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Flood risk increase due to climate change is one of the world's most pressing issues. Different countries and regions may take or have taken different approaches to deal with it. Therefore, information sharing and learning from each other are essential for achieving flood risk reduction on a global scale, especially in times of climate change. This paper provides a diagnosis of challenges in flood risk management in Japan in response to climate change. It highlights change in hazard and exposure and increase in vulnerability. Further, it placed its attention on new strategies taken by the Japanese government to counteract climate change impacts with a particular focus on the latest legal development to better support flood risk management. Although there are large amounts of research concerning climate action in the existing literature, the majority of them focus on technical and social aspects. The present study enriches literature on flood risk management and sheds new light on how to advance integrated river basin management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts at flood management during the 20th century resulted in more flood disasters. To gain a better understanding of what went wrong, it is necessary to examine historical evidence, seek ancient wisdom and compare practices of flood management in different countries. This study examines flood management concepts and practices in China and Japan during different periods of time in history and the differences in the two countries' current management of flood retarding basins. It reveals that during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC–24 AD), China proposed to redirect a river course to gain sufficient flood retarding capacity, and this same concept was realized, either coincidentally or intentionally, during the Edo period of Japan (1603–1868). In modern times, however, the management of flood retarding basins differs fundamentally between China and Japan. In addition, this study investigates the differences in emergency evacuation practices between China and Japan. This is the first study to highlight the link between a Chinese concept and a Japanese practice that are separated by more than 1000 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: On July 13, 2004, a heavy rainfall hit the Niigata area, resulting in a levee breach in the Ikarashi River. The inundation in the Sanjo City claimed 15 victims and caused huge property damage. The present work conducted analysis on peak discharge and water level variation at the place where the levee was breached. It also carried out flood inundation simulation in order to gain a better understanding of the consequences of the levee failure. It is found that the peak discharge on July 13, 2004 exceeded the full capacity of the river Ikarashi by approximately 20%. Besides, the outflow hydrograph from the breach was estimated for performing inundation simulation. Flood inundation simulation shows that the water spread out through the Sanjo City generally in two directions, and the maximum inundation depth was above 2m. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]