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October 03, 2025
 

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ANIMALS

There is no guarantee that bird flu will ever begin transmitting between humans, and U.S. health authorities have emphasized that the risk to the general public remains low.
WORLD
Dec 12, 2024
'Knocking on our door': Experts warn of bird flu's pandemic threat
U.S. health authorities have emphasized that the risk to the general public remains low.
A sign warns of a nearby bear sighting in Takikawa, Hokkaido, in October.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 9, 2024
Firearm permit ruling casts shadow over work of Hokkaido bear hunters
A local high court upheld a decision to strip a hunter of his permit over allegations he fired in the direction of buildings during a culling.
Makoto Nakae, a researcher of swallowtail butterflies
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 9, 2024
New museum set to bring butterflies of the world to Fukushima
The collection includes Japan’s only display of an extinct butterfly species native to South America.
Masayo Ishimaru, the head of volunteer group Tanpopo no Sato, cuddles cats rescued from a pet hoarder, in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in September.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 4, 2024
Local governments tighten rules on pet ownership as hoarding persists
Municipalities are introducing mandatory reporting requirements for owners of large numbers of pets as well as fines for non-compliance.
A brown bear in Hokkaido. In the city of Akita, a bear that attacked a supermarket employee over the weekend was captured in a box trap on Monday morning.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 2, 2024
Bear that attacked Akita supermarket employee captured
The animal, which attacked a 47-year-old male employee on Saturday morning, was captured in a box trap on Monday morning.
Mika Abe (right) opened a restaurant committed to animal welfare in Sendai in November.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Dec 2, 2024
Restaurant committed to animal welfare opens in Sendai
Muku offers dishes including grilled pork from pasture-raised pigs and poached eggs from cage-free chickens, served as part of a salad bowl.
A trainer feeds an elephant at the Elephant Conservation Center in Laos' Sainyabuli province on Oct. 13.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 30, 2024
Researchers analyze DNA from dung to save Laos elephants
Once abundant in the forests of Laos, Asian elephants have been decimated by habitat destruction, poaching and scarce breeding opportunities.
Hyogo Prefectural Police headquarters. A wild boar attacked children and staff at a child care facility in the prefecture on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 27, 2024
Wild boar injures six at Himeji child care facility
A 3-year-old boy was hospitalized after sustaining serious injuries from the attack.
Global beef consumption has slowed and the carbon footprint of the global cattle herd may already be declining.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024
Peak beef could already be here
Global beef consumption has slowed and the carbon footprint of the global cattle herd may already be declining.
A pig that is pregnant with piglets suited for cross-species transplants
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 25, 2024
Startup transplants pig kidney into monkey for first time in Japan
It is hoped that the operation will provide insights into the future use of animal kidneys in humans.
An employee at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo bags, tags and organizes thousands of items.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2024
Tokyo police care for lost umbrellas, keys and flying squirrels
In Japan, lost items are rarely disconnected from their owners for long, even in a megacity like Tokyo — population 14 million.
Blast Onepiece (center) wins the 63rd Arima Kinen on Dec. 23, 2018, at Nakayama Racecourse in Chiba Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Nov 22, 2024
Making new lives for veteran racehorses
The future is expanding for retired racehorses. Generally speaking, there are not many racehorses who can transition to life as stallions or brood mares, passing on their blood to future generations. Some go on to second careers as riding horses, for example. But, in the end, thoroughbreds are basically...
Scientists worry that if H5N1 spreads through commercial pig farms, it could evolve into a form capable of causing a human pandemic.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2024
Bird flu in pigs is one step closer to endangering humans
Flu viruses have historically been transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs — either on farms or at agricultural fairs.
The discovery of the Navaornis hestiae fills the intermediate step in evolution between the first bird-like dinosaurs, such as Archaeopteryx, and living birds.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 15, 2024
'One-of-a-kind' fossil from Brazil reveals birds' brain evolution
The fossil discovery filled in a gap of 70 million years in the understanding of the evolution of avian neuroanatomy.
Deer attacks have surged in Nara Park during the fall rutting season, with male deer being particularly aggressive as they search for mates.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 14, 2024
Authorities warn of spike in deer-related injuries at Nara Park
In September, 35 people were injured by antler attacks — a sevenfold increase from the five cases reported during the same period last year.
A bear sighting warning sign in a park at a residential area in the city of Hanamaki in Iwate Prefecture. Hanamaki has deployed along riverbanks artificial intelligence-equipped cameras that identify bears and alert city officials.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 13, 2024
Municipalities in Japan turn to AI and digital maps to prevent bear encounters
Akita Prefecture's online map consolidates reports of sightings and incidents while the city of Hanamaki in Iwate Prefecture has deployed cameras that identify bears.
Katsuko Kurikawa shows the damage done by bears to her chestnut tree.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Chugoku
Nov 4, 2024
Uptick in bear sightings prompts policy shift from conservation to control
Hunting the Asian black bear in the Western Chugoku Mountains has been banned in principle since 1994.
David Cooper (left), executive secretary of COP16, Colombian Environment Minister and COP16 President Susana Muhamad (center), and Astrid Schomaker, secretary of COP16, attend the closing session of the conference in Cali, Colombia, on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 3, 2024
U.N. talks on saving nature stumble on finance hurdle
COP16 was suspended after negotiations ran nearly 12 hours longer than planned and delegates started leaving.
The closing session of the United Nations' COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia, on Friday
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 2, 2024
Talks on halting nature loss run into extra time in Colombia
A closing plenary session started more than four hours late as groups of negotiators huddled behind closed doors seeking to iron out their differences.
Akira Oishi (left) and Shinichi Okanobori have taken on the responsibility of surveying the flora and fauna of Mount Tenran and Mount Tonosu in Saitama Prefecture.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Longform
Nov 2, 2024
Inside Japan's 100-year project to monitor its deteriorating biodiversity
With researchers and an army of volunteers on its side, the Monitoring Sites 1,000 project aims to bring attention to our fragile ecosystems.
A secret no more: Russia and North Korea's battle against Ukraine is celebrated in Moscow exhibit
A woman visits an exhibition of North Korean art at a museum in Moscow on Monday.
Prices to rise for 3,024 food products in Japan in October
A wide range of products will see higher prices due to rising material and labor costs.
Koizumi and Takaichi continue to lead in LDP presidential race, polls show
Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (right) reacts as former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the Liberal Democratic Party Presidential Election Candidate Debate at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, on Sept. 24. Koizumi and Takaichi remain head-to-head in the race, media polls show.
The party that ruled Japan for decades is in danger of crumbling
Haruo Tsukamoto, a rank-and-file member of the Liberal Democratic Party and a rice farmer in Ibaraki Prefecture, questions if the party still stands for people like him.
Same-sex partners recognized under more laws in Japan
A couple poses with the rainbow flag, which they brought from their home for a wedding photoshoot in Tokyo in November 2023.
Japan's far-right party courts Trump allies and vows not to get 'wacky'
Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
How Ohtani has boosted Japan's soft power and made LA even more baseball-obsessed
Fans at Dodger Stadium pose in front of a mural highlighting the Dodgers' Japanese stars from past and present during a game earlier this year.
Japan faces fresh energy challenge as it seeks to expand power-hungry data centers
Data storage tapes at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center facility in Berkeley, California. Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, and that will only rise as generative artificial intelligence takes off in earnest.
Architecture art exhibition highlights unsung industry artists
Yuanhui Li's illustration is one of the awardees in the student category of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators' annual award for artists.
On defense and foreign policy, LDP candidates largely align — except where they don’t
The Liberal Democratic Party presidential election candidates in Nagoya on Friday

Podcast

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

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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