Search - environment

 
 
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2013

Parties must clearly explain TPP

All parties in the Upper House campaign have done a deplorable job of promoting, or criticizing, Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2013

Work-life balance? Not in politics

Tamayo Marukawa, 42, seems to have it all. A University of Tokyo graduate, she scored one of the most coveted jobs in Japan as an announcer at TV Asahi. A popular presence there for 14 years, she left for a seat in the Upper House six years ago as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 29, 2013

Voyager 1 finds solar system's final frontier is fuzzier than once thought

The edge of the solar system has no edge, it turns out. It has a fuzzy transitional area that is not quite part of our solar system and not quite interstellar space.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 8, 2013

Why do identical twins lead such different lives?

Barbara Oliver has had an intriguing relationship with her identical twin sister, Christine, over the decades. Throughout their childhoods, they were effectively treated as two versions of the one person: they were dressed in exactly the same manner and were given the same hairstyles. "Our parents did...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
May 25, 2013

Moriwaki enjoying challenge playing for Urawa brings

The 27-year-old defender says he was ready for a change of scenery after helping Sanfrecce Hiroshima win theJ. League title last season.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2013

How modern nationalism gave birth to terrorism

If we want to understand what drove the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, to terrorism, the answer almost certainly does not lie in Dagestan, where the brothers lived before moving to the United States, or in the two wars fought in Chechnya in the last 20 years. Instead,...
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2013

Possible solution to Apple's cash-flow problem

It's possible that Apple's best long-term move would be to release a hefty portion of its unused cash to shareholders who would then plow it back into the economy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 29, 2013

Evolutionary biologist says cave-man diet is flawed

Living like cave men — or at least eating like them — is being hailed by some as an ideal lifestyle.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2013

No resting on techie laurels

Only a few years ago, it was forecast that Japan's best growth strategy would be to develop environment-related products. That forecast was off the mark.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 5, 2013

'Flammable ice': a bad choice

Exploiting domestic offshore reserves of methane hydrate may be too tempting for Japan's leaders to resist. But this 'flammable ice' is a fuel decoy.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 29, 2013

In Japan, gun control is the norm and discipline is rigid

The recent mass shootings in the United States have spurred the White House to pursue what many in the nation consider taboo: strict gun controls.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 14, 2013

Advising Abe on the wisdom of a nuclear restart

Readers offer some advice to the new prime minister on the contentious issue of nuclear power in post-3/11 Japan.
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 9, 2013

Fukushima cleanup crews cut corners

Two construction joint ventures hired to wash radioactive substances off buildings in two Fukushima Prefecture communities in December allowed the tainted water to run off into street gutters, an Environment Ministry official said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Jan 8, 2013

From Taiji to Okinawa, readers dissect some issues of 2012

In the first of our new Community Chest letters columns, we bring together a selection of mails received in response to some of the final Community stories of 2012.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 29, 2012

Textile scholar advocates sustainable fashion

Yoshiko Wada, textile artist and scholar, believes the word "sustainable" in foods and fashion shares the same philosophical taste. "Both are a holistic approach, about health, environment, and the community that supports it. We must recapture and rethink how we are going to sustain our Earth and society,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 27, 2012

Polar bear hunting, trade sparks global controversy

The polar bear was more than 1 km away and began running toward the dog sled, quickly closing the distance on the frozen Arctic waters of Canada's Resolute Bay.
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Better elementary schools

While studying in the United States as a 2011 Fulbright visiting scholar, I strongly felt that there was an urgent need for Japan to create a new elementary school environment of progressive education with skilled teachers. As Japan's global presence has diminished, "the nurturing of global human resources"...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WEEK 3
Nov 18, 2012

The muddy issue of cesium in a lake

Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture is facing an environmental threat that has essentially turned it into a time bomb ticking away 60 km northeast of Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2012

Female diplomat has rare work-life balance

Hikariko Ono has always been a survivor in Japan's male-dominated society.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 7, 2012

Minamata: a saga of suffering and hope

The last job I had that paid me a real salary was with the Canadian government's Environmental Protection Service in the mid 1970s.
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2012

Tokyo's determined bid for the 2020 Olympics

Tokyo's "Candidate City" bid for the 2020 Olympic Games was officially recognized in May by the IOC (International Olympic Committee), and it looks quite natural in view of Tokyo's reputation as a safe, clean and culturally rich megalopolis.
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2012

Measuring a society's value

Guan Zhong, an ancient Chinese savant, once stated that people learn to behave with good manners only when they have sufficient clothing and food.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2012

Female parley slaps male dominance

Men need to shed their deeply ingrained leadership mentality and tap female innovation, especially in Japan, where women could be the key to regaining competitiveness and igniting the rapid economic growth being experienced in many other parts of Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2012

Lowering the risks of conflict in the Asia-Pacific

There was little surprise in President Barack Obama's announcement late last year that the United States would strengthen its position in East Asia while drawing down its forces in Europe.
EDITORIALS
Jul 2, 2012

Commitment that failed to come

The U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, was held in Rio de Janeiro on June 20-22 as a follow up to the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit), also held in the Brazilian city. Since 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the U.N. Framework Convention...

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