Kirby (anthropology of Japan, Oxford Brookes University) examines the broad question of how to shape environmental policy internationally by looking at what "environment" means to the residents of two present-day neighborhoods in Tokyo. Applying a deep cultural analysis to how these people deal with the issue of waste, the author suggests that Japanese environmental consciousness is characterized by ambivalence, and that waste practices and notions of pollution are tied into broader social issues. Kirby argues that any effort to influence how a society deals with waste necessarily takes place in a sociocultural environment in which attitudes to garbage, health, purity, pollution, and excess can all affect environmental priorities. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)