Mapping green communities: Resources for measuring grassroots environmental organizing in Japan

Which communities host the most grassroots resources for activism on energy, environment, and climate policy, per capita? This article investigates a recently developed data resource, measuring rates of environmental organizations in every Japanese city over the last two decades. These data were first validated in 2021 against prior measures of environmental organizing (Fraser and Temocin, 2021). This paper clears new ground by demonstrating best-use cases for scholars and activists seeking to understand the state of environmental organizing in their city. We test two theories of environmental mobilization in Japan using temporal and regional descriptive statistical analyses in data-driven case studies, drawn from a population of 1741 municipalities measured from 2005–2016 We find evidence that ( H1 ) rates of environmental NGOs increased over time, especially after Fukushima, and that ( H2 ) environmental NGO rates were greater in communities hosting nuclear power plants than nearby cities, contrary to past literature. This study aims to encourage a wave of new research evaluating levels of grassroots and professionalized environmental organizing in cities, to support future scholars testing the drivers of environmental governance outcomes. • We measure which Japanese cities host more environmental NGOs than others. • This study examines 1741 Japanese municipalities, via use cases for a recent dataset. • We examine temporal, regional, and nationwide variation in NGO rates over time. • We evaluate the density of grassroots, volunteer-focused vs. professionalized NGOs. • We find geographic inequalities in the spread and type of environmental activism.