More Environment Articles - The Japan Times

November 17, 2025

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Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

May 24, 2002

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Komori-gumo * Scientific name: Pardosa astigera * Description: Wolf spiders are dark brown, predatory and fast-moving spiders measuring 7-10 mm long. Females may continue to grow after they are sexually mature. They do not spin webs like many spiders. They have eight eyes, in pairs:...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

May 23, 2002

Scientists petition Japan to lay down harpoons

By Stephen Hesse

Early this week, readers of the New York Times may have been surprised to find among its pages a full-page petition, in English and Japanese, signed by 21 eminent scientists, including Richard Dawkins, E.O. Wilson and Jane Lubchenco, and the Nobel prize-winners Roger Guillemin, Sir Aaron Klug and Alan...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

May 23, 2002

Dallying where daimyo strolled

By Gerard Taaffe

Next time you find yourself in Okayama Prefecture, down by the beautiful Seto Inland Sea in western Honshu, you could do worse than allow some time to visit Shuraku-en Park, a well-known historical garden in the Sanyo district of Tsuyama.

ENVIRONMENT

May 19, 2002

What the label doesn't say

By Mark Brazil

Scandals about deception in product labeling have been in the news of late, with both the expiry dates and the origins of dairy and meat products called into question. While not as big a news item, the labeling standards for whale meat take deception to further, murkier depths -- and to dangerous ones....

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT

May 19, 2002

Whaling: A live issue over death

By Mark Brazil

Whales dolphins and porpoises, the aquatic mammals collectively called cetaceans, number less than 80 species, or fewer than 2 percent of all mammals. They are, however, probably the most talked about and written about of all wild animals -- despite being some of the most poorly understood creatures...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT

May 19, 2002

Where kujira cuisine is a matter of course

By Mick Corliss

Eating at Taruichi can be a bit daunting. First there's the decor. For those not cowed by the dried, meter-long whale's phallus dangling overhead, the next challenge is the menu.

ENVIRONMENT

May 19, 2002

A young man and the sea

By C.W. Nicol

June 10, 1966. There was an iceberg in sight, and the water temperature was 3.7 degrees. The Japanese whale-catcher No. 17 Kyo Maru was off Newfoundland, having drifted through the brief summer night and resumed the search for migrating whales at first light.

ENVIRONMENT

May 19, 2002

By Gary Tegler

TAIJI, Wakayama Pref. -- From the lead boat it was difficult to see the spray rising from the waters off Tomyo Point. The onshore breeze dispersed it before it could rise too high and the choppy waters forced the rowers to concentrate on their task. Nonetheless, the sign was there.

ENVIRONMENT

May 19, 2002

How deep does our knowledge go?

By Mark Brazil

The group of animals we call cetaceans represent but two-thirds of the orders of "whales" that have ever existed.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

May 17, 2002

Long-armed shrimp

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Tenaga-ebi * Scientific name: Macrobrachium nipponese * Description: Long-armed shrimp are accurately named. They are crustaceans in the family that includes lobsters and crabs, all of which have 10 pairs of legs. In the long-armed shrimp, the first five pairs are the walking legs,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

May 16, 2002

Summer's serenaders of the moon, sun and stars

By Mark Brazil

Summer really is here. It has spread north so rapidly that June- and July-like temperatures were reported in Hokkaido even before the end of April. The cherry blossom wave rushed northward, too, at such a pace it was as if it were trying to take a running jump at Sakhalin.

ENVIRONMENT

May 16, 2002

Home sweet Nagoya Port home

By Jack T. Moyer

It would probably come as a surprise to most Nagoya residents to learn that a sizable population of finless porpoises resides in the dark, extremely polluted waters of Nagoya Port -- even in its busy heart near Kinjofuto, the Meijo Bridge, the shipbuilding dock and among the enormous ships that carry...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.

A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo

By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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