The high rates of post-war economic growth, industrialization and rapid urbanization led to the emergence of an industrial waste problem in modern Japan, which linked with mass production, unsustainable consumption and resource use.
The input-output analysis is a useful tool to examine the economic structural problems concerning the economic growth, the industrial structure and its relationship with industrial waste generation on regional level. This paper aims to examine the regional economic structure and industrial waste emissions in Japanese regions. The data from inter-regional input-output tables and data of industrial waste emissions amount by industry for years 1990, 1995 and 2000 are employed for the analysis.
The empirical study has revealed that according to the structural decomposition analysis, the growth of industrial waste emissions in each region and especially in Kanto region was mainly caused by an increase in final demand. The industrial science improvement and industrial waste control based on special characteristics of each type of waste are vital to renovate the regional economic.