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ENVIRONMENT
Jul 20, 2000

Fears for Okinawa's unique ecosystem

Okinawa Prefecture punctuates the Japanese archipelago as the period on its southern border. Stretching westward like an island path leading to Taiwan, the island group, though small, is teeming with a diverse abundance of plant and animal life.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

Balancing act for G8 leaders in a land apart

Four years ago, in July 1996, I suggested in an opinion piece for the Sankei Shimbun that the Group of Eight summit in 2000 be held in Okinawa.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Talks address Japan, U.S. e-commerce

While it may appear that the United States is far ahead of Japan and the rest of the world in embracing e-business, the U.S. itself is a newcomer to the field, and tremendous challenges lie ahead, a U.S. business school educator told a symposium organized by Keizai Koho Center.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

G8 chiefs' wives to pray for peace at memorial

The wives of the leaders of the Group of Eight nations will visit a peace memorial in Okinawa while in the prefecture for the G8 summit slated for July 21-23, government sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Large stores must try to fit in despite deregulation

With the abolishment of the Large-Scale Retail Store Law as of Wednesday, large retailers will no longer have to worry about harmonizing their commercial interests with local smaller businesses when establishing or expanding an outlet.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
May 31, 2000

Environmental links

[email protected]/pressreleases/toxics/2000may19.htmlFour Greenpeace activists were recently thrown in a Tokyo jail on trespassing charges; they had unfurled a banner from a water tower proclaiming Tokyo to be the world's dioxin capital. Here the group explains why it wants to decloak the Japanese government's...
JAPAN
May 23, 2000

200 million yen conservation grant set up

Toyota Motor Corp. and the Toyota Foundation have established a grant program to support environmental improvement and conservation activities in Japan and overseas, the nation's No. 1 automaker said Monday.
JAPAN
May 3, 2000

Look to past to build in tune with nature, landscaper says

Japan has a brilliant landscaping tradition and would do well to revive it in the pursuit of ecologically sound development, according to the man recognized as the founder of ecological planning.
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2000

Needed: a breath of fresh air

Urban traffic is far below its usual level during this holiday-filled Golden Week period. On good days with fair skies, the public has the chance, as welcome as it is unexpected, for a foretaste of the cleaner air that is promised by tough new control measures for diesel engine-exhaust pollution soon...
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2000

All 47 prefectures in the red in '98 for first time

The financial situation at prefectural and municipal governments continued to worsen in fiscal 1998, according to a government white paper released Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

Supreme Court rules Dentsu responsible for man's suicide

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld lower court rulings in which advertising giant Dentsu Inc. was held responsible for neglecting to act to prevent the 1991 suicide of a 24-year-old employee who showed signs of depression from overwork.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 23, 2000

Housing for human beings: Let natural harmony prevail

Akinori Sagane is a man with a mission, an architect with an idealistic vision of how humans can live in greater harmony with the natural environment.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2000

Aichi 'to be flexible' on expo

Aichi Prefecture will be flexible in revising its proposal for razing a forest in Seto for the World Expo 2005, although it has not yet committed to shelving the controversial housing plan, Gov. Masaaki Kanda said during a meeting with environmental group heads in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

Hospitals overcharging for rooms

OSAKA -- Hiromi Hase, 58, and her husband, Michio, were shocked last August when they found out they might have overpaid about 4 million yen when she was hospitalized for leukemia in 1996 and 1997.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2000

Fukaya plans U.S. trip sometime before G8 meeting

Takashi Fukaya, the international trade and industry minister, is considering a trip to Washington in February or March for talks with top U.S. officials on the new round of global trade liberalization negotiations, sources at his ministry said Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 24, 2000

U.S. Greens Abroad get organized for wiser, more principled politics

Once, green was just a color. Now the word evokes numerous shades of fear, anger and optimism, and pops up in discussions of politics, economics, trade and environment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2000

Planning cleaner, greener cities in Asia

The great cities of East Asia, such as Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul are mature in terms of development and offer little scope for major environmental planning. But within the smaller cities around them exists room for improvement. The port cities of Layonko, near Shanghai, Kaoshang in Taiwan and Yokohama...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 1999

Chiba told to rethink tidal flats plan

The Environment Agency is not satisfied with the anticipated environmental impact Chiba Prefecture claims its development plan for part of the Sanbanze tidal flats would have on the area's wetland, the agency head said Tuesday. "I am not sure the prefecture has adequately reviewed the project from the...
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1999

Tokyo to host conference on future role of U.N.

Staff writer Some of the world's leading experts on development, security, governance and the environment will meet in Tokyo in mid-January for an international conference on the role the U.N. will play in the 21st century. According to a provisional program, the Millennium Conference will be held for...
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1999

Waterway quality still stagnant, EPA report shows

A survey of water quality in the nation's rivers, coastal areas and lakes showed little change in fiscal 1998 compared with the year before, according to a report released by the Environment Agency on Tuesday. In one portion of the annual study, 7,290 locations were checked to see whether water met...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 1999

'Trade is better than aid'

In one month's time, we shall leave the 20th century behind. The first half of it saw the world almost destroyed by war -- partly as a result of its division into rival trade blocs. The second half has seen an unprecedented expansion of world trade, which has also brought unprecedented economic growth....
JAPAN
Nov 20, 1999

Hachioji mercury cleanup stirs up protests

A group of residents concerned that mercury from a former pesticide plant in Hachioji, western Tokyo, is making locals sick called on the Environment Agency and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Friday to check the surrounding environment for pollution and citizens for health problems.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Queensland seeks biotech exchange with Japan

Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 1999

More reform needed to underpin Japan's economic recovery

Japan has made important progress in recent years in the area of regulatory and other structural reforms, but there is an urgent need for further and more rapid progress to strengthen future Japanese growth and prosperity.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 1999

Osaka recruits killifish for clean water campaign

HIRAKATA, Osaka Pref. -- Children and teachers from 42 elementary and junior high schools in Osaka Prefecture learned the importance of clean water through a study of the Japanese killifish at a lecture held here Monday by the prefectural government and freshwater fish experimental station.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1999

Transport plans 'green tax' as bait for cleaner cars

Staff writer
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 20, 1999

All it takes is a miracle to save the Earth

Last weekend I attended the 55th All Japan UNESCO conference in Okayama, where together we solved Japan's environmental problems. It's easy for everybody to do their part to help the environment. But it's surprising how many people don't do anything. So many people are environmentally unconscious --...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 2, 1999

Learning through landscapes

ARBORFIELD CROSS, England -- When Susan Humphries was appointed head of the Coombes Infant School in Arborfield Cross, Surrey, an hour's drive from London, it was doubtless a satisfying moment in career terms. A school of her own at last. What she did not realize, and is likely to dismiss modestly today,...

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