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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 17, 2011

Viewing wildlife through a lens

I grew up in Britain, which is a crane-free zone, so from the very first time I arrived in Japan I was dreaming of seeing the iconic red-crowned cranes of Hokkaido. How much more iconic as a crane can you get than being dubbed Grus japonensis? But just how was I to learn about their haunts and habits?...
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Apr 12, 2011

Disaster toll still incalculable

Although a month has passed since the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant on March 11, no one yet has a clear idea of when or how the radiation disaster will end.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 12, 2011

Evidence for Agent Orange on Okinawa

In the late 1960s, James Spencer was a United States Navy longshoreman on Okinawa's military docks. "During this time, we handled all kinds of cargo, including these barrels with orange stripes on them. When we unloaded them, they'd leak and the Agent Orange would get all over us. It was as if it were...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 12, 2011

Quake aid, local services

For relief organizations, groups or individuals needing translators, Taichi W. sent information about the Japan Guide Consortium Volunteer Interpreters, a group of translators initially formed at the request of the government. Four are working in Sendai with the Indian National Disaster Response Force;...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Apr 12, 2011

'Judge not,' 'fly-jin' and saving electricity: views from readers

Some readers' responses to Roberto De Vido's "Judge not, lest you be judged" (March 22), Darek Gondor's " 'Fly-jin' face fallout from decision to go" (April 5), and Darryl Magree's March 29 letter:
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2011

Tepco succeeds in plugging leak

Tokyo Electric Power Co. finally succeeded in stopping the main leak of highly radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the ocean Wednesday morning and workers were preparing to inject nitrogen into at least one reactor in a bid to prevent another hydrogen explosion.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 1, 2011

Second Harvest rallies support for Tohoku

By 9 a.m. on Thursday morning, March 24, several delivery trucks have deposited boxes of emergency supplies in front of the Taito Ward, Tokyo warehouse of Second Harvest Japan, a charity-based food bank.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 31, 2011

Design in aid of Tohoku

The design world lends its artistic hand As Japan struggles with the consequences of the Kanto-Tohoku earthquake, this month's column takes a different format to highlight some of the ways the design community has come together to provide relief and support.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2011

Radioactive water keeps workers out

Reactor turbine basements flooded with highly radioactive materials kept a desperate effort to stabilize the Fukushima No. 1 power plant at bay Monday, as fresh data showed that nearby seawater was being contaminated further by the leaking facility.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 27, 2011

Spare us shoganai as we face an ominous spring

For two weeks now, ever since death and destruction swept northeastern Japan, all of us here have been trying to get our heads around this catastrophe.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2011

Tap water woes hit Chiba, Saitama, Ibaraki

The scope of radiation-contaminated tap water expanded Thursday, with radioactive iodine detected in tap water in Chiba, Saitama and Ibaraki prefectures, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which said the day before its drinking water was contaminated, scurried to distribute 240,000 bottles of water...
COMMUNITY
Mar 22, 2011

Judge not, lest you be judged

At this point, a week and a half after the earthquake and tsunami, and with the government and thousands of volunteers rapidly restoring power and water and municipal services to the affected area, Japan — and the world — is anxiously awaiting the resolution of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2011

Foreign media take flak for fanning fears

OSAKA — Some foreign media coverage of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been so extreme it has fanned fears of a deadly radiation cloud descending on Tokyo and turning residents into walking zombies, before drifting across the oceans to menace the United States and Ireland....
Reader Mail
Mar 20, 2011

Stick with the same radiation unit

Regarding the March 16 article "Radiation fears grow after blasts": In the map-box for this article, radiation levels are stated in "millisieverts" for one time Tuesday morning (March 15), then in "microsieverts" for another time the same morning, thus rendering the information practically useless at...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2011

The Vatican circles the wagons

HONG KONG — The abrupt — and underhanded — sacking of a key lay Catholic official by Vatican clerics raises disturbing questions about where Pope Benedict XVI is taking the Roman Catholic Church.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2011

Workers battle against time

Separate desperate battles raged Friday to cool down a spent fuel pool and three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to keep highly toxic radiation from being released into the environment.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 19, 2011

Poetess achieves duality of words, numbers

Statistically, there's no accounting for Jessica Goodfellow's life in Japan. The daughter of an engineer, on a fast track in her early 20s to a Ph.D. in economics at California Institute of Technology, Goodfellow realized something essential didn't correlate: her incalculable love of poetry.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2011

Renault spy fiasco threatens Nissan plan

Renault SA's mishandling of an espionage investigation has weakened Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn in a tussle with the French state, its largest shareholder, over the carmaker's future, several sources said.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2011

Basic nuclear policy questioned

OSAKA — Severe damage to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant had the central government and local authorities in neighboring towns racing Saturday to evacuate residents and implement previously agreed upon emergency response measures.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2011

Chinese take to Tokyo property market

Mao Yishu, a 28-year-old student, persuaded his parents in Shanghai to buy a roughly 20-sq.-meter condominium in Kichijoji, a popular part of the western Tokyo suburb of Musashino, because it will be more economical than renting if he stays in Japan for a long time.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2011

Kan pledges full rescue response

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the government is doing its utmost to ensure the public's safety and minimize the damage, including dispatching the Self-Defense Forces for rescue operations, following the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2011

Entrepreneur: Turbulent times breed innovation

Growing up in California in the 1970s as the child of issei, William H. Saito recalls how his father imported math textbooks from Japan and insisted he study them extra hard to gain an edge over others.
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 4, 2011

Austrian fair returns to Ebisu

The Westin Tokyo in the Ebisu area will hold its annual Austrian fair from March 14 to April 3.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2011

Tracking former sex offenders

A proposal by Gov. Yoshihiro Murai of Miyagi Prefecture to attach Global Positioning System devices to ex-convicts of sex crimes and people prone to committing domestic violence has given rise to renewed discussions of how to prevent sex-crime recidivism.

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