Search - environment

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2017

Yahoo Japan defies calls to halt ivory sales as poaching soars

Yahoo Japan, the country's biggest online auction site, is rebuffing calls to end online ivory trading despite Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer's misgivings over facilitating a business blamed for the illegal slaughter of African elephants.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2017

China's growth obsession leaves toxic legacy

China's addiction to stop-go economic policies is leaving a legacy of environmental destruction.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2017

Abe to pursue contentious law against criminal conspiracies from outset of Diet session

As this year's ordinary Diet session kicks off Friday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to make waves yet again. His newest goal is to make conspiracies to commit crimes a punishable offense.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 18, 2017

Researchers urge Japan to reform college sports system

In the past year or so, the Japan Sports Agency, an external bureau of the education ministry, has discussed the potential establishment of "a Japanese edition of the NCAA" as part of its scheme to make college sports in this country more business-like.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Jan 17, 2017

Hiwatashi aims for top-eight finish at U.S. nationals

Reigning American junior champion Tomoki Hiwatashi will compete in the senior U.S. nationals for the first time this week when he takes the ice at Kansas City's Sprint Center.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2017

Koike says more scrutiny needed in Tsukiji market relocation

In an interview with The Japan Times, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike stressed the need to scrutinize the contamination problem at Toyosu, the relocation site for the famed Tsukiji fish market, following revelations that more toxins have been found there.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / DAVOS SPECIAL 2017
Jan 17, 2017

Improved innovation through gender equality

Gender equality is one of the areas that the World Economic Forum strongly emphasizes as the organization, which has been publishing the annual Global Gender Gap Report since 2006, believes that half of the world's talent — women — should be better integrated into the workforce to boost the world...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2017

Steadily implement 'comfort women' agreement

North Korea's leader stated in his New Year's address that the country "entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile," threatening the peace and stability of the international community. Last year, North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and launched...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2017

How Trump could push China and Japan together

Both China and Japan should work together to map out how to survive the Trump era.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2017

Trump Cabinet nominees give Vietnam premier hope for TPP trade pact

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is holding out hope that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will reconsider the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that would be a major boost to the export-driven Southeast Asian nation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2017

Australia disappointed by Japan's whale hunt in Southern Ocean

Australia said Monday it is "deeply disappointed" that Japan has continued whaling in the Southern Ocean after anti-whaling activists published a photograph of a dead whale two days after Australian and Japanese leaders discussed the issue.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2017

China shoppers ended 2016 on spending spree but headwinds seen brewing

Chinese consumers flocked to malls, restaurants and cinemas ahead of the year's biggest holiday season, highlighting the consumption power transforming the economy.
Japan Times
Rugby
Jan 15, 2017

Rugby star Pocock preparing to swap Japan for African wilderness

Australian rugby star David Pocock has enjoyed locking horns with the big beasts of Japan's Top League since joining the Panasonic Wild Knights in December.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / PHOTO ESSAY
Jan 14, 2017

Echigo-Tsumari: Creative adventures on the art field

It's winter. Inclement weather in December far north of Tokyo should come as no surprise: the farms and forests are normally blanketed in snow. So while preparing for our stay at the "House of Light," an installation in Niigata Prefecture by U.S. conceptual artist James Turrell, we aren't deterred when...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2017

The importance of water as a force for peace

Water, the world's most valuable resource in the 21st century, must be preserved and protected.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2017

Japanese women see aspirational qualities in 'de facto first lady' Ivanka Trump

Miyu Toyonaga was thrilled when she discovered who had visited her Instagram account last April. It was Ivanka Trump, her fashion icon, and she had liked a photo of Toyonaga with a leather clutch purse from Ivanka's namesake brand.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2017

Growth prospects under a changing climate

Climate-related natural disasters are no longer one-off occurrences, rather they are systemic events that need preventive action.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2017

Nearsightedness a cost of academic excellence

Vision problems in children take many forms. But the likely condition in Japan and the United States is nearsightedness as a result of a combination of genes, behavior and environment.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2017

Cuba, U.S. ink oil, toxic spill deal before Trump takes over

Cuba and the United States agreed on Monday to jointly prevent, contain and clean up oil and other toxic spills in the Gulf of Mexico, as they rush to conclude deals before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 7, 2017

Heavy metal in Japan: Love of craft runs deep

Although 2017 is the Year of the Fire Rooster, fire is not the only element destined to influence the next 12 months. Each of the 12 Chinese zodiac years is governed by one of five elements: wood, fire, earth, water and metal, resulting in 2017 taking the element of fire. According to the Five Elements...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 7, 2017

Threshold level for lead exposure may be cut

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering lowering its threshold for elevated childhood blood lead levels by 30 percent, a shift that could help health practitioners identify more children afflicted by the heavy metal.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 7, 2017

Can the financial roadblock to marriage ever be dismantled?

On Dec. 20, an advisory panel assembled by the Prime Minister's Office drafted a final proposal for a bill that has a long-term goal of increasing the country's sagging birthrate.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jan 6, 2017

Film director on a mission to convey Okinawa protests over U.S. forces

In late December, work to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma was resumed at its Okinawa replacement site in Nago to the fury of locals who fear the project will destroy their lives and the environment.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 6, 2017

World heat shatters records in 2016 in new sign of global warming

Last year was the hottest on record by a wide margin, with temperatures creeping close to a ceiling set by almost 200 nations for limiting global warming, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 5, 2017

Traditional crafts to welcome new year; luxury retreat for examination prep; inspired cocktails offer a twist

Traditional crafts to welcome new year
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2017

U.S. to resume Osprey in-flight refueling drills Friday despite Okinawa concerns

Less than a month after the crash of an MV-22 Osprey, the Defense Ministry on Thursday gave a tacit nod to the planned resumption.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 4, 2017

In New Year's speech, Abe prioritizes economic growth

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe maintained Wednesday that his top priority for the new year will continue to be the economy and that he will first try to have the Diet enact the fiscal 2017 budget as quickly as possible.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear