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COMMENTARY
Aug 13, 2002

Protecting Japan's interests

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's advisory panel on ministry reform came up with its final report in late July. On the basis of the panel's recommendations, the ministry this month will formulate an action plan on ways of implementing reform. A spate of scandals involving the ministry have prompted...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

'Green map' points to Tokyo's sights, blights

On a sunny day in early August, three university students and four children walking near JR Shinagawa Station in Tokyo stopped when they came upon litter on the street.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Ministry targets alien plants, animals

The Environment Ministry on Friday outlined the need for a new system to curb the negative effects of alien species that have the potential to ravage Japan's natural environment and biodiversity.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Osaka kids to get cooler classrooms

OSAKA -- The Osaka prefectural board of education plans to install air conditioners in all regular classrooms at prefectural high schools beginning in fiscal 2004, it was learned Friday.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 8, 2002

Rules with teeth required to save a natural splendor

Mikura Island, the southernmost of the Izu Islands south of Tokyo, which are administered by the metropolitan government, is a natural-history treasure house of global value.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2002

Ministry's new climate atlas designed to cool cities

The Environment Ministry is creating its first climate atlas, a fledgling attempt to chart atmospheric trends to spur more environmentally friendly city planning.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 7, 2002

Vincent Gallo: the one that got away

Twenty-odd years ago, I moonlighted as a cab driver in Toronto. I still remember how easy it was to glance in the rearview mirror and peg visitors from the American city of Buffalo, N.Y. They were generally polite and well-dressed, but in the affected manner of a child done up in his Sunday best, squirming...
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2002

Yokohama neighborhood seeks to put lid on condos

Is it possible for people to agree on what beauty is? As far as landscapes are concerned, the answer appears to be no.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2002

Risks preclude nuclear option for Japan

WASHINGTON -- "Just like the Constitution . . . the amendment of (Japan's nonnuclear principles) is also likely."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 30, 2002

A race against cultural oblivion

Like minority groups the world over, the hill tribes of Laos are facing unaccustomed pressures on their traditional way of life. The depletion of protective, life-giving forest and wilderness, the upward migration of more lowland Laotians, growing pressure on the hill tribes to settle closer to accessible...
LIFE / Travel
Jul 30, 2002

A race against cultural oblivion

Like minority groups the world over, the hill tribes of Laos are facing unaccustomed pressures on their traditional way of life. The depletion of protective, life-giving forest and wilderness, the upward migration of more lowland Laotians, growing pressure on the hill tribes to settle closer to accessible...
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2002

Fixed-point environmental checks to start in 2003

The Environment Ministry decided Saturday to conduct fixed-point environmental observations starting in fiscal 2003 in an effort to ascertain the impact of global warming and other factors on the environment, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2002

Ministries to examine ways to combat 'heat island' effect

Three ministries plan to set up a joint panel later this month to compile a package of case studies on measures to reduce the so-called "heat island" effect in which temperatures are higher in the middle of a big city than in surrounding areas, government officials said Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / HONING ENGLISH
Jul 20, 2002

Japan experiments with Super English Schools

Principal Katsutoshi Wakabayashi gives a speech in English through the school's public address system at Gunma Prefectural Chuo High School every Wednesday morning, and all notices around the school are now in English.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2002

Cabinet to have ministries cut their emissions by 7%

In an effort to lead by example, the Cabinet approved a plan Friday that commits the national government to cutting greenhouse gas emissions at ministries and affiliated bodies by 7 percent of fiscal 2001 levels by fiscal 2006.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 14, 2002

Welcome to the jungle, baby

KANCHANABURI, Thailand -- The night before, we were each issued a backpack. Inside was a bottle of water, a packet of electrolyte drink mix, some first-aid stuff, a rain poncho, a pair of leech socks and a field notebook. But instead of studying up on the local ecology and generally preparing ourselves...
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Jul 12, 2002

Traditional industries adapting to stay afloat

KYOTO -- Tango Orimono Kogyo Kumiai, an association encompassing the traditional textile industry in Kyoto's Tango district, has tasted success with its foray into the skin-care products sector.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2002

Top court rejects city's bid to block pachinko parlor

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by the city of Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, seeking to stop construction of a pachinko parlor in an industrial zone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 10, 2002

A card-carrying regular guy

One interesting aspect of Japanese meishi (name-card) etiquette is that entertainers never give them out. It took me a while to figure out that one. Several interviews with musicians I thought had begun inauspiciously when I handed the artist my meishi only to receive nothing in return.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2002

Sediment dioxin standard proposed

An Environment Ministry advisory committee recommended Monday that an environmental standard for dioxin in the sediment of rivers and other bodies of water be set at 150 picograms per gram.
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2002

Key to corporate survival

Recent revelations about the mislabeling of foods and the use of illegal food additives by Japanese companies suggest a collapse of corporate ethics. The latest incident -- mislabeling of chicken by Zen-Noh Chicken Foods, an affiliate of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2002

Japan, U.S. may hold own meetings on water, energy

Japan and the United States are considering convening separate international environmental meetings on water and energy problems in the leadup to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, government sources said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2002

Transplant teaches Taro Kono a lesson

Although Taro Kono was determined from the beginning to save his father's life by donating part of his liver, the 39-year-old lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party said the decision-making process was tough for his family, even with a fair amount of knowledge about the procedure.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 13, 2002

'Dark Side' proved a lightning rod for readers' ire

Being a columnist can be lonely. Apart from doing interviews, researching and writing are pretty solitary activities and feedback is limited. Getting a handful of e-mails, be they cranky, critical or supportive, marks a successful column.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

Lower taxes by March possible, Fukuda states

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda sounded a hopeful note Tuesday that tax cuts could be introduced by the end of March.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2002

Hiranuma adds green points for review before Aichi expo

Industry minister Takeo Hiranuma released his comments Monday on a draft environmental assessment by the organizer of the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture, in which he calls for further review on several points.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2002

Let them breathe water: U.S. blocks sustainable development talks

BALI -- Already from the beginning there was an air of defeatism at the preparatory meeting in Bali for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It was certainly not the ambience: The resort-style lodging for the 6,000 delegates could hardly have been a reason for complaint. But after two weeks of...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2002

Japan to donate $5 million to ecosystem fund

Japan announced Thursday its intention to contribute $5 million this year to the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, an international fund to help protect environmentally sensitive areas around the globe.
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Jun 7, 2002

Working with people to save the Earth

Money was not Fareeha Ibrahim's reason for joining the JET program. In fact, as a senior policy adviser in Australia's Environment Department, her annual income was significantly more than the 3.6 million yen she gets as a JET.

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