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October 16, 2025
 

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More Environment stories

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 18, 2002
Stag beetle
By Rowan Hooper
* Japanese name: Miyamakuwagata * Scientific name: Lucanus maculifemoratus * Description: This is a large, reddish-black, heavily armed (and armored) beetle. Males have a fearsome but elegant pair of antlerlike jaws, about 15 mm long, with sharp teeth. Body length ranges from 43-72 mm. Females do not...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 17, 2002
Ticks: playing a waiting game to gorge on blood
By Mark Brazil
Being in the field for several months each year in search of wildlife to study, photograph and write about may sound wonderful, and it certainly does make for an exciting life. There is a downside, though, because there's also wildlife out there looking for me. Well, not me specifically, but warm-blooded...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 11, 2002
Red damselfly
By Rowan Hooper
* Japanese name: Beniito tonbo * Scientific name: Ceriagrion nipponicum * Description: The red damselfly is small (body length 34-41 mm). Damselflies can be distinguished from dragonflies (both in the insect order Odonata) by the way they perch. Damselflies rest with their wings folded together over...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 10, 2002
Women are the key to conserving Mother Earth
By Stephen Hesse
Danielle Nierenberg may work in the shadow of the White House, but she is clearly more enlightened than the man who lives there. At the end of April, the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute released a policy brief written by Nierenberg, a staff researcher. The title of her paper is a succinct statement...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Oct 10, 2002
Nurturing nature in an urban sprawl
By Gerard Taaffe
At a mere 374 meters high, Arima-Fuji in Hyogo Prefecture is hardly on a par with the Kanto peak whose name it shares, but its conical shape does bear a passing resemblance. Though it's almost all clothed with pleasent woodland, from the bare rocky areas near the summit there are good views of the surrounding...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 4, 2002
Sea cucumber
By Rowan Hooper
* Japanese name: Torafunamako * Scientific name: Holothuria pervicax * Description: Despite their name, sea cucumbers are not plants but animals, close relatives of sea urchins and starfish. They are all echinoderms, and members of this group are radially symmetrical. This kind of symmetry is most...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 3, 2002
Homing in on a sound of autumn
By Mark Brazil
Thump . . . thud . . . and thump again. It's a perennial autumn sound -- the sound of falling fruit. Overripe on the branch, sometimes already rotting, apples, pears, persimmons and plums fall and burst, splattering strong-smelling juices that don't long go wasted.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 3, 2002
A tale worth telling of (our) nature in the raw
By C.W. Nicol
I've been away in sunny climes for a while, and now I'm back at my desk in Kurohime. Actually, it is sunny and fine here as I write this, too, but there is a chill in the air, and flocks of small birds are twittering through the trees, migrants, coming down from higher up the mountain. Looking over my...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 29, 2002
How is marine Miyakejima now?
By Jack Moyer
In early July 2000, Miyakejima Island's 7,000-year-old volcano roared back to life. Continual eruptions led to the entire population being evacuated over the next two months as emissions of very fine, extremely heavy ash were replaced by lethal gases gushing daily from a new 400-meter-deep crater. What...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 27, 2002
Moon jellyfish
By Rowan Hooper
* Japanese name: Mizukurage * Scientific name: Aurelia aurita * Description: Moon jellyfish are soft-bodied, transparent animals that swim by gently undulating their bell-shaped bodies. They range in size from 5 cm to 40 cm in diameter. Unlike what you may have expected, size is not an indication of...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Sep 26, 2002
Trees that tower over the past and present
By Gerard Taaffe
An visitor to Kyoto's world-famous gardens and temples could not fail to be awed by the stands and avenues of towering Kitayama sugi (Japanese red cedar, or peacock pine; Cryptomeria japonica).
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 26, 2002
Ozone hole? Soon it could be . . . 'what hole?'
By Stephen Hesse
Despite the international set-to over Iraq and caustic reviews for the recent U.N. Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, there is still some good news on cooperation and the environment.
Hypothermia in the land of the rising Sanae
Amid the election of Sanae Takaichi as Liberal Democratic Party president, and possibly the next prime minister, Japan's economy shows signs of recovery, but weak wages, a conservative corporate culture and currency issues raise doubts about a true economic thaw.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Could an opposition candidate become Japan's next prime minister?
The lawmaker that secures a majority of votes in the Lower House will become prime minister. If no one gets a majority, the two top contenders will enter a runoff in which the person with the highest number of votes gets elected.
Coalition talks could bring Takaichi closer to being PM
Nippon Ishin no Kai leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura meets with Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Wednesday.
As temperatures drop in Japan, bear attacks shoot up to historic highs
Bear warning signs at the Akita Prefectural Government building
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.
A frenetic diplomatic schedule looms for Japan’s next leader — whomever that may be
As horse-trading and speculation surge over who will be elected the next prime minister in parliament — the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Sanae Takaichi or a possible candidate put forward by a unified opposition — Japan’s next leader will be confronted with a quick succession of key diplomatic events.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
At Osaka Expo, gas giants promote a greener future. But is it a lot of hot air?
The Gas Pavilion had welcomed around 500,000 visitors by the end of August, making it one of the most popular exhibits at the Osaka Expo.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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