses, and therefore
outputs from Tokyo Bay as a finite resource, would yield maximum net social benefits
to the metropolitan inhabitants and businesses.
18.2.1
Land Reclamation
The history of land reclamation of Tokyo Bay starts early in the Edo Era. The first recorded reclamation was in 1603 when Ieyasu Tokugawa reclaimed Hibiya Inlet, now
Hibiya Park, by sands and gravels from Kanda Hill. This was intended to dig a moat
for the ~do Castle and to prevent flood around the castle. Land reclamation in the bay for
residential expansion and solid wastes disposal has continued and has grown since then.
After the Meiji Revolution, much larger reclamation projects began to be carried
out to construct the ports of Tokyo and Yokohama and to construct coastal industrial
factories in Kawasaki. Conflicts between reclamation and nori cultures or shellfish fishery were seen in relation to the reduction of shallow waters and water pollution caused
by wastewater from vessels and from factories.
However, it was after the World War II when land reclamation was done on an enormous scale. The major objective ofland reclamation was to create land for industrial expansion for recovery and growth of the Japanese economy. In 1956 a Tokyo Port Plan proposed a large land reclamation project in the Tokyo Port area. This proposal triggered
the explosive expansion of land reclamation of the bay. During the' 60S and '70S, reclamation was done particularly rapidly and in grand scale in the eastern (Chiba) side of the
bay, in which development pressure had previously been less intense, and thus the original coast in that area had been largely left untouched until then, as shown in Fig. 18.2.
By that time, fishermen with fishing rights in Tokyo Bay were increasingly willing,
or at least less relucta1).t, to give up their fishing rights because:
1. compensation for forfeiture of fishing rights had to be paid,
2. more, and in many cases better, alternative employment opportunities became available as the economy developed, and
3. the water of the bay had become increasingly polluted, so that more effort was required than previously to catch a given amount of fish.
In Tokyo Bay, 74 fishermen's cooperative associations existed in 1960, with 15 thousand member fishermen altogether. 64 fishermen's cooperative associations forfeited
their fishing rights and were dissolved and 12 thousand member fishermen changed
their jobs after they received compensation. Compensation paid over the years for fishing rights in Tokyo Bay totalled some 200 billion yen (approximately 700 billion yen
at 1980 price level).
The reclaimed area during the fifteen years after 1960 was four times as large as the
total area reclaimed in Tokyo Bay before 1960. The extraordinary rush of land reclamation in the bay was put to an end when the Japanese economic growth slowed down
after the oil crisis in 1973. By the mid-1970S there was little shallow sea area left for major
land reclamation in Tokyo Bay, and public opinion was keenly against industrial pollution and development after the early '70S.