While environmental awareness is slowly growing among the general public in Japan, it is still painfully limited. Anyone will tell you their concerns about global warming or dioxin levels, but when it comes down to making certain changes in lifestyle, habits die hard. Recycling rates are high, but then so is demand for packaged goods and plastic-bottled drinks. It will be a long time before the message really sinks in, partially due to a lack of real direction from the government, torn between encouraging consumption to boost the economy and discouraging consumption to reduce pollution and environmental degradation.