Japan Times 1997: 160 nations adopt Kyoto Protocol

100 years ago

Tuesday, Dec. 12, 1922

Shrine built to cool wrath of angry tree

Some time ago the vernacular press published a story about the residents of Koyama-cho of Shiba Ward, Tokyo, being terror-stricken at the successive deaths of the masters of nine shops of that district, due to the wrath displayed by the spirit of a female gingko tree over the merciless felling of her male companion gingko tree.

The male tree was cut down for the purpose of establishing a branch office of the Government Monopoly Bureau on the site of the residence of a former lord (“daimyo”) named Arima.

The gingko tree has been inclined to be somewhat more merciful these days, but this fact is insufficient to dispel the apprehension of the residents of the neighborhood, and a neat little shrine has been erected from funds collected among those residing in the district. This singular honor, it is hoped, will appease the angered tree and, at the same time, quite the fears of the people.

75 years ago

Monday, Dec. 8, 1947

Emperor breaks precedent with speech at A-bomb site

Emperor Hirohito, standing at the site of the atomic bomb blast that flattened (Hiroshima), today broke all precedent by delivering a brief and unexpected address to 40,000 wildly cheering citizens whom he called upon to help “rebuild our country and contribute to world peace.”

Standing alone and unattended on a raised platform, where he could look out over the heads of his subjects to the spot where the Japanese shrine to the atom bomb stands — a steel and concrete skeleton of the prefectural government building in the heart of Hiroshima, the Emperor told of his sorrow for the disaster and his hope for the future.

The Emperor’s visit to the once devastated area — now beginning to rise into a clean and industrious city — came significantly on the eve of the sixth anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

“I am very deeply pleased,” he said, “with the warm welcome of the citizens of Hiroshima, and I am satisfied with the progress being made in the rehabilitation work of this city.

“I cannot but feel very sorry for the disaster that this city suffered. I believe, however, that we must construct a peaceful Japan, keeping this disaster deep in our memory.”

50 years ago

Tuesday, Dec. 12, 1972

History texts rapped for containing errors

A high school teacher in Osaka claims that a number of high school textbooks of world history published in Japan contain erroneous descriptions about China which distort its history.

Shinji Yoneda, a teacher of Tezukayama Gakuin High School, reported this at a conference of the Society for Modern China held at the Osaka Prefectural Hall in Tennoji Ward last week.

The 300-member society, Japan’s largest academic institution for Chinese studies, headed by Prof. Masao Fukushima of Waseda University is pushing a drive to correct false descriptions about China and Korea in textbooks.

Yoneda surveyed 12 kinds of world history textbooks to be used from April next year and found that most of them handled the Japanese aggression of China from 1931 to 1945 only as a series of “incidents.” They do not call it aggression nor war, he said.

Out of the 12 textbooks, only one refers to the alleged massacre of about 300,000 citizens in Nanking by Japanese soldiers on Dec. 13, 1937, Yoneda said.

He also pointed out that descriptions about the Great Cultural Revolution of the 1960s were perfunctory in most of the textbooks.

25 years ago

Friday, Dec. 12, 1997

160 nations adopt Kyoto Protocol

Some 160 nations on Thursday adopted a historic agreement to fight global warming that calls on industrialized nations to cut the total volume of their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% between 2008 and 2012.

After an all-night negotiating session, the Third Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change produced the Kyoto Protocol, which for the first time ever sets legally binding targets and commitments for greenhouse gas reductions.

Hiroshi Oki, president of the conference and Environment Agency chief, officially declared the adoption of the protocol and closed the meeting shortly after 2:30 p.m.

Under the terms of the protocol, 38 developed nations agreed to reduce worldwide emissions of all six greenhouse gasses. These countries are divided into eight groups, and their “targets” range from a reduction of 8% to an increase of 10%.

Among the key industrial players, the United States, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, is required to reduce emissions by 7%, the European Union by 8% and Japan by 6%.

The enforcement issue was pushed aside, but parties to the convention will meet in the future to determine how to penalize countries that fail to meet their targets.

Compiled by Shaun McKenna and Tadasu Takahashi. In this feature, we delve into The Japan Times’ 125-year archive to present a selection of stories from the past. The Japan Times’ archive is now available in digital format. For more details, see jtimes.jp/de.