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April 25, 2025
 

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ANIMALS

A capuchin monkey at the Nupana wildlife refuge near San Jose del Guaviare, Guaviare department, Colombia, in July last year.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 21, 2024
Nature ‘piracy’ and funding battles will dominate U.N. biodiversity summit
The planet is in a "critical situation,” said Susana Muhamad, COP16 president and Colombia’s environment minister.
A pig bone is hung at the entrance to the Shiokawa district in the village of Tamara, Okinawa Prefecture, in August 2021.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Oct 21, 2024
Okinawan pig slaughter ritual blocked by public health authorities
The ban presents a dilemma to residents who say making changes takes away the practice's meaning.
Zootechnician Alejandra Curubo holds a tadpole in Nocaima, Cundinamarca department, Colombia, on July 9.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 17, 2024
Lab-grown frogs: A Colombian's response to wildlife trafficking
The illegal trade in wild flora and fauna is the fourth-most profitable illicit business in the world.
Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki speaks about measures against the spread of bird flu on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 17, 2024
Hokkaido reports Japan's first bird flu case of the season
The report is the country's earliest confirmed bird flu case at a domestic poultry farm in over two decades. 
“The Cats of Gokogu Shrine” centers on a local shrine in Ushimado’s Honmachi district, which has become home to a colony of street cats.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2024
Kazuhiro Soda embraces the wisdom of street cats
The filmmaker turns his camera closer to home in his new documentary, “The Cats of Gokogu Shrine,” and brings a community into focus.
A dolphin approaches a swimmer in the sea off the coast of the city of Fukui in 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 8, 2024
Cases of dolphin attacks spike in Fukui Prefecture this summer
A total of 15 cases have been reported, compared with five last year, with victims sustaining injuries that require multiple stitches.
A flag with the logo of the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference in front of the Baku Olympic Stadium, the venue of the summit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sept. 19
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 7, 2024
Environment takes center stage as global summits loom
The upcoming session isn't expected to break new ground but will take stock of progress since the last summit secured historic assurances for biodiversity.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his dog, Dekopin, who delivered the ceremonial first pitch prior to a game against the Orioles on Aug. 28
MORE SPORTS
Oct 6, 2024
The furry performance-enhancers that are sweeping the world of sports
Athletes from Shohei Ohtani to Naomi Osaka are using dogs to reduce stress and help enhance performance before and during high-stakes competitions.
A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 5, 2024
Study documents extinction of 610 bird species and ecological impacts 
The disappearance of avian species erases functions they serve in innumerable ecosystems and may lead to "secondary knock-on extinctions."
Visitors take photos of Shin Shin at Ueno zoo in Tokyo on Saturday. Saturday was the last chance for Japan's panda-lovers to see Shin Shin and Ri Ri before their return to China.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2024
Japan's legions of panda-lovers bid farewell to beloved pair in Tokyo
Avid fans of the pandas congregated outside Ueno zoo overnight to secure a spot in line to see the pair for one minute each.
Ageuma Shinji, a Shinto ritual, is held at Tado Shrine in Mie Prefecture in May 2018. On Tuesday, prefectural police referred 12 individuals to prosecutors over allegations of animal abuse in connection with the treatment of horses during the centuries-old annual event.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024
12 referred to prosecutors over alleged horse abuse during Shinto ritual
The 12 allegedly forced horses to climb up a steep hill during the Ageuma Shinji ritual in May 2023 and committed violent acts against the animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to kill thousands of barred owls in California, Oregon and Washington to protect the endangered spotted owl.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2024
If killing one species might save another, should we do it?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to kill thousands of barred owls in California, Oregon and Washington to protect the endangered spotted owl.
A police officer explains with a loudspeaker the correct way of interacting with the deer on July 25 at Nara Park in the city of Nara.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 20, 2024
Nara urges respect for sacred deer after viral abuse video sparks outcry
A video showing a man kicking a deer began circulating on social media in late July, resulting in the lodging of over 100 police reports.
Takanori Takebe (behind the lectern) speaks after his team of researchers and he were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in physiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2024
Scientists win Ig Nobel for discovering anal breathing in mammals
The research team of Japanese and American scientists hope the discovery will help treat people with COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
Hiroyuki Mano, director of the National Cancer Center Japan's (NCC) research institute, explains on Wednesday the use of mice bearing patients' cancer tissues to screen drug candidates for their efficacy.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2024
New mouse models can boost Japan's drug development: National Cancer Center
The tumor-bearing mice retain many of the characteristics of the patients' cancer tissues, so favorable drug test results are likelier to be replicated in human trials.
A bluestreak cleaner wrasse faces a mirror. A Japanese team has found that the fish intentionally uses a mirror to check its own size.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2024
Bluestreak cleaner fish can use knowledge of its size to judge attacks
When able to check its size in a mirror, the bluestreak cleaner wrasse attacked fish of a larger or similar size less often, a Japanese research team has found.
Pen-chan, a female Cape penguin born and raised in captivity, is seen on Sept. 8 in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, two weeks after escaping from an event in the area. The bird's keeper, Ryosuke Imai, described her return as a "miracle."
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2024
'Miracle' penguin found two weeks after escape
Pen-chan had never swum in the open sea before or fended for herself.
A colorized electron microscope image of avian influenza grown in cultured cells
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 7, 2024
U.S. confirms first bird flu case without animal contact
A person in the state of Missouri has become the first in the United States to test positive for bird flu without a known exposure to infected animals.
A sheep suffering from Bluetongue virus is injected with an anti-inflammatory medicine on a farm in Saint-Felix-de-Rieutord, south of Toulouse, France.
WORLD
Sep 6, 2024
European farmers grapple with bluetongue virus surge
Explosion of cases of the insect-borne viral disease that affects sheep and cows impacts thousands of farms in Europe.
A mongoose captured in Amami-Oshima, Kagoshima Prefecture
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2024
Japan declares eradication of mongoose on World Heritage island
This is one of the world's largest-scale cases in which long-settled nonnative mongooses have been eradicated, according to the Environment Ministry.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones
Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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