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August 22, 2025
 

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ENVIRONMENT

California has ambitious climate policies. But the state should shift more green energy-related costs from electricity bills to taxes to promote fairness and sustainability.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2024
California's crushing power bills challenge its climate goals
California is incredible, but making it livable, what with its droughts, floods, fault-lines and wildfires, has never been cheap.
The oceanographic research vessel Mirai passes through the Diomede Islands, located at the center of the Bering Strait, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2024
Japanese research vessel Mirai enters Arctic ocean
Mirai is on a month-long voyage to study environmental changes in the Arctic, which is believed to be warming faster than anywhere else on Earth.
Debbie Wu tests her pair of sunglasses made from plastic waste at Trash Kitchen in Taipei.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 6, 2024
Taiwan workshop turns trash into sunglasses
Taipei's Trash Kitchen allows customers to create fashion out of plastic waste.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024
Warm weather expected to delay autumn foliage
Higher temperatures are expected this fall, as heat lingers on from Japan's joint hottest summer on record.
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.
Activists attend a news conference after a ruling by the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 30, 2024
Top South Korean court says climate law doesn't protect basic rights
The court asked the legislature to revise the carbon neutrality act by the end of February 2026.
For a billionaire with a mission to prevent climate change, “He greened the energy policy of the world’s fourth-biggest economy (Japan),” would make a hell of an epitaph for Mike Cannon-Brookes. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 29, 2024
An activist investor could green Japan for $700 million
For a billionaire with a mission to prevent climate change, "Greened the energy policy of the world’s fourth-biggest economy” would make a hell of an epitaph.
Naoto Ooka inspects a new heat-resistant rice breed called Emihokoro that has been planted at the government-run Saitama Agricultural Technology Center in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on Aug. 7.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2024
As sweltering summers ravage crops, Japan bets on heat-resistant rice
Supermarkets have struggled to keep rice shelves stocked in recent months.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the United Nations' COP28 climate change conference in Dubai on Dec. 2. Harris and Donald Trump are poles apart when it comes to climate change.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2024
America’s coming climate election
Clearly, the positions of the two U.S. presidential candidates on the climate crisis could not be more different.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a green transformation (GX) conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2024
Japan to discuss 10-step process for decarbonization strategy rollout
The list includes ways to make it easier for businesses to invest in carbon-free power sources such as renewable energy and nuclear power.
Mosquitoes under a microscope in a lab at Sahmyook University in Seoul on July 24
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 27, 2024
As the world warms, South Korea's latest border threat is mosquitoes
Climate change, especially warmer springs and heavier rainfall, could bring more mosquito-borne diseases to North and South Korea.
Oceanographic research vessel Mirai is docked at the port of Sekinehama in Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, on Monday before it embarked on an Arctic voyage later in the day.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2024
Japan's Mirai research vessel embarks on Arctic journey
Mirai is tasked with ocean research and weather observations in the Arctic Ocean, in hopes of finding the cause and impact of rapid global warming in the area.
Cho Seong-hoan tends to bees at a farm near the Demilitarized Zone, in Paju, South Korea, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 25, 2024
The DMZ is an unhealed wound for South Korea. It’s also a source of great honey.
The area is home to a biodiverse landscape and is a place of deep meaning for nearby farmers whose bees can fly freely through it.
The Environment Ministry plans to offer ¥100 million to the U.N. Environment Program to be used for a study into synergistic model cases including reducing greenhouse gas while preserving the ecosystem.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 25, 2024
Japan to give ¥100 million to U.N. environment program
The funds are to be set aside under the Environment Ministry's fiscal 2025 budget request.
Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls' School in Kanoi village near Jaisalmer, India, earlier this month. In the sweltering heat of India's Thar desert, an architecturally striking school is an oasis of cool.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 24, 2024
Indian desert school's unique design offers respite from heat
Temperatures inside the school, designed by U.S. architect Diana Kellogg and built by local artisans, can be as much as 20% lower than those outside.
Transport ministry officials enter the Kobe plant of Kawasaki Heavy Industries for an on-site inspection on Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024
Transport ministry raids Kawasaki Heavy over ship engine test tampering
The firm has admitted inappropriately tweaked testing equipment to keep emissions data within ranges of customer specifications and reduce the variance of data.
Wind turbines in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2024
Japan offers lifeline to ESG investing amid backlash overseas
In light of the anti-ESG sentiment in the U.S. and Europe, analysts said that Japan can play a key role in driving sustainable finance globally.
An infant orangutan with its mother in Sepilok, Malaysia, on Saturday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 19, 2024
Apes to stay at home as Malaysia tweaks 'orangutan diplomacy'
Countries that buy Malaysian palm oil can "sponsor" one or more orangutans, and the funds collected will be used to implement conservation programs, minister says.
The parliament building in Tokyo. With concerns about summer heat rising and many elections taking place in summertime, it may not be tenable to conduct campaigns as in the past given health risks to candidates, their staff and voters.
JAPAN / Politics / Boiling Point
Aug 17, 2024
Hotter summers pose a threat to Japan's tradition of stump speeches
Balancing health concerns with legal restrictions as well as candidates' desire to be as publicly visible as possible, even in super hot weather, might be tricky.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida poses for a group photo with other regional leaders prior to the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) leaders meeting in Tokyo in December.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 16, 2024
Japan's energy diplomacy reflects global divide over how to reach net zero
Japan’s focus should be on advancing truly innovative and effective renewable technologies, rather than prolonging fossil fuel use.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
Japanese manufacturers moving headquarters out of central Tokyo
A building in Kawasaki housing Toshiba's new headquarters
Is sumo becoming a victim of its own popularity?
A training session at Shikoroyama stable in June 2016. Sumo training sessions are increasingly simulated or the preserve of group tours.
Japanese man suspected of ordering double murder in Manila
Two suspects arrested over the killing of two Japanese last week are held in restraints in Manila on Tuesday.
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
Atsushi Kitagawara’s exhibition finds poetry in architecture
The inverted cone, one of Atsushi Kitagawara’s six signature elements in architecture, is a key feature of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection museum building.
Candidates preparing to make final pitches for Sawamura Award
Hawks pitcher Livan Moinelo has a 1.13 ERA in 19 starts this season.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
In Paris, chefs Chizuko Kimura and Kei Kobayashi make their mark
Chef Kei Kobayashi is France's only Japanese chef with three Michelin stars.

Podcast

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

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
By Tomoko Otake

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