Japan and Germany as the number two and three of the economic powers base their success more than others on their industries. These have created in the past heavy environmental hazards (Minamata disease and 'Waldsterben'), which again led to the fact that they have become leaders in environmental technologies and protection. This volume presents the most outstanding contributions of a conference organised at the Musashi Institute of Technology, Yokohama, in October 2002, by the German-Japanese Society of Social Sciences, which assembles some of the most prominent specialists in the field of both countries. Contents: Gy¿rgy Sz¿/Ken'ichi Tominaga: Foreword - Ken'ichi Tominaga: Introduction: Environment from the Point of View of Action Theory - Erwin K. Scheuch: Nature as an Issue in Environmental Protection - Friedrich F¿rstenberg: From Boundary to Symbiosis: Limits of the Systems Approach to Environmental Problems - Koichi Hasegawa: Environmental Sociology in Japan: Problems, Topics and Major Characteristics - Volker Linneweber: Environment: Thematic Career of a Social Construct - Gesine Foljanty-Jost: Environmental NGOs in Germany - The Question of Power and Influence - Harutoshi Funabashi: Intervention of the Environmental Control System in the Economic System and the Environmental Cluster - R¿diger K¿hr: Transnational Environmental Policies: Selected Cases of Japan and Germany - Kazuo Iwamura: Subconscious Awareness of Residents on Urban Design: An Analysis of the Group Interviews in Kohoku New Town, Yokohama - Takashi Namba: A Comparative Study on the Problems of Gentrification in German and Japanese Cities - Helmut Loiskandl: Christian Traditions and Ecological Challenge. Notes on Some Concepts in this Discussion - Makoto Kobayashi: Cultures as an Environment: Possibility of the Developmental Study focused on the Contextuality - Gy¿rgy Sz¿: Environmental "Kaizen": A German-Japanese Comparison - Yoshiki Otsuka: Industrial Food for Thought: Globalisation of Agro-Food-System and Environmental Concern - Akira Tokuyasu: Social Communications on Ecology and Risk: The Systems-Theoretic Analysis of Socially Responsible Investing