Accounting for resource accumulation in Japanese prefectures: an environmental efficiency analysis

1 Background In 2013, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment issued the “Third Fundamental Plan for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society” (Ministry of the Environment 2013). The plan explains that, in order to create a sound material-cycle society, it will be necessary not only to focus on societal material flow and improve resource productivity, but also to focus on societal material stock, to utilize stock more efficiently, and to accumulate stock that will increase social welfare (Ministry of the Environment 2013). A seminal study focusing on material flow is by Wolman (1965). Walman’s study described cities as organisms that have a metabolism: Materials and energy are fed into cities, while waste matter is discharged. By examining the process of inputs and outputs in a socioeconomic system, Wolman (1965) showed the importance of quantifying the amount of resources (e.g., food, fuel, and electricity) needed to sustain lives or production activities, and of analyzing the interactions between material and energy flows and their associated environmental problems. Fischer-Kowalski (1998) conducted a seminal study that considered the metabolism of cities from many different perspectives, such as biology, ecology, social theory, cultural anthropology, and social geography, and pointed out the importance of analyzing Abstract