Translators have a great deal of trouble with the Japanese phrase 'junkan gata shakai'. Literally 'junkan' means 'circulation' and is used when talking of blood circulation. 'Gata' just means 'type' and 'shakai' means 'society'. Both the history of this concept and the translations that are used are quite interesting, so we thought it would be worthwhile to provide some background.
In the criteria for evaluating scenarios table we used the phrase 'society based on a closed ecological cycle'. In the evaluation of four scenarios table, a later translation, we used 'closed-loop economy'. Each of these translations has its advantages and disadvantages. These and other options are discussed below. We would also be interested in feedback on preferred translations, especially from native English speakers familiar with the environmental jargon used in their countries.
Some Proposed Translations
'Recycling-based society'
To help me decide on the best translation, I did a Google search on various possible translations to see whether they had any currency and who was using them to mean what. All the sites, without exception, which I found with the translation 'recycling-based society' were Japanese, or else the author of the article was Japanese. This is the translation used by the Japanese Environment Ministry. They called it a 'provisional' translation, which should give us licence to choose better translations, except when we are referring to official Japanese government documents. There is a 'Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-Based Society'. They link this to the Johannesburg Summit in 2002, but the law was already enacted in 2000 and I didn't notice any other countries using this terminology.
Terminology using variations of the word 'recycle' is in fact environmentally unsound, because it focuses on recycling, when recycling is the third and last member of the triad 'reduce, reuse, recycle', which I first learnt when I was working for Greenpeace around 1991. One Environment Ministry document promoting a 'recycling-based society' used this slogan, adding a fourth element, namely 'appropriate disposal'. However, they specifically ackowledged that the first of these, 'reduce', is the most important. But even if they've got the concept right, their terminology is coming at the issue from the wrong end.
'Closed-loop ...'
Local governments and others in English speaking countries and Europe talk of a 'closed-loop materials economy', or simply a 'closed loop economy'. The concept seems to be very similar, although the documents I looked at seemed to be mainly focused on the waste end of the cycle. 'Junkan Gata Shakai', correctly understood, deals with the whole cycle.
These expressions were disparaged by some on the Honyaku list (an internet discussion list for Japanese-English and English-Japanese translators) as being too difficult to understand. I suspect that the problem is more with the words 'materials' and 'economy' than 'closed-loop'. 'Closed-loop' might sound technical, but it refers to something quite concrete. You can visualise it. In contrast, 'materials' and 'economy' are more abstract and confusing.
I found one Japanese company which used 'closed-loop society'. Evidently a translator, probably a member of the Honyaku list, offered this translation and the company accepted it. It's a pity that the first page that comes up when you do a Google search for this phrase is 'a group for bisexual and gay married men who want friendship, support and maybe a little more.' If it weren't for that unfortunate coincidence, I would have said that it was the best translation for 'junkan gata shakai'. It is close to a literal translation and it avoids the problem of getting the environmental priorities back-to-front.
'Society based on natural cycles'
This is the phrase that was suggested by a Japanese environmental science professor who also happens to be one of CNIC's Co-directors. I think it's a reasonable translation of the spirit of the phrase, but it's cumbersome, so I would only choose it as an explanion of the concept.
'Society based on a closed ecological cycle'
This is much the same as the previous one, with no particular advantages and at least one disadvantage, which is discussed in the next paragraph.
The above mentioned professor pointed out that, since there is no way to avoid increasing entropy, the idea of a 'closed loop', or a 'closed cycle' isn't completely accurate. The object is not to overcome one of the fundamental laws of physics. Rather, we hope to make the entropy slope rise slower rather than faster. But I would argue that if we are trying to limit our use of resources, perhaps we should also opt for more frugal use of language. Hence, my choice of the more concise 'closed-loop economy' in my most recent attempt at translating this phrase.
Background on the expression 'junkan gata shakai'
The fact that the Japanese came up with the phrase 'junkan gata shakai' is not surprising. They had just such a society up until Meiji came along and messed it all up (shortly after America parked a warship outside one of their harbours and said "open yourself up to international trade or we'll shoot you"). With a population of around a million, Edo (now Tokyo) was probably the cleanest city in the world.
English speaking countries would have to go back a long way before they found a 'junkan gata shakai' in their tradition, so it's perhaps not surprising that they don't have such a phrase. When the Environment Ministry came up with the translation 'recycling-based society', I suspect that they were being more ignorant than devious. However I can tell you for sure that the Atomic Energy Commission is being devious when it says the concept of 'junkan gata shakai' is consistent with the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
