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Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Apr 28, 2005

Gray-headed Lapwing

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Keri * Scientific name: Vanellus cinereus * Description: Lapwings are attractive, plump, medium-size birds (body length 30 cm; wingspan about 85 cm) with large orange eyes, yellow legs and a yellow bill with a black tip. The head and neck are gray, as are the tops of the wings,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT

Apr 21, 2005

Matters of survival in a 'shattered world'

By Stephen Hesse

One of the best things about writing a newspaper column is that I get a chance to meet people whose paths I might otherwise never cross. Last weekend, at the Odaiba waterfront launch of Earth Day Tokyo 2005, I had the rare pleasure of meeting and interviewing two environmentalists I have long admired,...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Apr 21, 2005

Time to honor the planet, every day

By Stephen Hesse

'If the environment is a fad, then it's going to be our last fad," warned Denis Hayes at the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, having given up his own graduate studies at Harvard only months before to organize this historic event.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Apr 14, 2005

Azure-winged magpie

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Onaga * Scientific name: Cyanopica cyana * Description: Magpies are in the Corvid family, that is, they are related to crows and jackdaws. But Azure-winged magpies are more elegant, with long, light-blue tails and wings, gray backs, white throats and black caps on the top of their...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK

Apr 7, 2005

Birds of fine feather -- and taste

By C.W. Nicol

The Green or Common pheasant was adopted as the national bird of Japan in 1947, and a pair of these kiji used to decorate the 10,000 yen note. Recently however, the noble pheasant, symbol of masculine might and courage -- and, through its sudden agitated flying and crying, supposedly a prophet of earthquakes...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Mar 24, 2005

Japanese wagtail

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Segurosekirei * Scientific name: Motacilla grandis * Description: Wagtails are easily identified by the way their tails wag frenetically when they walk. Even their flight pattern seems to wag -- they fly in an undulating wave. The head, throat and the top of the back and the wings...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Mar 24, 2005

Power answers blowing in the wind

By Stephen Hesse

There is no doubt our dependence on fossil fuels will end. We will wean ourselves off oil and coal because they pose unacceptable environmental and security risks, or we will be forced to stop using them as reserves dwindle and climate change intensifies.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Mar 17, 2005

Ancient birds, Stone Age music

By Mark Brazil

All winter long, the cacophony of sound at Sunayu, on the eastern shore of Lake Kussharo in eastern Hokkaido, is almost entirely comprised if the bugling and whooping of swans.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Mar 10, 2005

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Oshidori * Scientific name: Aix galericulata * Description: The male Mandarin duck is the last word in avian cuteness. With a wingspan of 68-74 cm, and a body that's 41-49 cm long, he has highly elaborate plumage, with long orange feathers on the "cheeks" of his face, swished-back...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK

Mar 3, 2005

Unique 'twin' woods branch out

By C.W. Nicol

Our little Afan Woodland Trust here in Kurohime in Nagano Prefecture is twinned with the Afan Forest Park in South Wales. Most folk have heard of twinned cities (though I believe that Americans call them "sister cities"), but as far as I know, our twinning of forests is unique, and -- as sometimes happens...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Feb 24, 2005

'Win-win' tie-up sets sights on sustainable seafood stocks

By Stephen Hesse

At the New England Aquarium in Boston, Mass., Heather Tausig is leading a project that, until recently, was unimaginable.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Feb 24, 2005

Spotted nutcracker

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Hoshigarasu * Scientific name: Nucifraga caryocatactes * Description: Nutcrackers are members of the Corvid (crow) family. An adult bird is approximately the size of a jackdaw, with a wingspan of 17.5-19 cm and a body length of 32 cm. They weigh 155-215 grams. Like other crows, their...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.

What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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