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May 03, 2025
 

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ENVIRONMENT

Earth science

Climate change
Energy
Sustainability
Wildlife
Earth science
The focus of this summer's election will be whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition can secure a majority of 125 seats in the Upper House, including seats that are not up for grabs in the upcoming race.
JAPAN / Politics
315 people gearing up to run in Japan's Upper House race
The focus will be on whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition will secure an Upper House majority of 125 seats.
JAPAN / Politics
CDP submits bill proposal on separate surnames, but challenges remain
Japan remains the only country in the world that forces couples to use one surname after marriage.
JAPAN / Politics
Ishiba hears advice from across the aisle on how Japan should handle Trump
A shared sense of national crisis and a desire to appeal to voters ahead of the July Upper House elections is pushing opposition parties to speak up.
A damaged road in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 6, after a major earthquake struck the area on New Year's Day
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Oct 6, 2024
Important tool or alarmism? Japan experts split on megaquake advisories.
By Kathleen Benoza
Supporters say the advisories are about reducing risk, but critics see a system that isn’t based on science and one in which the cons outweigh the pros.
Lamposts and other signs throughout Hirogawa, Wakayama Prefecture, display warnings, evacuation routes and measurements of height above sea level. The town has been hit by eight tsunami in its recorded history.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Jul 21, 2024
Why Japanese researchers are looking to submarine cables for faster tsunami warnings
By Joel Tansey
While Japan boasts one of the world's most sophisticated earthquake and tsunami detection systems, gaps still remain.
An earthquake-damaged area in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, in May 2023. The Noto Peninsula has been experiencing an ongoing “seismic swarm” since late 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Jun 3, 2024
How rain and snow play a role in Noto’s ‘seismic swarm’
By Harvin Bhathal
The seismic activity in the region is synchronized with changes in underground pressure, which is influenced by seasonal patterns of precipitation.
An aircraft from the Thai Department of Royal Rainmaking deposits a sodium chloride-based material in an effort to produce rain.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Apr 18, 2024
How cloud seeding boosts rainfall — and why that’s controversial
By Laura Millan
Developed in the 1940s, cloud seeding can boost rain and snowfall, but the World Meteorological Organization warns we don't know enough about it yet.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Feb 4, 2024
For Japan, earthquakes are an existential matter
By Alex K.T. Martin
The New Year's Day quake was a stark reminder of how Japan has been shaped by rumbling, grinding and often deadly convulsions and volcanic activity.
Cooling towers at a coal-fired power plant in Germany. While surface temperatures might stabilize quickly after reaching net-zero, other shifting parts of the climate are harder to slow once set in motion.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Nov 17, 2023
Amid climate efforts, will net-zero emissions be enough?
By Sana Pashankar and Eric Roston
A new study suggests uncertainty about how climate systems will respond after emissions stabilize is an argument for reducing them as quickly as possible.
It’s hard to talk about space-based solar — that is, transmitting the energy — without conjuring images of a death ray. But the team at the California Institute of Technology says the power density of the beam would be comparable to the power density of sunlight.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Oct 27, 2023
Beam solar energy from space? These scientists say yes
By David R Baker
The hurdles that have grounded space-based solar in the past aren’t merely technical, they’re also financial.

Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
Britain responds after Expo 2025 afternoon tea brews outrage
The café space at the Osaka Expo's British pavilion
Truck driver's body recovered from huge Japan sinkhole after three months
Workers stand around a vehicle carrying the body of a person recovered from a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Friday.
Second round of U.S.-Japan tariff talks ends inconclusively in Washington
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (far left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator. The second round of tariff negotiations between Japan and the United States were held on Thursday in Washington.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027
Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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