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JAPAN
Dec 16, 2009

Climate talks tense after walkout

COPENHAGEN — U.N. negotiators at the COP15 climate change conference were racing against the clock Tuesday, trying to conclude some form of agreement before nearly 120 heads of state began arriving Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2009

Japan under fire for laying low in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN — Japan needs to step up and take a more prominent and visible leadership role at the U.N. climate talks or the conference could end in failure, Japanese and foreign nongovernmental organizations said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2009

'Clean energy' plan may jump start NGK's sales

Japan's plan to use more renewable energy to fight climate change hinges on another technology — batteries as big as London buses to be hooked up to the power network at a cost of as much as ¥6 trillion.
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2009

Mr. Hatoyama's world debut

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made a strong diplomatic debut on the international stage Tuesday, pledging that Japan will reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The pledge was made in a speech delivered in English at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change, held...
EDITORIALS
Sep 11, 2009

Impetus for a low-carbon world

Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, head of the Democratic Party of Japan and the prime minister-in-waiting, has announced that Japan will seek a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. This is an ambitious target that could put Japan on the path to a low-carbon society. It could also give...
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2009

Target CO2 cut draws business ire

OSAKA — Yukio Hatoyama's reaffirmation Monday that his incoming government will stick to the Democratic Party of Japan's campaign pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels has drawn fire from local businesses but also praise from the international community.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Aug 16, 2009

Big stage for new-look Japan squad

With a new coach, a new captain and a new pin-up, Japan's women' volleyball team has the perfect stage on which to test its newfound confidence and ambition in Tokyo this week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 14, 2009

Playwright Tomohiro Maekawa finds the uncanny in the mundane

In February this year, 35-year-old Tomohiro Maekawa's reputation was given a boost when he was nominated in both the best-playwright and best-director categories of the prestigious Yomiuri Theater Awards. Although Maekawa didn't walk away with an award; the nominations, coming just six years after he...
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 13, 2009

Parties wave flag for child-rearing

Child-rearing support is a focal issue in the campaign for the Aug. 30 election as the two main parties fight to woo parents, especially those who both work or have young children.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2009

Nissan ups stakes in electric car race

YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa Pref. — Nissan Motor Co. unveiled its new electric prototype Monday to be launched next year in Japan and the United States, raising the competition in electric vehicles when the market for environmentally friendly cars has already heated up with gasoline-electric hybrids.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2009

Fujitsu takes aim at ¥130 billion profit in business 2011

Fujitsu Ltd. said it is targeting record profits in the 2011 business year as spending on software and information-technology infrastructure recovers.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2009

Fuji Heavy may launch hybrid vehicle by '12

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. may introduce a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle by 2012, as the United States, Japan and Europe tighten their emission rules.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2009

Step up efforts to slash emissions

Prior to the Toyako Group of Eight summit in July 2008, Japan adopted a long-range goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050 from the current level. But compared with other major developed countries, Japan has been slow in deciding on a midrange reduction goal.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2009

Japan to buy Ukraine CO 2 credits

The government is in the final phase of talks to buy greenhouse gas emission credits from Ukraine and aims to complete the accord by March 31, a trade ministry official said Monday.
BUSINESS / CLIMATE CHANGE SYMPOSIUM
Feb 10, 2009

Rethinking a global post-Kyoto solution

New ways of thinking on climate change are needed if the world is to create a workable post-Kyoto Protocol framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, European scholars told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2008

Aeon to cut spending, China push

Aeon Co. will cut spending on stores at home and slow expansion in China as it battles the worst retail market in at least three decades, Chief Financial Officer Masaaki Toyoshima said.
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2008

Climate-change meeting stalls

There is near-unanimous agreement — the few stubborn holdouts will likely never be convinced — that climate change is real and the world must respond aggressively to it. The existing framework for action, the Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012 and its effectiveness has been limited by the failure of...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2008

Preserving tropical forests also cuts emissions

SINGAPORE — Can the world's remaining tropical forests in Indonesia and elsewhere be protected and brought into the battle against climate change? Working out ways of halting or slowing the cutting of forests for valuable timber and agriculture is now being discussed at U.N. climate change negotiations...
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2008

Prepping a new climate deal

A two-week meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP14, is now under way in Poznan, Poland, with some 10,000 delegates and environmentalists from some 190 countries attending. The participants are supposed to discuss international efforts...

Longform

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