Search - environment

 
 
JAPAN / Q&A
Mar 25, 2011

Should kids be shielded from coverage of disaster?

Aftershocks, reruns of tsunami footage and images of obliterated communities on television have continued to illustrate the scale of the earthquake that struck the Tohoku region on March 11. But some pundits say children, even those who are only following developments on TV, are highly vulnerable to...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Mar 7, 2011

Germany's economic miracle: New lessons await for old Japan

The economies of Japan and Germany, similar in many respects, are often compared. Not only did both rise from the ashes of World War II to become the leading economies in their regions, but they also formed strong manufacturing bases, large numbers of successful midsize companies and enjoyed extreme...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2011

A call for philosophical thinking

HIROSHIMA — It has been long since hope for the future was lost, and a vague sense of anxiety is now prevailing among us. Yet this feeling of uneasiness should be the beginning of our thinking philosophically. We should rather take it as an unexpected blessing.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 27, 2011

Don't give up on Japan's kids

Last March, the president of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin Faust, visited Japan to find out for herself what has become of Japan's once-vibrant contribution to American academia. The numbers of Japanese students enrolling in Harvard have declined steadily over the past decade, and in September 2009...
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Feb 15, 2011

Can mah-jongg and pachinko parlors clean up their acts?

The clean air campaign targets some of the smokers' last places of refuge — mah-jongg and pachinko parlors.
COMMENTARY
Feb 13, 2011

How does Japan start to cope with fewer births, longer lives?

Economic growth depends on the rates of population increase and technological evolution, among other factors. Technological evolution relies on the capacities of human beings. So its kernel factor is human power.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Feb 3, 2011

Eda unsure if he will sign hanging orders

New Justice Minister Satsuki Eda openly opposes capital punishment but can't decide whether to perform his duty and sign off on executions or stick to his personal beliefs.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 23, 2011

The countdown: six months and a day till TV goes digital

Quick: what happened in Japan on Sept. 10, 1960? A few people might recall that was the day Japan commenced color TV broadcasting. At the startup, color programs were few in number, but consumers still had four years and one month to buy a color set before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 15, 2011

Authentic slice of Japan preserved in South Florida

The first two weeks of the new year are over, and Tom Gregersen, 61, is putting away the kine and usu, the traditional wooden mallets and mortars used in the mochitsuki (rice-cake pounding) event held as part of the O-shogatsu Festival at The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2010

Spending big question for 2011

The economy's tepid recovery will have trouble staying on track in 2011 as the effects of government stimulus gradually fade.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2010

Defense focus shifts from Russia to China

The administration endorsed a new defense guideline Friday that focuses on China's growing military activities instead of former Cold War foe Russia and paints North Korea as a regional security threat.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Dec 8, 2010

'Father of the Internet in Japan' predicts the future of networked devices and tells us why Japan must deregulate online healthcare

In 1990, Jun Murai, at the time an associate professor at Keio University in Tokyo, made a prediction in an article in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. When asked what the future of computer systems would look like, he described a world where, on one level there would be a network, on a second level computers...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 28, 2010

Veering off the path of mutually assured destruction

As individuals, we usually recognize when we're heading off in the wrong direction and then have the good sense to get ourselves back on the right track.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2010

Mongolia leader here for loan, ties

Japan and Mongolia can benefit by strengthening their strategic partnership and combining Japan's advanced technology with Mongolia's abundant natural resources, Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj said Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Nov 19, 2010

Anti-virus products diversify as fear sells

Consumers fearing infection have got an arsenal of virus-fighting products at their gloved fingertips.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2010

Kawasaki busy cleaning up its act

The sky over Kawasaki once was choked with smoke billowing from factories along its waterfront, giving the city at the center of the Keihin Coastal Industrialized Zone a reputation as one of the country's most polluted areas.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2010

Wal-Mart upbeat on Japan's TPP prospects

YOKOHAMA — Japan's stated commitment to free trade at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit over the weekend was a positive message for global retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which might be in position to sell high-quality Japanese produce overseas in the future, Wal-Mart Asia CEO Scott Price...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2010

Tax reform needs vision

The government and the Democratic Party of Japan have started discussions on tax reform for fiscal 2011 and beyond. Both should learn a lesson from their experience just after the DPJ came to power in September 2009. At that time discussions at the government's Tax Commission did not go smoothly. The...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2010

World Bank to help gauge natural wealth

NAGOYA — The World Bank said Thursday in Nagoya it will begin a project to help developing countries integrate the economic benefits of nature into their state policies in an effort to save millions of people from poverty while making sure their natural assets are used in a sustainable way.
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2010

APEC needs to find growth amid new global landscape

Asia-Pacific economies need to identify a new paradigm for post-crisis growth and Japan, as the chair of APEC this year, is required to set a new direction for the regional economic forum under the changing global circumstances, officials and experts said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2010

Business sense: saving biodiversity

NAGOYA — As international deliberations to preserve biodiversity and promote its fair and sustainable use heat up in the last week of the COP10 talks, business observers agree that regardless of the final outcome, the private sector's role in the global effort will grow exponentially.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan