This article explores the environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of young people (15–16 years old) in two localities in Japan and compares the results with a much broader survey covering the Asia Pacific region. The findings show that the majority of respondents exhibit strong ecological consciousness although their knowledge of the causes and form of environmental problems is relatively poor. Application of the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) measuring scale, despite its inherent flaws, indicates that young people in the Asia Pacific region are generally pessimistic about the role of science and technology in solving environmental problems. Moreover, interpretation of the survey results using a bi-axial dimensional scale (as opposed to the uni-dimensional NEP scale) indicates that the environmental knowledge orientation of young people in the region is clustered in a utopian, rustic categorisation that is characterised by strong ecological consciousness integrated with numinous-aesthetic knowledge. This orientation may be indicative of a general disposition on the part of young people to assimilate ecological information in a manner that remains unfavourable to the pursuit of reforms attendant to ecological modernisation.