Mining Pollution and Infant Health in Modern Japan: From Village/Town Statistics of Infant Mortality

Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, Japan

Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to explain the relationship between infant mortality rate (IMR) and mining pollution. In Japan, the pollution became a problem in various places in the 1960’s, but it had occurred since then. For example, around Ashio Copper Mine in Tochigi Prefecture, the mining pollution had been occurring since 1880’s, and it had become a social problem in Japan. In our previous analysis, the IMR in Japan have declined irreversibly since 1920’s because people got over the beriberi and syphilis, but in the specific area, such as mining area, the IMR remained still high rate in 1930’s. So we will consider the relationship between the IMR and mining pollution.