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EDITORIALS
Sep 18, 2000

Kinder, gentler animal farms

It's funny how McDonald's -- the much-reviled little hamburger stand that grew -- has become the world's handiest barometer of social change. It is the standard-bearer, or more often the whipping boy, for economic and cultural globalization, with progress or regress thereto measured in degrees of "McDonaldization."...
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2000

Updated environment plan to add new economic options

The Basic Environment Plan -- Japan's 5-year-old master plan for a more environmentally sustainable society -- is in the middle of a seismic revision.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

Japan aims to rely on 'sinks' to cut CO2 emissions

The government unveiled a proposal Tuesday that would allow the country to meet more than half of its greenhouse gas emission reductions simply by maintaining and managing its forests.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

Critics slam government 'sinks' proposal

What is a forest?
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2000

Japan submits carbon-sink proposal

Japan has notified a U.N. body that it is calling for forests and forestry activities to be defined in such a way that "forest management" would give nations credit toward their target cuts of carbon dioxide emissions.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2000

Law eyed on greenhouse gas target

The Environment Agency has decided to submit a bill on attaining Japan's reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions to the 150-day regular Diet session beginning in January 2002, agency sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2000

Japan plans to use forests to reduce carbon dioxide

Japan was planning to notify the U.N. conference on climate change later Tuesday that it wants to achieve a cut of between 3.2 percent and 3.7 percent in carbon dioxide emissions -- more than half of its 6 percent reduction target -- through forest absorption, government sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2000

State to review gas emissions plan

Japan will review a plan to push for allowing signatory nations to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to partially achieve mandated carbon dioxide cuts through forest absorption, government sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2000

Date for observing Kyoto Protocol unlikely to be set at G8 summit

In an apparent setback for environmentalists worldwide, top leaders of the Group of Eight major nations meeting in Okinawa next month are unlikely to set a specific target date for putting into effect the Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2000

Panel proposes carbon tax on fossil fuels

The government's Tax Commission is to propose a carbon tax on gasoline, coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels as a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in an interim report to be presented to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori next month, commission sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2000

Taxing time for the environment

A report recently released by the Environment Agency is certain to give further impetus to the debate on environmental taxation. The report, compiled by an expert panel that studies economic methods of implementing environmental policy, says the so-called carbon tax is effective in reducing carbon dioxide...
JAPAN
May 27, 2000

Greenhouse gases still on the rise in some areas: MITI

An advisory panel to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has announced that emissions of greenhouse gases such as hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons have yet to decrease in some areas.
JAPAN
May 15, 2000

Future of transport just round the corner

It's a sunny morning in the spring of 2013. As you ride a commuter train, an information panel on the wall announces a 30-minute delay caused by an accident. With your cellular phone, you search for an alternative route and make a reservation to get to your destination.
JAPAN
May 8, 2000

Carbon tax is needed to cut CO2 levels: panel

A carbon tax is vital for curbing emissions of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming, according to the draft of a report being compiled by an Environment Agency panel.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2000

Reactor cutback eyed in energy policy shift

The government will overhaul the nation's energy policy and probably cut back on its plan to build 16 to 20 new nuclear plants by fiscal 2010 in the wake of mounting opposition to such facilities and a fatal atomic accident last September, trade chief Takashi Fukaya said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2000

Washington not ready to swallow Kyoto Protocol

Staff writer The United States is determined to realize a workable international agreement to fight global warming, but serious sticking points remain before Washington can ratify the Kyoto Protocol, U.S. Climate Change negotiator Mark Hambley said on Wednesday. Hambley, who has headed climate change...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2000

Monitoring body included in Japan's gas-reduction plan

Staff writer Japan will formally propose later this month the creation of a new body to monitor industrialized countries' compliance with the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, government sources said Friday. The establishment of the compliance body will be included in Japanese proposals...
JAPAN
Nov 11, 1999

Tokyo to host secret emissions talks

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 1999

Save the beaches

There are words that wake us up -- like "free" or "prize" or "espresso" -- and then there are words that put us to sleep. Unfortunately, the latter group includes most of the working vocabulary of some very well-meaning people: "environment," "global warming," "greenhouse gases," all the way up to the...
JAPAN
Sep 1, 1999

Japan may host U.N. environment summit in 2002

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 2, 1999

Economy, nice weather bring lower carbon dioxide levels

Japan's emissions of greenhouse gases decreased marginally in fiscal 1997, according to an Environment Agency report presented Friday to the Cabinet.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 1998

Tokyo pushes for ODA to combat global warming

Staff writerWith a key environmental conference slated to kick off in Buenos Aires on Monday, Tokyo has launched a behind-the-scenes diplomatic effort to rally support for official development assistance to play a role in implementing the "clean development mechanism" to combat global warming.The Japanese...
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Global Warming: COP4 a time to iron out details

Last in a series
JAPAN
Sep 21, 1998

Global Warming: Industrialized nations told to look home first

Third in a series
JAPAN
Sep 18, 1998

Global warming talks end with eye to COP4

Informal ministerial talks on global warming ended Friday with participants determined to maintain the momentum from the U.N. conference in Kyoto and make further efforts to implement the protocol at the upcoming conference in Buenos Aires.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1998

U.S. urges developing countries to join COP4

Developing countries should take part in the effort to combat global greenhouse gas emissions in ways commensurate with their stage of economic development, Stuart E. Eizenstat, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 1998

Dates set for global warming meeting in Tokyo

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jun 19, 1998

Nuclear energy pushed to meet national emissions goal

A government task force on global warming unveiled guidelines Friday calling for promotion of nuclear energy as well as daylight-saving time as part of efforts to reduce Japan's greenhouse gas emissions.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1998

Panel unveils long-term national energy plan

Growth in Japan's total energy consumption should be limited to an annual rate of 0.1 percent, with the amount generated by fossil fuels reduced from the current 83 percent to 75 percent by 2010, according to a new, long-term national energy plan announced Thursday.

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.