A picture of the packed Tokyo train system in operation.
A picture of the greenhouse gas being released into the air.
A picture of the busy roads of Tokyo which are full of cars commuting to work.
A picture of one man's bedroom, which shows how full housing is in Tokyo.
A picture of the transport that's being built to facilitate the movement of people out of Tokyo.
A picture of a new innovative power system using solar energy.
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Problems in Tokyo:
There are many problems due to Tokyo's massive population of over 13 million with a population density so high but one of the major major problems is Tokyo's housing crisis. As about 83% of Japan is mountainous it causes major pressure on the rest of Japan with its 127 million inhabitants crammed onto only 17% of the island. This leaves a major strain on the housing available in Tokyo which is currently so crowded that some parts of the city have more than 20 000 people per square kilometre. While none of the citizens of Tokyo live in slums the housing is very crowded and many people are forced to share multi-storey public housing with hundreds to thousands of other citizens.This lack of housing is caused by the fact that Tokyo has one of the highest average population densities in the world consisting of 6038 people per square kilometre which continues to grow day by day and put pressure on the already struggling public housing system. Another problem present in Tokyo is the water supply which will struggle to keep up to the demand if the population continues to rise at this amazing rate. While at the present the water supply in Tokyo is stable with Tokyo's population rising so fast the water supply to Tokyo could soon become a major problem. After two major oil spills of the coast of Japan this has further caused pressure on Tokyo's water supplies as much of the water in the ocean even despite a large amount of cleaning completed to clean the water a large amount still may harm citizens who drink it which has meant that a further strain has been put on the dams to provide enough water for the whole population. Finally, another problem present in Tokyo because of it's dense population with so many people is the pollution caused by the industrial sector and households of Tokyo. This includes not just household waste but waste from the industrial sector which has been created due to Japan's flourishing manufacturing sector which produces large amount of non-combustible wastes which is hard to process due to the lack of facilities made for processing these types of waste materials. Also having such a dense population means there's a huge amount of air pollution created from the public transport system and car exhaust fumes which pollute the air and cause the Tokyo officials massive problems. This is made worse by the fact of the massive amount of trains which are overworked because of the massive population which needs to be transported around. Solutions Implemented for these problems: The solution to Tokyo's problem isn't easy however one solution which could ease the population density and therefore remove these problems which is currently being looked at by the Japanese government is to decentralise Tokyo. This could be achieved by moving government owned companies to other less populated areas of Japan and therefore creating more jobs in less populated parts of Japan. Many people don't choose to live in jam packed cities or live in a city suffering from pollution problems but people live there for the jobs and if a percentage of jobs were taken to other parts of Japan it would cause some people would leave to follow their job to its new location and therefore would reduce the population density. This would reduce the strain on housing, water supply and growing pollution rates and would allow people to have a better quality of life rather being jam packed into housing. Innovations which have been discovered by the institute of technology in Tokyo a world prestigious university also offer new ways to reduce one of Tokyo's major problems in pollution through an almost self-sustaining power use system. Using a unique structure of solar panels which if used on a bigger scale could provide a massive amount of Tokyo's electricity and allow a reduction of traditional methods, for example burning coal to produce electricity. With this reduction there would then be a reduction in pollution from gases let into the atmosphere through the traditional methods of producing electricity. They've also researched many other forms of renewable energy and continue to make breakthroughs which could help Tokyo implement more effective ways of producing energy and therefore reduce the pollution levels. Finally, with this new way of thinking and a wide range of innovations they offer sustainable options to reduce Tokyo's housing, water supply and pollution problems. |
A picture of what this solar innovation
would look like in operation.
would look like in operation.