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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2005

Hokkaido's Shiretoko may get UNESCO Heritage status

A site on the Shiretoko Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido is expected to be added to UNESCO's World Heritage List this summer following a recommendation by an advisory body, government officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2005

Factories contain 1.7 million toxic time bombs

About 1.7 million electric devices containing toxic polychlorinated biphenyl are being kept at factories nationwide, according to officials of the environment and industry ministries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 3, 2005

Ryu Murakami: Straight-talking wordsmith wields his pen like a sword

For nearly three decades since his seismic debut with "Almost Transparent Blue," which delved into the sex- and drug-fueled lives of Japanese youths in a town hosting a huge U.S. military base, author Ryu Murakami has often used his trademark explicit, offensive and guiltlessly cheerful language to dig...
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2004

An updated stab at security

Japan's new National Defense Program Outline has three major objectives: dealing with "new threats" such as terrorism, introducing a missile defense system and participating in "international peace cooperation activities."
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2004

Business groups hold rally against fossil fuel tax plan

Some 60 Japanese business groups rallied Thursday in Tokyo against an Environment Ministry-proposed tax on fossil fuels.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2004

Partners for sustainability

Economic growth is essential for reducing poverty. But rapid economic expansion in the developing world is often associated with environmental degradation.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2004

Education for sustainable development

2005 will mark the start of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The Decade offers a vital opportunity to make real progress toward putting human society on the path to sustainability. More than one-fourth of humankind lives in conditions of chronic poverty. Famine, military...
COMMENTARY
Nov 2, 2004

U.S. strategies pose risks

Japan's security and defense policies are at a major turning point. The policies are still based on the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces and the American forces stationed in Japan, as stipulated in the bilateral security treaty, but roles are changing drastically in accordance with transformations...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2004

Tallying national happiness

I n most countries, progress is measured in terms of GNP or GDP -- gross national or domestic product. But one small country has adopted a startlingly different yardstick. In 1972, the king of Bhutan declared that progress in the landlocked Himalayan mini-kingdom would henceforward be gauged in terms...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 7, 2004

A 'theme park' that's an eco-friendly dream

I recentl went down to Nagasaki Prefecture to spend time with a dear old friend, Takekuni Ikeda, who lives on a little wooded peninsula jutting into Omura Bay. He's an incredible man.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 3, 2004

Koike vows to sway business sector on carbon tax

Yuriko Koike, reappointed as the environment minister, says Japan needs a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 19, 2004

Down in the grim intertidal zone

A coffee-shop friend of mine recently summed up his appreciation of our local lowland forest just outside Sapporo, saying: "You know, it's wonderful here; every season is the best season." And, you know, he has a powerful point.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 18, 2004

Rural revelations and a sake to go

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 2, 2004

Losing battle being fought to keep Kanagawa beaches clean

FUJISAWA, Kanagawa Pref. -- It's almost 5 a.m. and the sky is warming as the sun rolls up to burst open the horizon. The pacific rhythm of the ocean waves dominates the soundscape of the virtually deserted beach.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 10, 2004

Kicking up a storm over climate change

For those who cannot decide whether to see "The Day After Tomorrow," I sympathize. This recent Hollywood thriller that offers an apocalyptic portrayal of global climate change has me at odds with myself. I am torn between the desire to wallow in mindless hyperbole, and the fear of seeing an audience...
EDITORIALS
Apr 24, 2004

Observing the Earth as it is

As the human world is embroiled in seemingly endless conflict, the global environment that supports our continued existence -- the Earth system -- apparently continues to deteriorate. To sustain the system, we must first understand it better. And understanding is promoted through observation.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 4, 2004

Pottering in a paradise too easily lost

Whenever I get the chance I like to spend time in Okinawa, which is where I am writing this. As I said to my long-suffering editor, who is getting this article in longhand, I am here to work on the first draft of a novel in Japanese, so I sit at a table loaded with books and dictionaries, a big window...
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2004

Koike plans pollution talks in Kuwait

Environment Minister Yuriko Koike said Tuesday she will go to Kuwait on Saturday to discuss Japanese cooperation in dealing with pollution in the Persian Gulf and other environmental problems in the area.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2003

Probe ties WWII poison gas to 138 sites

Poison gas may have been abandoned at 138 sites in 41 prefectures at the end of World War II, according to the results of a nationwide study released Friday by the Environment Ministry.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2003

New rules would ease plight of zoo, pet shop animals

The Environment Ministry is planning stricter standards for animal care at zoos and pet shops.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2003
Nov 4, 2003

Party campaign strategies smack of desperation

With the coming election in mind, former House of Representatives member Kaoru Yosano last spring departed the Liberal Democratic Party faction led by Shizuka Kamei.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2003

Satellite declared lost after it fails to reply

Seven days after losing contact with the environmental research satellite Midori-2, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Friday it will shut down the satellite's operations.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2003

Companies urged to engage in good citizenship

In the wake of huge corporate scandals in Japan and the United States, companies are under pressure to be more socially responsible.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2003

Expert lays bare environmental carnage of war

While environmental destruction is often the last thing considered when war breaks out, this form of devastation can take decades -- if not centuries -- to correct.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2003

Redress unlikely for residents poisoned by WWII arms

A senior Environment Ministry official indicated Thursday it is unlikely that Ibaraki Prefecture residents who fell ill after drinking well water apparently contaminated by chemical weapons abandoned at the end of World War II would receive any redress.
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 2003

The growing fat of the land

Why are fat people fat? The flip answer -- "because they eat more, stupid" -- just garnered some respectable academic support last week with the publication of a U.S. study that had looked into the question of why the French, with their famously high-fat diet, are still noticeably slimmer than Americans....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 28, 2003

The answer is blowing in the wind

Let me be honest from the outset: I'm a serious fan of wind power, and I'd love to see Japan become a world leader in wind-power generation. I'll admit, too, that my reasons are partly selfish.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2003

Housing suppliers cash in on demand for homes that reflect seasonal change

More and more housing suppliers are pitching eco-friendly "symbiotic housing" that incorporates traditional Japanese aesthetic values such as the texture of wood and the ability to reflect seasonal changes.

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