One of Japan's goals at the Bali conference on climate change is getting legally binding emission controls placed on developing countries, but many experts doubt the nation's ability to get its own house in order first.
"We cannot ask the developing countries for their efforts when Japan has yet to achieve its own set of goals," said Shigeyuki Okajima, a professor at Otsuma Women's University in Tokyo and executive director of the Japan Environmental Education Forum, an association of about 1,000 experts promoting environmental education practices.
"Despite the positive changes in the last couple of years, including better understanding of global warming, the situation in Japan calls for a fundamental shift by the government" in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Okajima said.