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September 07, 2025
 

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POLLUTION

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.
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.
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%.
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.
The New Delhi skyline engulfed in heavy smog on Nov. 17
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 24, 2024
Mounting economic costs of India's killer smog
Smog in New Delhi this month contains more than 50 times the World Health Organization's recommended limit of fine particulate matter.
Activists wearing masks depicting then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau take part in a protest outside the COP25 U.N. climate change conference in Madrid in December 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2024
What does Trump’s victory mean for climate change?
Trump already levied a 25% tariff during his first presidency and it did nothing to help U.S. automakers prepare for the electric future.
Plastic waste on a beach in Japan. The rising volume of plastic waste is an increasingly urgent issue for world leaders.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 5, 2024
Cleaning up pristine beaches means spotting plastic trash from space
New research shows how satellites can help locate plastic waste on beaches.
A portion of the Tokyo skyline from an observatory deck at an industrial port in Kawasaki
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Oct 20, 2024
Japan scientists are tracking the big climate problem with tiny aerosols
The clear signs of climate change are everywhere, but a Japan team has found a way to trace the crisis with something that's a little less visible: aerosols.
With a significant need for renewable energy investment in developing countries, China can help drive the adoption of global green infrastructure and technology. 
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2024
China’s overcapacity can help transition the world
A collaborative effort between the U.S. and China on clean energy initiatives could significantly accelerate the global transition to green technologies.
Each year, millions of tons of trash and other pollutants enter the world's oceans, creating scenes like this one in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2024
Multinationals must stop flow of ocean waste in Global South
The world's oceans are being suffocated by millions of tons of waste, especially in the Global South. The corporations responsible need to clean up their mess.
The Tomakomai carbon, capture and storage test site in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, in March 2018. The true benefits of carbon removal won’t be realized until we get close to net zero emissions.
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2024
Geoengineering can save the planet — if we demystify it
The percentage of Americans who say they trust scientists on the environment has declined to 67% this year from 75% in 2020.
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.
A gas station damaged by Hurricane Helene in Perry, Florida, on Sept. 27. Extreme weather and climate change are exposing the flaws in how we handle hazardous waste.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 3, 2024
Toxic waste is at the mercy of climate change
Among Hurricane Helene’s roster of disasters is a storm surge that deluged a retired nuclear power plant in Florida. While radioactive material there remains secure, according to operator Duke Energy, one of the plant’s industrial wastewater ponds overflowed amid the flood. With luck, any resulting...
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.
An oil slick in the waters off the coast of Manila Bay, in Pamarawan, Malolos, Bulacan province, Philippines, on July 29.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 14, 2024
Philippine fishers call for justice after oil tanker sinks
The largest oil spill in the country since 2006 prompted the government to impose a fishing ban that has pushed the industry toward debt and hunger.
The central monitoring room of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Aug. 9
JAPAN / Society
Aug 25, 2024
Tepco completes fourth round of fiscal '24 treated water release
Since discharges began in August last year, the company has released 62,400 metric tons of the treated water over a total of eight rounds.
The Fukushima No. 1 plant in August last year
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2024
One year on, no abnormalities have been found in tritium levels off Fukushima
The plant has so far discharged 60,000 tons of treated water, which contains small amounts of radioactive tritium, into the sea after diluting it with seawater.
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.
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.
‘Confugenics’ and East Asia's demographic crisis
East Asia’s fertility plunge is driven not just by financial costs but by perfectionist cultural expectations that burden parents with intense educational and social demands.
Japan prince comes of age as succession crisis looms
Prince Hisahito concludes his his elaborate "kakan no gi" coming-of-age ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday.
Bangladesh is a South Asian time bomb
Many Bangladeshis hoped that the overthrow of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina last year would revitalize the country’s democracy after an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.” Instead it has led to proliferating human-rights abuses, intensifying repression and widespread Islamist violence.
Japan to experience blood moon lunar eclipse on Monday
A blood moon is seen during a partial eclipse in the sky over Lake George near Canberra on March 14.
Japan's $550 billion investment pledge outlined in MOU
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, sign trade agreements on Thursday in Washington.
London’s calling and sumo’s top division — along with Hello Kitty — are ready to answer
Yokozuna Hoshoryu and Hello Kitty, an ambassador for sumo's upcoming tour to London, at Tokyo's Kokugikan on Tuesday
Resonac creates 27-member consortium to pursue advanced chip developments
Representatives from member companies of JOINT3, a consortium working together on semiconductor-related developments announced by Resonac, pose for a photo in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Haru Nemuri’s radical new album refuses easy listening
Musician Haruna Kimishima, better known as Haru Nemuri, confronts Japan’s politics, nationalism and censorship on her recent output.
Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality
Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

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