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April 26, 2025
 

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ENVIRONMENT

Japan's bluefin tuna catch quotas will increase from 2025, with the first increase ever for smaller ones.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2024
WCPFC decides to expand Japan's pacific bluefin tuna catch quotas
Japan's catch quota will increase to 8,421 metric tons from 5,614 metric tons for large bluefin tuna, rising for the first time in three years.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announces measures to counter the spread of "forever chemicals" in drinking water in the Upper House of parliament in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2024
Japan eyes new PFAS regulations for drinking water by spring
Water suppliers nationwide must upgrade their safety standards to counter the spread of "forever chemicals."
Hibiya Park in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Saturday. Warm weather has delayed the country's autumn foliage season — when tourists flock to see leaves turn vibrant reds and yellows.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2024
Japan witnesses warmest fall on record
Between September and November, the temperature was 1.97 degrees Celsius higher than usual, delaying the country's popular displays of seasonal foliage.
INC-5 Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso (on screen) speaks during an open plenary session during the fifth session of the U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 2, 2024
Countries fail to reach agreement in U.N. plastic talks
Countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks at a later date.
Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, and microplastics have been found in air, fresh produce and even human breast milk.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 1, 2024
Battle over curbing plastic output jeopardizes U.N. treaty hopes
The hoped-for treaty could be the most significant environmental protection deal since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Workers install solar panels at the Khavda Renewable Energy Park of Adani Green Energy in the village of Khavda, in India, on April 12.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 28, 2024
Adani allegations cast light on barriers to India's ambitious solar drive
India's states are unprepared for a rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage.
Vehicles pass in front of an Exxon service station in Bethesda, Maryland, on Monday. Material stolen from the company's critics in a hack-and-leak operation continues to be used today to counter litigation claiming the oil giant misled the public and its investors about the risks of climate change.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2024
Exxon lobbyist probed over hacked papers that disrupted climate lawsuits
The stolen material continues to be used today to counter litigation claiming the oil giant misled the public and its investors about the risks of climate change.
Oil drilling equipment on federal land near Fellows, California. Drilling activity on federal lands and waters accounts for about a quarter of U.S. oil production and 12% of gas output.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 26, 2024
Trump prepares wide-ranging energy plan centered on gas and oil, sources say
The plan to roll out the list as early as day one ensures that oil and gas production will rank alongside immigration as a pillar of Trump's early agenda.
Plastic waste that manicurist Naomi Arimoto collected from the sand at a beach, is pictured at her nail salon in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Oct. 21.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2024
Japanese manicurist takes on plastic pollution, one nail at a time
Naomi Arimoto carefully sifts beach sand for tiny bits of plastic that she can mold into decorative tips to put on the false nails at her salon.
A thermal power plant in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture. Policymakers suggest setting a target of cutting emissions by 60% by 2035.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2024
Japanese panel suggests 60% emissions reduction target for 2035
Japan already has a goal to reduce 2013-level emissions by 46% by 2030.
The national flag of Saudi Arabia at their pavilion at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 14
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 26, 2024
How Saudi Arabia turned back climate progress at COP29
After three decades of being the main opposition at the annual climate talks, the Saudis have developed a sophisticated playbook.
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.
At the United Nations climate conference in Baku, rich nations found that efforts to reduce their own emissions and fund climate programs elsewhere in the world bought them little favor with developing countries most at risk of global warming.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024
Clean power must offer more hope to beat fossil fuels
Wealthy nations must treat climate change as a genuine crisis, advocating for bold financing programs to enable poor nations to industrialize with clean energy.
An employee of Trex stands with bales of used plastic, which the company recycles into decking material.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024
Can the world unite to end the plastic pollution crisis?
The rising toll of plastic in the environment is impossible to ignore.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington. Since former President Donald Trump’s election victory, investors have dumped stocks associated with high-profile environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes such as wind and solar.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 25, 2024
Trump victory forces ESG investors to regroup
Investment managers targeting climate change say it’s time to start speaking in terms that don’t alienate the millions of Americans who voted for the president-elect.
Sacks of untreated and shredded plastic waste, left unattended, collect at an inoperative recycling site in Asan, South Korea, on Nov. 19.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024
South Korea's mountain of plastic waste shows limits of recycling
Seoul says that it recycles 73% of its plastic waste, but environmentalists say the real number is about 27%.
Attendees walk past the COP29 logo during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 25, 2024
Climate finance's 'new era' shows new political realities
All sides acknowledge rich countries' promise of $300 billion a year in climate finance is not enough.
A resident of Kibichuo in Okayama Prefecture takes a blood test in the town on Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2024
PFAS blood tests start in Okayama Prefecture town
About 800 residents are expected to take a blood test under the program, which runs through Dec. 8.
A man walks past a gasoline station in Tokyo on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Nov 24, 2024
How Japan can exit the fossil fuel subsidies it can’t seem to quit
While offering relief to low-income households, such measures encourage the continued use of the fossil fuels driving climate change.
A research team that includes government-backed research institute Riken and the University of Tokyo has developed a plastic material that can be dissolved in seawater in just a few hours.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2024
Riken and others develop plastic material that dissolves in seawater
Unlike earlier biodegradable plastics, the material is strong and easy to process and takes only hours to decompose.
Naked man’s rampage in Saitama linked to one fatality and 10 injured
Police believe Daisuke Nishimura may have been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest, including a fatal hit-and-run and multiple assaults.
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.
Japan brings forward deadline for electronic travel authorization system
Japan is planning to implement by March 2029 a new online screening system in which foreign visitors who don’t need a visa apply for a certification before entering the country.
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.
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.
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

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

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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