Page 185 - Changing Living Spaces

Structural Changes in Fertilizer Circulation in Modern Japan

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1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940

Figure 4 Population Transition of Nagoya City from Taisho Period
to Early Showa Period
Source Nagoya City.

In Nagoya, in addition to the rail lines already laid in 1900, new rail
lines were laid in 1923 to further surround the urban area, and by 1935 the
urban area had expanded beyond the railroad.
Waste Disposal from the Urban Perspective of Cities:
Municipal Involvement
As the city grew and the population increased, the volume of human sew-
age also increased proportionately. Nagoya was one of the first cities to ad-
dress the treatment of this growing volume of sewage. In 1911, the mayor
of Nagoya summarized the reasons for municipalizing waste treatment
in three points: (1) the harmful effects of excrement, (2) urban sanita-
tion, and (3) the right of citizens to dispose of waste (Himeta 1915, 11–5).
We address the negative effects of the first point: (1) collection is de-
layed during the peak agricultural season, and when it rains, drinking
water inside and outside the house becomes impure; (2) farmers only col-
lect the manure parts, and the remaining parts are not cleaned; (3) the
human waste containers used by farmers are poorly made so that they
emit odour, which is a hygiene problem; (4) some farmers use the same
containers to transport vegetables; (5) there is a possibility of contagious
diseases in the human waste; (6) there are many carriers of intestinal par-
asites in the region, which are transmitted from vegetables fertilized di-
rectly with human waste.

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