
Environment / Life
Four-year forests: The Japanese way to 'rewild the world'
by Joan Bailey
Created in the 1970s, the Miyawaki method can help new saplings grow an average of a meter every year — a godsend for deforested areas.
Four-year forests: The Japanese way to 'rewild the world'
Created in the 1970s, the Miyawaki method can help new saplings grow an average of a meter every year — a godsend for deforested areas.
Submerged secrets: The hunt for Japan’s underwater ruins
Although the island nation has lagged behind in the field of underwater archaeology, there’s a growing thirst for sunken discoveries.
Drowning in plastic? Biodegradable materials could be a lifesaver.
It’s official: In March, the United Nations Environmental Assembly endorsed a global pact on the life cycle of plastic. It has been declared a seismic shift in the battle against marine pollution, but what will happen to the oceans before those potential positive effects ...
Japan’s ‘hydrogen economy’ runs the risk of being powered by coal
The government-led drive to boost hydrogen energy and lower emissions may end up giving coal-fired power plants a new lease on life.
As the crow flies: A bird’s eye view of Japan’s urban ecology
Tokyo’s once booming crow population has plummeted amid the COVID-19 pandemic. What does that mean for the world’s largest city?
Plastic love: Proliferation of PET bottles in Japan complicates a sustainable future
Japan recycles and reuses its ubiquitous plastic container more than almost any other country — but some say it’s still not enough.
Raging river: Tracing the Arakawa, Japan’s most dangerous water source
While supplying Tokyoites with drinking water, the river has also been prone to deadly floods over the centuries — risks that are now being escalated by climate change.
Beneath the surface: Are Japan’s iconic hot-spring resources sustainable?
The public and private use of hot springs is leaving a significant imprint on the environment.
Unearthing Japan’s home-grown solutions to urban greening
Urban greening not only boosts biodiversity and lowers air temperatures, it also provides a much-needed link to the natural world.
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.
The true cost of the climate crisis on Japan
The prime minister has called for Japan to be carbon neutral by 2050, but bolder measures look necessary to reduce the economic damage caused by global warming.
C.W. Nicol, a committed environmentalist with deep humanity
Author and environmentalist C.W. Nicol died on Friday after being diagnosed with cancer in 2016. As a long-standing contributor to The Japan Times, we asked his equally long-standing editor, Andrew Kershaw, to write a few words in memory of the award-winning conservationist