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October 07, 2024
 

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PLASTIC

A flag with the logo of the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference in front of the Baku Olympic Stadium, the venue of the summit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sept. 19
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 7, 2024
Environment takes center stage as global summits loom
The upcoming session isn't expected to break new ground but will take stock of progress since the last summit secured historic assurances for biodiversity.
Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 23, 2024
'Convergence' growing on global plastics treaty: U.N. environment chief
At negotiations in November in South Korea's Busan, countries are hoping to seal a potentially groundbreaking deal to tackle the problem of plastic pollution.
Fruits and vegetables sit wrapped in plastic in a supermarket in Tokyo in 2021
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 16, 2024
'Easy, convenient, cheap': How single-use plastic rules the world
Negotiators hope to reach the world's first treaty on plastic pollution this year, but single-use plastic remains hugely popular as a cheap and convenient choice.
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.
Bales of hard-to-recycle plastic waste piled up at Renewlogy Technologies in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 17, 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 15, 2024
In shift, U.S. backs global target to reduce plastic production, source says
The change away from earlier calls to leave such decisions up to each country puts the U.S. in direct opposition to countries like Saudi Arabia and China.
At a waste center in Kamikatsu, Tokushima Prefecture, residents separate trash into 45 different categories as the town aims to become "zero waste."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 22, 2024
How circular economy initiatives are changing the world
From Asia to Europe to Africa, public and private entities are finding new ways to revolutionize the economic paradigm from a linear to a circular model. In Japan, too.
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jul 14, 2024
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
As summers get hotter across the world we’re met with a paradox: To stay cool, it seems we’re compelled to consume more.
The Veolia Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility in London.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 11, 2024
Nestle quietly shifted recycling goals as plastics problem grows
Nestle changing its plastics goal means 280,000 metric tons of additional nonrecyclable plastic waste a year, according to the latest available data for 2022.
A Chinese worker organizes plastic doll heads after painting them at a toy factory in Xietang, Zhejiang Province, China, in 2015.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 2, 2024
China’s plastics boom is set to create another trade headache
Parts of the country’s sprawling petrochemicals sector are running at as little as half capacity as producers cut back.
A protest accusing Deutsche Bank of greenwashing. Its subsidiary DWS was fined $25 million last year for misstating its environmental, social and governance activities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2024
Too many companies make false claims about their social impact
Exaggerated claims about companies' positive social and environmental impact ruin our chances of achieving a sustainable future. An entirely new system is needed.
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.
A prop depicting a water tap with cascading plastic bottles is displayed by activists near the Shaw Center venue of penultimate negotiations for the first-ever global plastics treaty, in Ottawa, Canada, on April 23.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 1, 2024
Plastic pollution talks make modest progress but sidestep production curbs
Some warned that too many political compromises would dilute the effectiveness of an eventual treaty while others welcomed a close focus on certain issues.
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks stand on a log as plastic bottles and trash float on the the El Cerron Grande reservoir in Potonico, El Salvador, in 2022.
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 22, 2024
Negotiations on global plastic treaty to resume in Canada
After promising to finalize a treaty by the end of this year, 175 countries are meeting in Canada from Tuesday to hammer out the details.
The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2024
Tokyo clinic director fails to report ¥1 billion COVID-19 subsidy
The director received subsidies to perform PCR tests and outsourced testing services, but an audit showed she had not paid some ¥1 billion to outsourcers.
McDonald's Japan will start charging ¥5 for plastic bags of all sizes at some stores, starting in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2024
McDonald's Japan announces trial ¥5 plastic bag charge to curb usage
The firm will eye expanding the fee nationwide following a trial at 23 of its stores in Nagasaki Prefecture starting in April.
Seoul may be a cosmetic surgery mecca, but Tokyo has its fair share of high-quality clinics as well.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 12, 2024
A wrinkles-and-all guide to cosmetic surgery in Japan
Japan is uniquely positioned between two opposing hot spots of the beauty industry: Seoul and Tokyo.
A paper published in The Lancet in December found that plastics likely enter most of our major organs and even affect the good bacteria that makes up our microbiome.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024
We don't know how worried we should be about nanoplastics
Nanoparticles can slip into the bloodstream, get into organs, and sneak into cells where they may cause harm.
Columbia University researchers have found that on average, bottled water contain 110,000 to 370,000 tiny plastic particles in each liter, 90% of them nanoplastics.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 9, 2024
Bottled water has more plastic particles than previously thought
The discovery of nanoplastics, which could not be detected until recently, suggests that health concerns linked to plastic pollution may be dramatically underestimated.
Workers collect recyclable garbage including plastic bottles on World Environment Day in Tokyo in June 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 6, 2023
New solutions tackle Japan’s waste problem at its core
Issues like the plastics and climate crises seem insurmountable — until we apply "systemic design," as several Japanese initiatives are showing.
Staff at the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon 2023 collect used paper cups after the event on Oct. 15.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 9, 2023
Japanese paper-makers pioneer domestic recycling of paper cups
Until now paper cups have typically been discarded as flammable waste, but are made from high quality pulp that can be reused.
Sure, Tokyo’s trains are amazing. But are they ruining your trip?
Walking through Tokyo's varied neighborhoods and the sub-communities within them can be the best way for a tourist, even one with limited time, to take the city in.
Tokyo passes nation's first customer harassment ordinance
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks to a reporter on Sept. 27. Aggressive acts toward front-line workers, dubbed "customer harassment," have become a growing problem.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japanese baseball fans flock to LA to see playoff-bound Ohtani
A giant mural of Shohei Ohtani on the side of a hotel in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles
LDP to endorse 'slush fund' lawmakers in general election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his inaugural policy address to parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
The furry performance-enhancers that are sweeping the world of sports
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his dog, Dekopin, who delivered the ceremonial first pitch prior to a game against the Orioles on Aug. 28
Sure, Tokyo’s trains are amazing. But are they ruining your trip?
Walking through Tokyo's varied neighborhoods and the sub-communities within them can be the best way for a tourist, even one with limited time, to take the city in.
Japan’s biggest Louise Bourgeois exhibit yet leans into ambivalence
Bourgeois is perhaps best known among the general public for her giant steel spider sculptures, particularly in Tokyo, where a nearly 10-meter tall bronze cast of the original spider has loomed over the walkway in Roppongi Hills since 2003.
Japan great Ayami Sato helps shine light on women's baseball in new documentary
Ayami Sato is one of the best female players in baseball history.
Tokyo passes nation's first customer harassment ordinance
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks to a reporter on Sept. 27. Aggressive acts toward front-line workers, dubbed "customer harassment," have become a growing problem.

Podcast

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

Longform

Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free
By Anton L. Delgado

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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