Search - environment

 
 
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2000

50% tax cut on green cars sought

The Transport Ministry, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Environment Agency have drawn up the final draft of a radical plan that calls for a maximum 50 percent cut in local car tax on environmentally friendly vehicles, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2000

Climate meeting ends in deadlock

THE HAGUE -- U.N. climate talks collapsed at the 11th hour Saturday after the European Union and the United States failed to settle a bitter row over ways to stop global warming.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2000

Town takes eco stride, refines used cooking oil for car fuel

NAGAHAMA, Shiga Pref. -- In an effort to generate business opportunities and improve the environment of this western Japan city, a group of small and medium-size businesses have launched a project to build equipment to refine used cooking oil for use in automobiles as an alternative fuel.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Nov 23, 2000

The orthodox way of milk tea

In my search for a pleasant place to enjoy a coffee or tea, I often feel like a detective. Wandering Tokyo's nooks and crannies, I diligently try to track down havens where weary souls can rejuvenate from harried schedules and the din that seems to accompany us wherever we go.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2000

Rich and poor have stake in cleaner planet

Supermarket shelves offer a choice of two light bulbs: the standard incandescent type and the compact fluorescent type. In Bangladesh, the price difference is 20 taka compared to 450 taka. The fluorescent type will last at least 10 times as long and consume one-fifth of the energy. Overall, savings from...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2000

APEC gearing up for the New Economy

WASHINGTON -- Laying the groundwork for a secure, stable and prosperous Asia-Pacific region is not the kind of work that generates dramatic headlines. But that is the work the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum does day in and day out, with significant benefits for business, workers, investors and...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 12, 2000

On taking the eightfold path to environmental awareness

Environmentalists are a hard breed to pin down, much less to classify. They come in all shapes and sizes, and some even reject the name.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2000

A chance to reshape U.S.-Japan ties

Foreign policy is never a cutting-edge issue in U.S. presidential elections, and this year's campaign is no exception. Even when the candidates have ventured into the territory, the focus has been on China, North Korea or the role of U.S. forces in Europe or Africa or even Haiti. When Japan makes the...
COMMENTARY
Nov 6, 2000

Profit, but at whose expense?

Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in economics, says consumers who seek maximum gains and companies that seek maximum profits are "rational fools." The Oxford University professor also says behavioral standards of consumers and companies should be based on "commitment and sympathy."...
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2000

Panel seeks new legislation on diesel exhaust emissions

An Environment Agency advisory panel wants the government to revise legislation controlling nitrogen oxide emissions to include diesel exhaust particulate matter, according to a copy of a report obtained by Kyodo News on Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2000

Singer appointed UNEP ambassador

Singer Tokiko Kato on Monday was appointed as the first Japanese goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Environment Program.
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2000

Alien species erasing indigenous animals

Exotic fish and mammals from abroad, some imported as pets and later abandoned, are threatening the lives of animals that have existed in Japan for centuries.
COMMUNITY
Oct 22, 2000

ZERI student volunteer recalls Expo experience

Agreeing to be interviewed but only 18, Ikuko Sato brought along her elder sister Kyoko for support. Actually, Kyoko had her own motive for joining us. Soon to visit a Filipino friend in England, she wanted information on traveling in the U.K.: "Is there a special rail pass for tourists? And what do...
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2000

Firms must set goals to reduce benzene

The Environment Agency will call on every factory in the petroleum, chemical, iron- and paper-making industries to set their own targets for reducing emissions of the suspected carcinogen benzene, agency sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2000

Greenhouse gas output declines

Emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases dropped 3.5 percent to the carbon equivalent of 1.336 billion tons in fiscal 1998 from the previous year, according to an Environment Agency report released Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2000

Full text of prime minister's speech to the Diet

Following is the full text of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's policy speech given to the 150th Diet session Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 19, 2000

Program laying groundwork to conserve rivers and trails

John Monroe jokingly refers to himself as a "conservation venture capitalist." Unlike most investment bankers, however, Monroe is investing for the long term.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2000

Bird calls go high-tech for classes

The Wild Bird Society of Japan plans to bring the fowl call of the wild into the classroom.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2000

Structural reform plan due by yearend: Mori

The government will draw up a concrete action plan on economic structural reform by the end of the year to steer the nation toward the new challenges presented by information technology, a graying society and the environment, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori indicated Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 31, 2000

Working together for the future

It's always your choice to live for today -- Raising your voice for all life to remain
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 3, 2000

Eco-conscious but comfortable: making environmentalism hip

Last year when advertising agencies asked Kazumi Oguro what his rival magazine was, he replied: "I wouldn't have to put out a new magazine if there was a rival."
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2000

Pessimists in the mist: Japanese still mired in crisis of confidence

It's hard to find a word that has so traumatized a generation as has "globalization." The term has become a convenient shorthand for all the uncertainties and unknowns of daily life, a catch-all for the problems that tug at economies and threaten to unravel traditional social structures.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2000

Green tax eyed to meet Kyoto Protocol

The government is considering an environment tax to help it cut greenhouse gas emissions under a 1997 protocol, according to a draft version of measures that are to form the mainstay of a new basic plan on the environment.
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.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear