Environment Feb 21, 2021
Can Japan embrace an alternative approach to plastic?
Japanese companies are rethinking how we make, use and dispose of products by creating substitutes to fossil fuel-based plastics.
Mara Budgen
For Mara Budgen's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
DEEP DIVE Nov 11, 2020
Episode 72: Preserving the endangered Ainu language
The Ainu language has been declared critically endangered by UNESCO, with few people left alive today who speak it. The Ainu are Japan's indigenous population and Japan Times contributor Mara Budgen has been meeting with them to better understand their remaining culture, the difficulties they ...
National / Social Issues Oct 25, 2020
The Ainu language and the global movement for indigenous rights
With the Ainu language considered to be on the brink of extinction, global connections are breathing new life into revitalization efforts.
Reader Mail Sep 14, 2008
Half-baked conclusion confuses
How did authorities determine that the abandoned infant was "foreign"? Was it holding a passport? Giving a thumbs-up gesture? Was it unable to use chopsticks? A reporter from The Japan Times should have investigated. rodney baglole
Editorials May 23, 2008
The dams must go on
Tokuyama Dam in Ibikawa, Gifu Prefecture, provides the nation's biggest water reservoir. Beginning full operation May 5, it is a typical example of wasteful public works. This multipurpose dam for water utilization, flood control and power generation was first proposed in 1957. To build ...
Commentary / World Apr 28, 2008
Combating climate change
SINGAPORE — Two recent news reports have underscored China's voracious appetite for oil and the impact of unrestrained burning of coal and other fossil fuels on global climate change. Both point to the need for Japan, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Australia and ...