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Over the last few years there have been some crucial developments in Japan. Primarily these were, first, in January 2001 the Environment Agency was promoted to the Ministry of the Environment, which changed its administrative scope and powers. Second, several environment-related laws were passed in response to the emergence of new problems, thereby causing administrative actions on the environment to evolve in new ways. And third, several large air pollution lawsuits achieved compromises which were premised on the implementation of policies aimed at diminishing motor vehicle air pollution.