Stephen Hesse - The Japan Times

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Stephen Hesse

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Stephen Hesse

Stephen Hesse is an educator and writer living in Tokyo. He graduated from Vermont Law School, where he received a JD and an LLM, and is now a professor in the Law Faculty of Chuo University, Tokyo, as well as Associate Director of the Chuo International Center.

For Stephen Hesse's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Apr 12, 2001

From ridiculous to sublime: the arguments of a fossil fool

Last month, the White House announced that U.S. President George W. Bush would not support the Kyoto Protocol because it "is not in the United States' economic best interests." The protocol is aimed at reducing human emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, that contribute to global warming and climate change. Governments, corporations and individuals worldwide reacted quickly to the news, most criticizing Bush's shortsightedness.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Mar 26, 2001

Bush ignores experts on climate change

The rubber has met the road and we now know that U.S. President George W. Bush is driving under the influence, his judgment impaired by fossil fuel lobbyists.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Mar 11, 2001

Japanese neighbors join in incinerator struggle

Two previous columns have focused on a United States government lawsuit seeking a provisional injunction against a private incinerator in Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture. The Americans, however, are not the only ones eager to shut down the facility. Other neighbors, too, are fired up about Envirotech and its owner, Tetsuro Murata.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Feb 26, 2001

Incineration as usual in Kanagawa, despite suit

If the video were not so alarming, it would be humorous: Chaplinesque workers scurry to and fro while a claw-loader swivels and bends in every direction, making piles of waste disappear, covering others with paper and cardboard, and using a mattress clenched in its claw to sweep its work area clean.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Feb 12, 2001

U.S. sues Atsugi incinerator operator

A landmark pollution case now before the Yokohama District Court is exposing the dirty underbelly of incineration practices in Japan, and highlighting what some would call the willingness of officials to turn a blind eye to dangerous waste burning.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Jan 22, 2001

Hydrogen future: Iceland's quest for a clean, green energy legacy

The future is wherever people are "thinking outside the box," seeking atypical solutions to problems of the status quo.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Jan 8, 2001

Zero emissions: route to sustainability for a clean revolution in the 21st century

The age of zero emissions is dawning, and Japan could one day lead a global clean revolution. The next decade should tell whether this nation will lead, or will consign itself to industrial mediocrity by adhering to the status quo.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Dec 25, 2000

World fisheries collapsing as technology and demand soar

As this is the season of giving, here is a gift, a riddle:

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Dec 10, 2000

Japan's new goodwill ambassador to the UNEP

Tokiko Kato Tokiko Kato is every bit as energetic and candid in person as she appears on stage. Best known as a singer and musician, Kato is also a poet and painter, and serves on the board of the World Wide Fund for Nature Japan. Though her schedule is hectic, it is by choice, and she has energy to spare. This autumn Kato became Japan's first "Special Envoy" to the United Nations Environment Program.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Nov 27, 2000

Hague climate change talks getting lost in niggling details

They say "the devil is in the details," and so it was at The Hague recently during negotiations of the sixth Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. Two weeks of stonewalling and hairsplitting, and we are really no closer to dealing with the global warming problem than we were three years ago in Kyoto. The analogy that comes to mind is a group of sailors, so busy poring over conflicting weather forecasts that they are oblivious to the black clouds boiling over the horizon.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Nov 12, 2000

On taking the eightfold path to environmental awareness

Environmentalists are a hard breed to pin down, much less to classify. They come in all shapes and sizes, and some even reject the name.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Oct 23, 2000

Clock tolls for environmental action

Mika Suzuki may not be a professional designer, but her keen eye and concern about the environment recently won her the top prize in a Tokyo eco-design contest.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Oct 9, 2000

When micropower comes of age: an alternative to nuclear power?

Two weeks ago Taiwan's economic minister, Lin Hsin-i, proposed that his nation give up plans to build a fourth nuclear power plant, despite having already spent several billion dollars on the project.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Sep 25, 2000

CNIC report lights up the dark side of Japan's nuclear power industry

One year ago this week, a nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki Prefecture, experienced a "criticality." That accident shattered once and for all the crumbling myth of safety that has encased Japan's nuclear power industry, and changed the way Japanese view nuclear power.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Sep 19, 2000

Program laying groundwork to conserve rivers and trails

John Monroe jokingly refers to himself as a "conservation venture capitalist." Unlike most investment bankers, however, Monroe is investing for the long term.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Aug 28, 2000

General Motors humming along -- never mind the environment

A vacation is such a wonderful chance to seek out the unusual and inexplicable. This month my family and I are immersed in a foreign culture, intrigued and perplexed by the ways of an alien people. Most confounding, this culture is my own.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Aug 21, 2000

Yokohama student to champion environmental concerns of youth

Rieko Kubota, who is 20 years old and a second-year student majoring in economics at Yokohama City University, is not your average Japanese university student.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Jul 24, 2000

Persistent organic pollutants: toxic chemicals here to stay

The acronym POPs sounds harmless enough, bringing to mind glasses of bubbly champagne and harmless fireworks. The reality is far less celebratory.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Jul 17, 2000

Dioxin found deadly for sure -- and they're pumping it out

First, the good news.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Jun 26, 2000

Is there free speech in Japan? Greenpeace activists arrested

"For the sake of good environmental policy, it is necessary to have freedom of expression which forms public opinion." These are the words of Sweden's environment minister, part of a press release issued in March 1999, following the arrest of several Greenpeace activists who were in Tokyo protesting PCBs in children's toys.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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