private sector. Assistance to the central government includes supporting the establishment of a legal framework to promote the 3Rs and waste management at the national level and helping to formulate and implement a fundamental policy and plan for implementing legislation. Assistance to local governments includes helping them raise public awareness and develop a mechanism to promote the reduction of waste generation and sorted collection in cooperation with the public. For the private sector, support is provided for the study and formulation of policies such as green purchasing and the eco-label system in order to foster efforts by individual businesses and promote the growth of the recycling industry.

Japan also supports a variety of programs that invite engineers and government officials from developing countries to learn about waste management and the 3Rs. Some of the many training courses provided by JICA are the SMC Establishment course, a regional training program for environment officials from Asian countries to share information on related legislation, administration and technologies, and the 3Rs and Recycling of Waste course, a group training program for engineers engaged in the disposal and recycling of industrial waste.

In addition, financial assistance is also provided in the form of grants and loans for improving infrastructure, including waste management equipment and disposal facilities (Figure4-4-3).

## (5) International promotion of 3R and waste disposal technologies

Disseminating Japan’s 3R and waste disposal technologies internationally can constitute the central part of Japan’s international cooperation for establishing an international SMC Society. Japan should step up 3R and waste management measures, some of which can even contribute to the prevention of global warming.

Companies in Japan have developed world-leading technologies in the fields of eco-friendly design and production, product reuse and recycling, and the recovery and use of energy from waste. These technologies can make a major contribution to the establishment of an international SMC Society, if they are disseminated through the promotion of the 3Rs across the entire life cycle or supply chain of the products moving across national boundaries.

In light of this, the government will take actions to allow such technologies to be adopted, where appropriate, by countries in Asia and elsewhere. With due consideration to the protection of intellectual property rights, the government will foster bilateral and multilateral policy dialogue and information exchange in order to assess each country's technology needs, while proactively providing and disseminating information on 3R and waste disposal technologies.

Here are some examples of such efforts with regard to night soil disposal. At a session on “johkasoh” systems during the Third World Water Forum, held in March 2003 in Kyoto, lectures were presented describing Japanese johkasoh, including their history, technologies, maintenance and institutional systems. This was followed by an exchange of opinions. At this forum, the Portfolio of Water Actions was compiled by collating information on water-related initiatives and specific actions taken to solve world water problems, from around the world. One of the Japanese water actions listed in this report was the “transfer of low-cost waste-water treatment technologies that allow installation to be carried out in a short period of time.”

Information on Japan’s johkasoh technologies has been effectively publicized at events such as the Asia-Pacific Water Summit, held in Oita Prefecture in December 2007 ahead of the start of International Sanitation Year 2008, the Asia Water Environment Partnership (WEPA)’s workshop in Jakarta on johkasoh in March 2004, and the 12th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12) held in New York in April 2004.

Furthermore, at the Japan-China Policy Dialogue in June 2007, the two countries agreed to implement joint projects to create SMC cities through cooperation between Kitakyushu City, which conducts an Eco-town project in Japan, and Qingdao City, and between Hyogo Prefecture and Guangdong Province. In September 2007, Kitakyushu and Qingdao started a joint survey and other preparations for further cooperation.

## (6) Measures taken to address specific issues (using sanitation improvement as an example)

Japan’s experience, technologies and systems can be of great help in establishing responsible waste disposal systems in Asian countries. However, these systems may not always be appropriate because the situation varies from one developing country to another, including differences in each country’s needs and the properties of the waste generated there. For example, since sanitation is closely related to the sanitary use of water, the form of support provided needs to take account of each country’s water system and usage, which are often very different from that in Japan.

One report shows that, as of 2004, 2.6 billion people