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JAPAN
Jun 10, 2008

NGOs slam Fukuda's CO2 proposal as lacking substance

Environmentalists and nongovernment organizations were quick to denounce Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's new climate change initiative Monday, calling it "insufficient" and "lacking essence" for not proposing a solid midterm greenhouse gas reduction target.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2008

2050 greenhouse goals will be too late: EPI head

Pitches to cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 are too leisurely and must be brought forward by decades, Lester Brown, president and founder of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, said Friday at a symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2008

Shaking Japan to the very core

Singapore — As aftershocks from China's devastating earthquake continue to cause havoc, atomic safety experts from around the world are preparing to meet in Japan this month to scrutinize seismic standards at nuclear plants. Because they contain lethal sources of radiation, the plants are designed...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2008

The EU's Kyoto shell game

With each passing year, the impending crisis of global warming looms closer and closer. Time is running out for preventive action to be taken. The European Union's "20-20-20" mantra aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent relative to their level in 1990 and to increase the share of renewable...
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
May 25, 2008

U.N. climate chief urges ministers to show their cards

KOBE — The United Nations' top climate-change official expressed concern Saturday about what Japan means by "industrial sectoral" approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and warned that the concept should not replace national targets in any new environmental treaty that would take effect when...
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
May 24, 2008

NGOs call on G8 to take lead in cutting CO 2

KOBE — Major nongovernmental organizations from Japan and abroad gathering in Kobe for the Group of Eight environment ministers' summit called on the G8 Friday to lead the fight against climate change.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2008

ADB ignoring needs of the poor

NEW YORK — More than half of Asia's population — 1.8 billion people — live on less than $2 a day; more than 600 million of them try to survive on less than $1 a day.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
May 1, 2008

EC to G8: Match our ambitious carbon goals

The European Commission will push members of the Group of Eight industrialized countries to equal the European Union's commitment to fighting global warming when the G8 summit opens in July in the hot-spring resort of Toyako, Hokkaido, a senior EC official said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
May 1, 2008

U.S. looking for 'accountability' at July summit

KYOTO — The United States' agenda for the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, emphasizes health and development issues, making sure previous agreements are carried out in a publicly accountable way and guaranteeing that developing nations are part of a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty, said...
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2008

Now it's food versus fuel

What is the next great global problem we have to fear? The answer is not climate change and global warming, but food shortage and starvation. Suddenly, and in ways largely unforeseen by experts, a serious shortage of food supplies, especially corn and rice, has crept up on the world. The result has been...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2008

Dominating the headwaters

SINGAPORE — The recent anti-Chinese protests in Tibet and several surrounding provinces in China have been watched with concern by governments in nearby South and Southeast Asia, especially India. But unlike faraway Europe and the United States, their priority in Tibet is stability, not human rights....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 26, 2008

Can three experts all be wrong on looming disaster?

If you ask British scientist James Lovelock about the future of humanity, be prepared for a shock.
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2008

Renewable energy surges forward

Renewable energy is developing rapidly in terms of investment and energy production. The Renewable Energy 2007 Global Status Report made public in late February is food for thought for energy policymakers, citizens, and power and other companies. Renewable electricity generation capacity reached an estimated...
COMMENTARY
Mar 10, 2008

Get set for emissions trading

The year 2007 marked the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Kyoto Protocol; the 20th anniversary of the release of the report "Our Common Future" by the World Commission on Environment and Development, headed by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland (the expression "sustainable development"...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 9, 2008

Surely it's time for Japanese to stop being so parochial

Second of two parts
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2008

Bolstering U.S.-ASEAN Cooperation

BANGKOK — The strategic presence of the United States in Southeast Asia takes two forms, both of which are interrelated: The relationship is institutionalized through the Pacific Command in Honolulu and then formalized through various hub-and-spoke agreements with member states of the 10-member Association...
COMMENTARY
Feb 29, 2008

Long road to less carbon use

LONDON — If you go to the British government's Department of the Environment Web site, you can learn how to calculate your "carbon footprint" and will be given a personalized action plan with recommendations about how you, as an individual, can help tackle climate change.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2008

Five uncertainties about China's future

A former senior Chinese diplomat praised the journey of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to Beijing last December as a "wonderful visit."
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 29, 2008

Fukuda girds to stick it out till after Hokkaido summit

Akihiro Ota, head of Komeito, was all smiles when he came out of a two-hour, one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, not necessarily because of the good wine that was served but rather because the prime minister reportedly assured him that there would be no general elections anytime soon....
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2008

German envoy urges Japan to mediate CO² fight

German Ambassador Hans-Joachim Daerr on Wednesday called on Japan to serve as a mediator in the coming Group of Eight summit between countries eager to take strong measures on global warming and their more reluctant counterparts.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2008

What the U.S. presidential hopefuls see when they look East

OSAKA — The Iowa caucus kicks off Thursday in what is expected to be a hard-fought battle for the U.S. presidency. The November election itself will end the era of George W. Bush and offer the victor a chance to reshape America's role internationally.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2007

World leader for president

HONG KONG — The 187 countries meeting to discuss climate change in Bali, Indonesia, this month narrowly averted a total breakdown by agreeing to set 2009 as the deadline for a new treaty to limit greenhouse-gas emissions. For that deadline to be met, China and the United States will both need to agree...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami