CIRJE-J-64. Iwami, Toru, "'Advantage of Late-comer' in Abating Air-Pollution: Experience in East Asia", September 2001.

From the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, air-pollution in Japan, in particular SO2 concentration, was remarkably improved. This is resulted from responses to growing civil protests: governmental regulation policy, on the one hand, and innovation of abating technology and energy efficiency, on the other hand. In Southeast Asian large cities, air-pollution is in better situation, despite their rapid economic growth, than their Japanese counterpart in the early 1970s. This is because their governments and firms took earlier initiatives, learning from experience in developed countries.