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JAPAN
Apr 12, 2003

Environment tax eyed for '05 debut

The Environment Ministry will levy an environment tax even if the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming does not take effect on time, according to Vice Environment Minister Masaharu Nakagawa.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2003

METI to authorize biomass fuel

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to revise a law so vehicles can use an environmentally friendly biomass fuel that would help Japan meet its obligations in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Ministry to draft environment tax

Environment Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Friday his ministry will draft an environment tax by this summer to fight global warming. "We would like to come up with a draft for the tax by this summer to foster public debate on the issue before actually introducing the tax," Suzuki said.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2003

Emission-trading trials planned

The Environment Ministry is planning a test trial to trade carbon dioxide emission rights in fiscal 2003, beginning April 1, ministry officials said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2003

Japan to fund green projects in return for emission credits

Japan will help to fund projects in developing countries conducted under the mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol starting next fiscal year, government officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2003

Ministry pushing home power-saving unit

The Environment Ministry has decided to provide funding from April for the promotion of an electrical energy-saving mechanism for homes.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2002

Emission-trading market to be tested in January

Japan is preparing for the test-run from next January of an emissions-trading market designed to combat global warming.
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2002

U.S. could still join Kyoto: Yale professor

A U.S. environmental studies professor said Wednesday in Tokyo that the United States could still meaningfully participate in the framework of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Aug 30, 2002

Cyberspace -- the final frontier of kanji-learning

Last fall, I reported the results of my search for kanji-learning gold in cyberspace. Today, in this second report, I am happy to inform you that the panning has never been better.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

Cyclists continue Silk Road trek

A Japanese citizens' group will cycle to Turkmenistan in Central Asia at the end of this month on another leg in their 15,000-km journey along the Silk Road.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2002

Uncertainty overshadows Earth summit

The largest United Nations gathering in history is to start in Johannesburg in nine days' time, with nations reflecting on the progress -- or the lack of it -- toward achieving a more sustainable world over the past decade and wrangling over how to do a better job in the future.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2002

Eco-law in works to push rail, sea freight transport over trucks

The transport ministry has begun deliberating a new law to cut carbon dioxide emissions from goods distributed by truck by supporting businesses that switch to rail and marine transport, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2002

Carbon dioxide emissions hit record high

Japan's carbon dioxide emissions hit a record 1.24 billion tons in fiscal 2000, up 4.3 million tons from a year earlier, the Environment Ministry said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Jul 1, 2002

Carbon tax is long past due

The global environment is deteriorating. I saw this firsthand on my trip to China several years ago. The plane arrived a few hours behind schedule because of blowing dust. As I disembarked, I noticed the jetliner was covered with black particles of "yellow sand."
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2002

Japan sends Kyoto papers to U.N.

The Japanese government on Wednesday submitted ratification documents to the United Nations for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming, government officials said.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2002

Japan officially ratifies Kyoto climate protocol

Japan ratified the Kyoto Protocol on Tuesday, officially committing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, nearly 4 1/2 years after the pact was inked.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2002

Upper House OKs laws in support of Kyoto pact

The House of Councilors on Friday approved statutes designed to put Japan on the path to meet its legally binding international obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, also given the legislative stamp of approval the same day.
JAPAN
May 25, 2002

Kyoto Protocol to be ratified by Cabinet on June 4: Oki

The Cabinet will ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming on June 4, Environment Minister Hiroshi Oki said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 29, 2002

The importance of conserving forests

Forests play a vital role in preventing global warming and building sustainable societies. So the need to protect and develop them can never be stressed enough. Japan's substantial forests make it a notable example. In brief, that is the message of the government report on forests and forestry released...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 28, 2002

Bush fiddles figures as the globe warms up

Last June, in the Rose Garden of the White House, President George W. Bush declared the Kyoto Protocol "fatally flawed in fundamental ways," and dubyaed it "unrealistic, arbitrary and not based on science."
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

DoCoMo signs i-mode deal with German firm

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Monday it has signed an agreement licensing Germany's E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co. KG to use its patents and technology for i-mode in Germany.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2002

State bill would demand energy-efficient buildings

A government-drafted bill would amend the energy-conservation law so that plans to build nonresidential buildings with a floor space of 2,000 sq. meters or more would have to include specific energy-saving measures, according to a draft of the bill obtained Sunday by Kyodo News.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2002

China could help Japan by taking its money and cutting its Kyoto target

Backed by its status as the world's largest single aid donor, Japan is anxious to have dibs on China as a partner in a scheme linking development aid to achieving required cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2002

Public buildings face new barrier-free codes

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry plans to strengthen the barrier-free law by making it obligatory for public buildings to install handrails and other facilities needed by senior citizens and the physically impaired, ministry sources said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2002

Activating the Kyoto treaty

The international agreement on climate change, better known as the Kyoto Protocol, is expected to take effect later this year, perhaps in September. But the United States, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is conspicuously absent from the ratification process. The U.S. boycott is certainly a serious...
JAPAN / PROTOCOL PURSUIT
Jan 19, 2002

Role of forests seen leading environmental debate

Last of three parts Staff writer Forests are now at the forefront of climate-change debate in Japan.
JAPAN / PROTOCOL PURSUIT
Jan 17, 2002

Carbon tax stuck in detour to Kyoto

This is the first in a three-part series on Japan's struggles to curb global warming gas emissions. Staff writer The dust is finally settling.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2002

Death of domestic coal leaves legacy for future

Four decades of protection for the domestic coal mining industry are nearly at an end as the government moves to procure stable and more economical supplies from abroad.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.