75% of Japan's land surface is mountainous and unsuitable for settlement.

In the 20th century, land reclamation was due to providing land for agriculture.

The prime motivators were urbanisation and industrial development.

Between 1950 and the oil crisis of 1973, roughly 110,000 hectares of new land was created around Tokyo Bay.

This is to accommodate for the cities around Tokyo which has a population of 25million 

The land was used for:

1. Port installations,

2. Heavy industrial developments i.e. oil refineries & steel work,

3. Housing,

4. Commercials services,

5. Airport expansion,

6. Physical infrastructure i.e. sewage treatment works & electricity generating stations

Mid 1970s land reclamation decreased because:

• Economic growth slowed down.

• Pollution of water due to landfills used in some reclamation work.

• The vulnerability of low-lying ground to tsunamis.

• environmental concern that the lost mudflat habitat and its wildlife should be restorted.