Tag - cities

 
 

CITIES

Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 19, 2023
Are 'sponge cities' enough to curb climate-fueled floods?
A city's ability to absorb water is one key to withstanding climate shocks, with sponginess dependent on the amount of greenery and other water storage available.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 15, 2023
Some cash in on land boom near Indonesia's new capital, while others miss out
The project, which is under construction in an area largely made up of forest, is envisioned as a green, smart city, but has been hit by delays due to the pandemic.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / Longform
Mar 6, 2023
Can urban farming play a key role in food security?
From small orchards to high-tech vertical farming, producing food in Japan's urban areas could help address key social and environmental issues.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2023
No Japanese cities cut ties with Russian peers
According to to officials, 43 Japanese officials have sister-city or friendship city arrangements with Russian partners — unchanged since the war in Ukraine began.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 1, 2023
Planting trees could cut urban heat wave deaths by a third, study says
Of the 6,700 premature deaths attributed to higher temperatures in 93 European cities during 2015, one third could have been prevented, researchers found.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Longform
Jan 30, 2023
Reining in Japan’s unstoppable urban sprawl
The world’s most rapidly aging nation wants its shrinking population to concentrate in regional urban centers. However, things aren't going as planned.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 11, 2023
New Indonesia capital imperils ancient Eden with 'ecological disaster'
With construction ramping up this year, environmentalists warn that the project will speed up deforestation in one of the world's largest and oldest tropical rainforests.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 9, 2023
How researchers in disaster-prone Japan and the Pacific are rethinking city design
In the years following the 2011 megaquake and tsunami, seawalls have proliferated along northeastern Japan's Pacific coast. Some researchers are pushing for an alternative approach.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 9, 2023
Don’t pay people to leave Tokyo. Make more Tokyos.
Trying to arrest rural depopulation, Japan wants people to quit Tokyo, its greatest metropolis. How about creating new ones instead?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2022
Families moving out of Tokyo to get up to ¥1 million per child
The increased amount will come on top of the maximum u00a53 million in base financial support already given to relocating families.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 26, 2022
As Japan takes to rental e-scooters, some see changes to cities ahead
Services such as Luup could shift the nation's train station-centric urban layouts, but they have attracted controversy over drunken driving.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2022
A controversy forces Tokyo to define 'public park'
A plan to redevelop the capital's Meiji Jingu Gaien park and its sporting venues has drawn ire from people who want the area's trees to be spared.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2022
Japan aims to balance population flows to and from Tokyo by fiscal 2027
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people moving into the Tokyo metropolitan area area still exceeds that of people moving out.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 8, 2022
These are not the most expensive cities — unless you are an expat
Lists of the world's priciest urban centers assume you're a tennis-playing, vermouth-drinking expat paid in dollars with a maid and a car.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 5, 2022
Ambitious plans to build Indonesia a brand new capital city are falling apart
With his final term running out, President Joko Widodo is struggling to finance a project that could resettle millions of people and cement his own legacy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Smart Countryside
Oct 9, 2022
The city aiming to change perceptions of electronic voting in Japan
Tsukuba, a designated Super City in Ibaraki Prefecture, is hoping its trials of online voting among schoolchildren can be rolled out to municipal polls and beyond.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / Smart Countryside
Aug 25, 2022
For an aging Osaka suburb, the best 'smart city' innovations are low-key
As a once-thriving 'new town,' Nankadai is now trying to introduce modern initiatives to an aging population who see the area as being akin to the countryside.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 24, 2022
Saudi Arabia's 'surveillance city': Would you sell your data to The Line?
The country's poor human rights record does not bode well for responsible data usage or the safeguarding of individual privacy, digital rights experts say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 22, 2022
China’s cities face a tough choice — more green energy or food
The pandemic and recent bouts of extreme weather have shown how susceptible the nation is to disruptions to its food supply.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2022
Japanese population in Tokyo area marks first ever drop
The population of Japanese people in Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa decreased by 34,498, or 0.10%, from a year before.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores