This multidisciplinary book analyses the contradictory coexistence of consumerism and environmentalism in contemporary Japan. It focuses on the dilemma that the diffusion of the concepts of sustainability and recycling has posed for everyday consumption practices, and on how these concepts have affected, and were affected by, the production and consumption of art. Special attention is paid to the changes in consumption practices and environmental consciousness among the Japanese public that have occurred since the 1990s and in the aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters of March 2011.

Contributions by: Hendrik Meyer-Ohle, Stephanie Assmann, Gavin H. Whitelaw, Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni, Fabio Gygi, Jennifer Robertson, Gunhild Borggreen, Hayashi Michio, Kasuya Akiko