More Environment Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

May 13, 2004

Confessions of a schizo environmentalist

By Stephen Hesse

I have a confession to make. For the past month I've been suffering from a strange affliction: I can't seem to buy and dispose of plastic bottles without being overcome by a mild case of environmental schizophrenia.

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK

Apr 29, 2004

'Little blighters' that drive me barking mad

By C.W. Nicol

Two years ago, we transplanted 20 cherry saplings cloned from an ancient and historical tree (see Old Nic's Notebook; May, 1, 2003) here where I live in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture. We then raised the saplings with loving care in our own little nursery for six years, before replanting them at the entranceway...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Apr 22, 2004

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Amago * Scientific name:Oncorhynchus masou ishikawa * Description:Salmon are handsome fish with streamlined silver bodies. The scientific name means "hooked nose," and you will understand why if you see one. There are seven species of Pacific salmon, two of which occur in Asia. In...

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Apr 15, 2004

Fungal alchemists snatch bodies to live

By Mark Brazil

Step back in time a mere 1,000 million years and the three great domains of the Plantae, Animalia and Fungi shared a common ancestor.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Apr 8, 2004

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Kouika * Scientific name:Sepia esculenta * Description:Cuttlefish are marine animals in the same group as octopus and squid (cephalopods). They are soft-bodied but have a "bone" (actually an internal shell), which supports the mantle (body) and acts as a buoyancy regulator. Lying underneath...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Apr 8, 2004

Report condemns Bush's corruption of science

By Stephen Hesse

Kurt Gottfried, professor emeritus of physics at Cornell University and Chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), is very concerned about the Bush administration.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK

Apr 1, 2004

Ways of weathering winter

By C.W. Nicol

I had to attend a college graduation ceremony and an Environment Ministry meeting in Tokyo; otherwise I could easily have made it in a day from Okinawa to northern Nagano Prefecture where I live. As it was, the trip from that balmy Pacific isle to my home amid the snows of Kurohime took me until nearly...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Apr 1, 2004

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Kappa * Scientific name:Suijin kappensis * Description: Some sources claim that kappa are primates, but in fact they are the only known examples of an order of primitive mammals related to the duck-billed platypus. Remarkably for a mammal, kappas are bipedal. They have a curved duck's...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Mar 25, 2004

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Suzumushi * Scientific name:Homoeogryllus japonicus * Description: The bell cricket is a 2-cm-long insect in a family called Phalangopsidae. It's a small, not particularly attractive cricket, but it is very well known -- and loved -- in Japan for its song. It has a dark body and long,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Mar 18, 2004

The wonder that is winter

By Mark Brazil

The seasons have a powerful effect on me, which perhaps explains my need to anthropomorphize and personify them. Temperate Japan's six distinct seasons roll on inexorably: spring, rainy, summer, typhoon, autumn and winter. Though battered and bruised by the perceptible effects of global climate change,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Mar 11, 2004

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Nihon kawanezumi * Scientific name:Chimarrogale platycephala * Description: Shrews are small mammals and are thought to be similar to the first mammals that evolved. Fur is dark gray-brown with a white-gray underside; the hindquarters are fringed with silvery hairs. They have small...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Mar 11, 2004

Bush majors in suppression of science

By Stephen Hesse

It comes as no surprise that U.S. President George W. Bush is calling for a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. He is simply using the age-old tactic of picking on others to save his own hide.

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

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports