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Hugh Paxton
For Hugh Paxton's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 24, 2013
World faces rhino horn dilemma
Wildlife parts are valuable. A general rule of thumb is that the bigger the beast, the bigger the price. You don't get much bigger than a white rhino (3,000 kg). It is the largest grazing (i.e., purely grass-eating) animal that has ever lived. Its horn is worth, gram for gram, more than gold.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 24, 2013
Gruesome death stalks the front lines of conservation
It is one of the most poignant photos I've taken during this CITES. We are in Khao Yai (literally, "Big Mountain"), Thailand's first and grandest national park. Peaks and plunges. Huge trees. Waterfalls. And there are elephants and even a few tigers out there. Also rangers and poachers and a largely unnoticed wildlife war.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 24, 2013
Trafficking wildlife pays as well as drugs or guns
Wildlife trafficking is a murky, lucrative, violent trade; ongoing, increasingly organized and sophisticated, but one that still remains largely unnoticed. And it is out of control.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 26, 2006
The host with the most ... broken ribs
Take six Japanese, one Chinese, all young, female and studying law at Chuo University in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 10, 2002
Studying Sri Lanka's simian soap opera
Scientists at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Ga., are sewing the eyelids of infant primates shut to see how that affects their behavior. At the New England Regional Primate Research Center, a database is maintained of self-inflicted wounds -- fingers bitten off, holes chewed in arms -- among populations of normally social monkeys kept in solitary confinement.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 27, 2002
A rainy spell, and a desert blooms
For much of the year, most of Namaqualand is hot, dry, dusty and all but dead.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 9, 2002
Chengdu, Sichuan's city of contrasts
Tonight, our guide Desmond assures us, there is going to be "a very exciting party." The Tibetans are planning a neck-wrestling competition. And you, Desmond adds, as the first foreigners to visit the newly opened hall of Tibetan games and dance, are going to be invited to participate.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Apr 9, 2002
Biblical reserve echoes Noah's 'two by two'
A visit to Israel is probably not high on your list of tourism priorities at the moment, but should the situation calm down and the killings and fighting stop, here's one to consider: The Biblical Wildlife Reserve of Hai-Bar Yotvata.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on