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July 14, 2025
 

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More Environment stories

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 26, 2011
Morishita: treats in place of the trees
By Kit Nagamura
Sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees. According to Akinori Saito, a historian in Tokyo's Koto Ward Office, the area known as Morishita (lit. "forest below") was most likely named for woods that surrounded the yashiki (residence) of a feudal lord named Saemon Sakai (1564-1619), a retainer...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2011
Readers offer 3/11 insights, valuable resources
By Stephen Hesse
As Japan has struggled with the physical and emotional challenges of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, and the ongoing nuclear crisis that resulted, I have written three Our Planet Earth columns related to those events: one on Japan's response (March 27); one on alternative...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 19, 2011
Of predators and prey
By Mark Brazil
The forest floor is a maze, a tangle, an adventure — all depending on one's scale.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jun 5, 2011
Beauty and the noble beech
By C.W. Nicol
The first time that Japan's nature really made me stop, stand, stare and listen, totally lost in wonder, was — I clearly remember — in the early summer of 1963. I'm not so sure where in Japan that wondrous occurence took place, but I know just where I was.
ENVIRONMENT
May 29, 2011
Serendipities at every turn on this island 'pearl'
By Mark Brazil
The sound of Buddhist chanting grew louder as my travel companions and I entered the compound around the "temple," where flickering torches lit the smiling faces of sedately circling monks as the warm tones of their voices carried through the impenetrable darkness on a chilling, flag-fluttering breeze....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 29, 2011
A garden pictogram lives on
By Stephen Mansfield
Japanese gardens are often associated with temples, feudal estates or castles. Genkyu-en in Shiga Prefecture is certainly no exception, sited as it is adjoining a detached palace in the grounds of Hikone Castle, one of only a handful of the nation's feudal fortresses to have survived in its original...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 22, 2011
U.S. court victories show how to get rid of nuclear plants
By Stephen Hesse
Lawyer Tom Twomey knows far more than most of us about the importance of citizen participation in making energy policy. That's because Twomey has spent four decades keeping a watchful eye on electric power suppliers in New York — and he's learned that what we don't know can hurt us.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 15, 2011
Japan's mammalian riches
By Mark Brazil
I came across my first bumblebees of the season as they were busily draining the nectar from a broad swath of Blue Corydalis. The delicate flower stems nodding in a light breeze looked delightful in the sunshine, while above them frothy willow catkins were yellow with pollen and here and there birches...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 1, 2011
Rethinking Tohoku's rebuilding
By C.W. Nicol
The March 11 megaquake and tsunami, and the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant that they triggered, has sideswiped all of us. Nagging worries about the dangers of the radioctivity leaking from that crippled facility and concern for those brave souls striving to tackle the plant's...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 24, 2011
After March 11, Japan must reconsider its energy options
By Stephen Hesse
Viewed from abroad, there is no doubt that Japan is suffering an unmitigated disaster.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Apr 24, 2011
Gaming Moto Azabu
By Kit Nagamura
Rather than dwell on the dark side of life at this time, I decide to get my game on by heading to a store just off Azabu-Juban's main shopping street in central Tokyo's Minato Ward. Max Game, at the foot of Kurayamizaka (Dark Slope), is surrounded by kids of all ages sitting at tables, strategizing and...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 17, 2011
Viewing wildlife through a lens
I grew up in Britain, which is a crane-free zone, so from the very first time I arrived in Japan I was dreaming of seeing the iconic red-crowned cranes of Hokkaido. How much more iconic as a crane can you get than being dubbed Grus japonensis? But just how was I to learn about their haunts and habits?...
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Osaka police crack down on crime ring over underage prostitution
Osaka Prefectural Police headquarters
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Is Japanese skin really ‘too smooth’ for Hideo Kojima’s games?
Hideo Kojima, the leading auteur in Japanese video games, has skirted controversy in the wake of the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.

Podcast

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

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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