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May 10, 2024
 

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CHANGE

Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 9, 2024
Rice has a methane problem that a startup is promising to fix
Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
A woman walks past air-conditioning units on a building in Seoul on April 30.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 8, 2024
World extends temperature streak to 11 months with hottest April ever
Including April, the world's average temperature was the highest on record for a 12-month period — 1.61 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period.
A screencap of a performance of Hiroto Nagai's “String Quartet No. 1 ‘Polar Energy Budget’” by the PRT Quartet
CULTURE / Music / OUR PLANET
May 7, 2024
How a Japanese scientist is turning the climate crisis into music
Hiroto Nagai has sonified polar climate data, resulting in a string quartet piece that he thinks can get people to care more about what the data expresses.
A picture of the forest fire on Mt. Akiha near the city of Nanyo in Yamagata Prefecture, uploaded on social media platform X by the Nanyo municipal government on Saturday. Efforts to extinguish the flames continued for a third day on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
May 6, 2024
Efforts to extinguish forest fire in Yamagata continue
The fire, which began Saturday, has spread over 135 hectares, resulting in the closure of several roads and an evacuation order for two districts.
Much like other hot spots across Okinawa, Onna has diligently strived to captivate both domestic and international tourists, while at the same time grappling with the environmental strain induced by the influx of visitors.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 5, 2024
As visitors surge, Japan seeks ways to make tourism eco-friendly
A record tourism boom has raised concerns over the enormous stress visitors put on the environment.
The mercury hit 25 degrees Celsius in Tokyo on April 25.
JAPAN
May 2, 2024
Climate change, El Nino factor into Japan’s warmest April in 130 years
The weather agency said the average temperature for April was 2.76 degrees Celsius higher than the average year, making it the hottest April nationwide.
We don't know how much damage these polymers do to our health. But we can make significant inroads on litter and emissions to tackle this issue head-on.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2024
Plastic pollution is a growing problem. Here are some ideas on how to solve it.
International cooperation and proactive measures are needed to mitigate the harmful effects of plastics.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
JAPAN / Politics
May 1, 2024
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Widespread use of biomass as car fuel makes Brazil an ideal import partner for Japan.
A rickshaw driver drinks water as he rests during ongoing heat-wave in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 1, 2024
Islamic charitable giving may offer Bangladesh a route to climate adaptation
Global faith-based finance could support poor countries whose needs for funds are 10 to 18 times greater than the financing they currently receive.
Children hold cork sheets to cover them from the sun while walking along a street during a countrywide heat wave in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 1, 2024
Extreme heat is closing schools, widening learning gaps worldwide
Many countries experiencing heat waves are torn between closing schools or leaving them open, both of which negatively affect children's learning.
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Apr 30, 2024
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
Yellow sand gets carried by the wind from the deserts of China and Mongolia to Japan along with man-made pollutants, causing a host of symptoms.
A team of scientists in 2009 set out to pick a date when the Holocene ended and the Anthropocene began. They settled on 1952, when humanity added detectable byproducts of atomic bomb testing to our planet’s surface.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2024
A century of bad choices will haunt Earth for 100,000 years
A group of scientists rejected a proposal to give our current epoch a new name: the Anthropocene, derived from the Greek word for human.
Researcher Mercury Wong holds a rice plant on April 1.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 30, 2024
Hong Kong team plants seeds to safeguard legacy grains
Scientists and farmers in Hong Kong are tending to local varieties of grain they say could be an important food source in the face of climate change.
This combination of photos shows the cooling tower of the Emile Huchet coal-fired power station undergoing demolition in Saint-Avold, northeastern France, in February.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 30, 2024
G7 reportedly agrees end date for coal-fired power plants
The meeting in Turin is the first big political session since the world pledged at the U.N.'s COP28 climate summit in December.
A liquefied natural gas tanker arrives at a Tokyo Gas LNG terminal in Yokohama. Despite a decline in domestic gas demand, Japanese companies are looking to maintain their stake in overseas LNG markets, especially in Asia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 29, 2024
The double standard of Japan’s energy companies abroad
In Japan, energy companies like Tokyo Gas are striving to cut emissions. But overseas, they're shoring up LNG markets, making for a very different picture.
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Apr 28, 2024
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
As Japan’s rice farmers prepare for a new planting season, many will be hoping that this summer brings a reprieve from 2023’s brutal weather conditions.
Solar panels on Dave Duttlinger's farmland that he leased to Dunns Bridge Solar in Wheatfield, Indiana
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 27, 2024
As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk
The solar industry is pushing into the U.S. Midwest, drawn by cheaper land rents and wide-open fields.
A family prepares to plant eelgrass seedlings during a project to restore the natural ecosystem in Yokohama on April 13.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 25, 2024
Battling climate change, Japan looks to seagrass for carbon capture
Japan, the world's fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has some of the longest coastlines in the world.
Delegates meet for the Development Committee Plenary during the World Bank and IMF 2024 Spring Meetings in Washington on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2024
Negotiating a bigger, better World Bank
Recent changes at the global lender are important steps toward making the World Bank’s financial model fit for “ending poverty on a livable planet.”
Wind turbines off the coast of Zhunan Township, Taiwan. Misguided policies threaten to sink outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen’s hopes of achieving his renewable energy targets.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2024
Taiwan’s wind power ambitions are in peril
Misguided policies threaten to sink outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen’s renewable energy targets, putting a lot on the incoming administration's plate.
Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
Nearly 6 million elderly people in Japan will have dementia by 2040
The latest figure is significantly less than a previous projection released in 2015 that said more than 8 million people would have dementia by 2040.
Thanks, tourists. Views of Mount Fuji are now blocked.
Tourists pose in front of a convenience store with Mount Fuji on Friday in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture. Local residents are upset over littering, overcrowding and the inconvenience caused by the visitors.
Is Modi’s party heading for a stunning election loss?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign tactics have escalated, including anti-Muslim rhetoric and fearmongering, reflecting his ruling party's desperation.
Man arrested over fatal stabbing of young woman in Shinjuku
A 51-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of stabbing a young woman to death in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
Stormy seas ahead as Beijing and Manila trade barbs over secret deal
Philippine Marines wave to Philippine Navy personnel and the media during a resupply mission at their military outpost, the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship run aground in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, in the South China Sea, in March 2014.
Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.
After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Xi bristles as Macron and von der Leyen urge China to do more on Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen walk after their meeting in Paris on Monday.
How a Japanese scientist is turning the climate crisis into music
A screencap of a performance of Hiroto Nagai's “String Quartet No. 1 ‘Polar Energy Budget’” by the PRT Quartet

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there
Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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