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April 28, 2025
 

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More Environment stories

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 5, 2002
Carping over muddy ponds
By C.W. Nicol
Me and Mr. Matsuki, we're developers. There -- I've said it. We actually alter habitat. We haven't got around to making golf courses yet, but about 10 years ago, when I bought another section of land to add to what is now the Nagano prefectural Afan Woodland Trust, there was a large section of it that...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 5, 2002
Vital links in a flyway chain
By Mark Brazil
Amazingly, we continue to take fresh water for granted. This precious resource is vital for our survival and that of a vast array of other species, from microscopic creatures and aquatic insects, to fish and hordes of birds. In Lake Baikal in Siberia, at 1,737 meters the deepest lake in the world, there...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 2, 2002
Click beetle
By Rowan Hooper
* Japanese name: Ubatamakomeshiki * Scientific name: Paracalais berus * Description: Click beetles have a hinged body and a spine beneath the thorax that fits into a groove under the abdomen. They are 16-19 mm long, with flattened, elongated, bullet-shaped brown bodies. Also known as snapping, break-back...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Nov 28, 2002
Autumn chilly spell yields a spectacular cast of colors
By Gerard Taaffe
This year, the autumn color has been truly magnificent in the Kansai region, primarily thanks to the Japanese maple. Every year, these trees are almost guaranteed to deliver wonderful yellow-and-red fall foliage, but this year the sudden drop in temperature in the first few days of November pushed into...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 28, 2002
From oil-dependent past to hydrogen future
By Stephen Hesse
Making a global transition from fossil fuels to clean hydrogen-energy systems seems like pure science fiction -- until you meet Amory Lovins.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 22, 2002
Oily cicada
By Rowan Hooper
* Japanese name: Abura zemi * Scientific name: Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata * Description: The body length of this large cicada is between 32-40 mm as an adult. Like any true bug, the wings are held over the body and form an upside-down V-shape. The mottled wings look like they have a coating of oil...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 21, 2002
Taking the high way through life
By Mark Brazil
If you were an ant, multi-limbed with a ground-hugging body, a trip across the forest floor would present you with a daunting obstacle course. Each fallen twig would be a wall to climb; each wind-blown leaf a teetering trap poised to tip and sluice rainwater; each fallen tree and its tangled branches...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 15, 2002
Ryukyu damselfly
By Rowan Hooper
* Japanese name: Ryukyu hagurotonbo * Scientific name: Matrona basilaris japonica * Description: The Ryukyu damselfly is a sturdy, brightly colored insect. At 51-65 mm long, it is large for a damselfly. Males have brilliant electric-blue bodies and two pairs of dark-blue wings, although there is...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 14, 2002
Cleanups are only drops in the ocean
By Jack Moyer
The year was 1980. I was conducting fish research on the Great Barrier Reef, off Cape York in Queensland, northeastern Australia. After a lengthy dive, I decided to take a short rest and then explore a small, unoccupied sandy islet nearby for signs of nesting sea turtles and terns in that wonderful ocean...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 14, 2002
Thinking outside the box on fuel
By Stephen Hesse
First of two parts Part professor, part engineer and part philosopher, Amory Lovins is perfectly suited for the role of alternative-energy guru. A Lovins presentation is a seamless tapestry of economics, physics and mechanical engineering, sprinkled with corny one-liners, startling insights and revealing...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 8, 2002
Loggerhead turtle
By Rowan Hooper
* Japanese name: Ao-umigame * Scientific name: Caretta caretta * Description: Turtles are reptiles with limbs modified into swimming paddles. Loggerhead turtles have a characteristically large head, but they don't have a big brain: It's their jaws that are large. The reddish-brown carapace of adults...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 7, 2002
Distant decimations
By Jack Moyer
Due to the volcanic eruption at the beginning of July 2000, it's been a fairly long time since I experienced a normal Miyakejima summer. Miyakejima, my island home for many years before that, was beautiful in summer, with lush green forests, numerous birds and the deep, blue ocean all around.
China seizes disputed reef near key Philippine military outpost
China Coast Guard officers unfurl a national flag on Sandy Cay reef, near the Philippine-held Thitu Island, in disputed waters of the South China Sea this month in this screen shot taken from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Japan to resist Trump efforts to form trade bloc against China
As Japan gears up for the trade talks, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is also seeking to cushion the blow that the U.S. tariffs may have on the domestic economy.
As many as nine dead after driver plows into Vancouver festival crowd
An ambulance is parked at the site of the Lapu Lapu day festival, where a vehicle drove into a crowd killing several people in Vancouver on Saturday.
Arunima Mazumdar: ‘Japanese literature has a niche but deeply engaged readership in India’
Arunima Mazumdar, a New Delhi-based communications professional, began sharing her love of Japanese literature online in 2022. The platform has grown into a robust community known as Dokusha Book Club.
Japan struggles with gray zone of AI deepfakes exploiting children
AI-generated content — including those made using pictures of real people, which are known as “deepfakes” — is not explicitly covered under Japan's current legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.
‘Wildcat Dome’ challenges Japan's historical narratives
On the surface, "Wildcat Dome" tells a personal story of damaged children — now adults — bound together by tragedy. Underneath, there’s a constant undercurrent of political consequence, invisible and pervasive like radioactive particles.
Reclaiming Sanya, one meal at a time
Magokoro Yoshihira (center) is the managing director of Yui Associates, which operates the neighborhood fixtures of Sanya Cafe and Juyoh Hotel. Yusuke Takahashi (left) met Yoshihira during a difficult period in his life and now works as the cafe’s chef. Nancy Anne (right) has worked for over 10 years at Juyoh Hotel and enjoys the multicultural environment.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo

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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