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JAPAN
Jun 21, 2001

Tax may cut greenhouse gases

The nation can cut its greenhouse gas output by 2 percent with the introduction of a carbon dioxide emissions tax, an environment committee said in an interim report released Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2001

Europe confronts new reality

LONDON -- From the moment that George W. Bush won the U.S. presidency, Europeans sensed that they were entering an new era. After eight years of generally good understanding with his predecessor, Bill Clinton, they now faced a man whose world view would not necessarily be in tune with theirs. As the...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 14, 2001

When a little profit exacts a high price

Public-works projects, such as the bungled reclamation of Isahaya Bay in Kyushu and Tokyo's ill-conceived Ken'odo ring road, exemplify the bureaucratic myopia that is razing Japan's natural heritage. But the destruction is not always on a grand scale, nor solely the handiwork of public servants. Private...
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2001

Bush not so dismissive of Kyoto pact: Kawaguchi

Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Tuesday that she does not interpret U.S. President George W. Bush's recent comments on climate change as an outright rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, and again called on the United States to return to the negotiating table.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2001

Kyoto Protocol campaign launched

The Environment Ministry on Monday kicked off a campaign to heighten interest and awareness in the Kyoto Protocol, an international climate-control agreement, in an effort to promote its coming into force by 2002.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2001

Marchers urge Japan to stick to Kyoto pact

About 300 people demonstrated through the crowded streets of Shibuya and Harajuku in central Tokyo on Saturday to urge the Japanese government to stick to the floundering 1997 Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming.
COMMUNITY
Jun 3, 2001

A new lease on life

Prosperous economies produce waste. Throw in rampant consumerism and a laissez-faire attitude toward the environment, and you've got the makings of a serious problem. Welcome to Japan. A host of treasures awaits you . . .
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2001

OECD asks how green is Japan?

The nation's environment policies were placed under the microscope recently by an OECD team that was conducting the information-gathering stage of its second review of Japan's environmental policy.
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2001

Japan's traditions aren't lost, they're buried

DOGS AND DEMONS: Tales From the Dark Side of Japan, by Alex Kerr. Hill and Wang, 2001, 432 pp., $27 (cloth). An ancient Chinese tale holds that dogs are difficult to draw because they are ubiquitous; demons are easy to create because they spring from the artist's imagination. Or, to put it more plainly,...
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Nissan Diesel to receive engines from rival Hino

In a bid to cut costs and meet stricter environmental standards, Nissan Diesel Motor Co. announced Monday it will buy diesel engines for midsize trucks from Hino Motors Ltd. starting in 2004.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 18, 2001

Pipistrelle bat

*Japanese name: Abura komori *Scientific name:Pipistrellus abramus
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Promise chief invited to share wisdom at Harvard University

Harvard Business School last month invited Hiroki Jinnai, president of major Japanese consumer moneylender Promise Co., to field student questions in a forum on the firm's growth strategy.
JAPAN
May 12, 2001

Aging workers escape woes with song

Japan's middle-aged corporate warriors, who sustained the nation's postwar era of high economic growth and worked aggressively through the days of the economic bubble, are facing difficulties amid the prolonged economic slump, corporate restructuring and bankruptcies.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
May 11, 2001

A Hans-on look at Japan's soccer squad

ALMERIA, Spain -- When Japan played Spain in Cordoba on April 25, one spectator, who had driven up from his home on Spain's Costa del Sol, had a particular interest in the Japanese team.
JAPAN
May 2, 2001

Minamata victims urge no appeal

The plaintiffs, lawyers and families involved in a lawsuit for sufferers of the Minamata mercury poisoning urged the Environment Ministry on Tuesday not to appeal an Osaka High Court decision last week that ordered the central government, Kumamoto Prefecture and Chisso Corp. to pay 320 million yen in...
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2001

Toyota's stake in Hino to be raised to 50.1%

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will raise its stake in truck manufacturer Hino Motors Ltd. to 50.1 percent from the current 36.6 percent in late August with the purchase of new Hino shares.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2001

A new era for the Americas

That is the best way to describe the decision reached last weekend by 34 Pan-American leaders. Gathering in Quebec City, they defied thousands of violent protesters and agreed to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The removal of trade barriers from the Arctic to the southern tip of Argentina,...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Residential, factory sites yield 117 soil pollution cases

Government inspections uncovered 117 cases of soil contamination at former factory sites and residential areas across Japan in fiscal 1999, according to the Environment Ministry.
Events
Apr 17, 2001

Kansai leaders brainstorm on ways to kick-start the region

OSAKA -- Since the end of the bubble era, the Kansai region's economy has fared worse than many other parts of Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2001

Public concern rising over pollution, poll shows

An overwhelming majority of Japanese are uneasy about chemical pollution of the environment from factories, automobile exhaust and pesticides, according to a recent Environment Ministry survey released Monday.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 7, 2001

A bibliophile's whodunit: Who is killing the book?

Who is killing the book in Japan? That is the provocative question posed by veteran nonfiction writer Shin'ichi Sano in his recent book of the same title ("Dare ga 'hon' o korosu no ka," President Sha, 1,800 yen).
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2001

Direct talks open with U.S. over dropping of Kyoto Protocol

Japan on Wednesday began direct communication with the United States over Washington's decision to abandon the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a treaty aimed at curbing global warming.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2001

Postwar corporate model shed in quest for success

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., known for its Panasonic brand, embarked this month on a drastic reform of its groupwide business by gradually dismantling its "business unit" system, established by founder Konosuke Matsushita.
Events
Apr 3, 2001

Nursery provides multilingual learning

KOBE -- For 20-month-old Andrei Hirata, the nursery school was hell.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 31, 2001

Graffiti blasts Beijing demolition

Under the cover of darkness and armed with a can of spray paint, Zhang Dali pedals his bicycle around the quiet Beijing streets with the intention of giving the city a new face -- sometimes two or three.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2001

Economy, ecology out of sync: environmentalist

SEIKA, Kyoto Pref. -- Collapsing fisheries, shrinking farmland and rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are symptoms of severe stress put on the environment by a world whose population is spinning out of control, according to Lester Brown, chairman and founder of the prestigious Worldwatch...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

Agriculture Minister vows to open Isahaya floodgates

Agriculture Minister Yoshio Yatsu on Tuesday announced that he will open the water gates of a dike closing off a large part of Isahaya Bay to see if it improves water quality in the Ariake Sea.

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