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September 23, 2025
 

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WASTE

A huge piece of plastic waste is pulled up from the waters near Tatara Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, on July 10.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 15, 2025
Japan backs development of new materials to cut marine plastic waste
A five-year plan starting this fiscal year calls for the development of a new material that can be used for several years in water before it slowly decomposes over time.
Chugoku Electric Managing Executive Officer Satoshi Osedo (right) and Tetsuo Nishi, mayor of the town of Kaminoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture on Friday. The two pose for a photo as Osedo hands Nishi a feasibility study report on an interim storage facility for spent fuel from nuclear power plants.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2025
Yamaguchi prefecture town can store nuclear fuel: Chugoku Electric
Chugoku Electric detected no active faults announced low risk factors such as volcanic activity and tsunami.
A boy looks at samples of Pokemon toys available with the McDonald's Happy Meal set in Tokyo earlier this month.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 28, 2025
How to complain politely: Lessons from the McDonald’s Pokemon debacle
In Japan, the right phrasing can mean the difference between a request and harassment.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) inspects an interim storage facility where soil from decontamination work is temporarily stored, at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture on Aug. 10.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2025
Government to use more soil from Fukushima decontamination work
The moves are aimed at gaining public understanding of the safety of the soil and encouraging wider use.
McDonald's Japan has canceled its plan to bundle "One Piece" trading cards with its Happy Set meals, after a similar Pokemon-themed campaign sparked a frenzy and uproar over uneaten food being discarded.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 21, 2025
McDonald's Japan to skip 'One Piece' Happy Meal promo
The cancellation follows a similar Pokemon-themed campaign that sparked a frenzy and uproar over uneaten food being discarded.
A worker displays a handful of shredded hard drive pieces for e-waste processing at a facility in Festac, Nigeria, in 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 21, 2025
Urban mining eases the critical minerals crunch 
Governments are waking up to the potential of e-waste recycling, and Japan is leading the way.
Delegates rest outside of the assembly hall in Geneva on Friday after talks aimed at striking a landmark treaty on tackling the scourge of plastic pollution ended without a deal.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 15, 2025
'Bad actors' blamed as plastic pollution treaty talks end again without deal
Countries said they wanted further negotiations despite six rounds of talks over three years having failed to find agreement.
The government is considering requiring handheld fans to be recycled, in the wake of a host of fires caused by rechargeable electric devices during disposal work.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2025
Japan may make recycling handheld fans mandatory
The consideration comes in the wake of a host of fires caused by rechargeable electric devices during disposal work.
A notice is displayed at a McDonald's restaurant informing customers of the end of the Pokemon card promotion, on Tuesday in Tokyo's Toshima Ward.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2025
McDonald’s Japan apologizes over frenzy linked to Pokemon card promotion
Many customers bought Happy Meals in bulk to get their hands on limited-edition Pokemon trading cards, only to discard the food and resell the cards online.
An Afghan woman walks next to a pile of trash full of plastic bags in Kabul.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 10, 2025
Momentum sagging at U.N. plastic pollution treaty talks
The negotiations have four working days left to strike a legally-binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment.
Some 460 million tons of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is single-use.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 2, 2025
Efforts set to resume to reach plastic pollution pact
The coming talks follow a failure to reach a deal last December on how to stop millions of tons of plastic waste from entering the environment each year.
Workers remove copper from industrial wiring inside a recycling shop in Manila on June 26.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 29, 2025
In the Philippines, informal e-waste dismantling poses health risks
Scavenging electronic waste for the nickel, aluminum and copper inside releases a toxic brew of chemicals, including lead, mercury and cadmium, into the air.
At Meiji the Sutenai ("Don't throw things away") Factory in the city of Saitama, the company sells dairy products whose best-before dates are approaching.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2025
From power generation to discounts, companies in Japan work to reduce food waste
Meiji, for example, has a store in the city of Saitama that sells dairy products whose best-before dates are approaching at about 40% off the suggested retail prices.
Tomoaki Kobayakawa (second from right), president of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, and others meet with Aomori Gov. Soichiro Miyashita (foreground) on Monday in the Aomori Prefectural Government office.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2025
Tepco plans to move spent nuclear fuel from Fukushima to Mutsu facility
The interim facility in the Aomori Prefecture city will store spent fuel from nuclear plants operated by Tepco and Japan Atomic Power for up to 50 years.
A street in Suttsu, Hokkaido, with a sign put up by an anti-nuclear organization. The small community is considering hosting a facility that would hold nuclear waste.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jul 6, 2025
Ainu land rights in crosshairs as Hokkaido communities debate nuclear waste
Some scholars and activists are raising concerns that Indigenous voices are not being heard amid the debate over whether to host nuclear waste storage facilities.
A resident carries his belongings from his damaged house in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 2, 2024 — the day after a major earthquake devastated parts of the area.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 29, 2025
Japan eyes body for local government disaster waste management
The institution will help local governments quickly collect and dispose of large amounts of disaster waste, a type of work in which many local governments have no experience.
A satellite image shows the damaged Arak heavy water reactor facilities, following Israeli airstrikes, in Iran, on Thursday.
WORLD / EXPLAINER
Jun 20, 2025
What are the nuclear contamination risks from Israel's attacks on Iran?
The major concern would be a strike on Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr.
Takuzo Aida, group director at the Riken Center for Emergent Matter Science, shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at its lab in Wako, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 5, 2025
Scientists in Japan develop plastic that quickly dissolves in seawater
The new material is as strong as petroleum-based plastics but breaks down into its original components when exposed to salt.
An Iranian newspaper, with a cover photo featuring the flags of Iran, Oman and the U.S., is seen in Tehran on May 11. Tehran is poised to reject a U.S. proposal for a new nuclear deal presented to it on Saturday by Oman's foreign minister, an Iranian diplomat says.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2025
Iran poised to dismiss U.S. nuclear proposal, Iranian diplomat says
The proposal fails to address Tehran's interests or soften Washington's stance on uranium enrichment, the diplomat says.
A worker sorts plastic waste for recycling at Minato Resource Recycle Center in Tokyo in 2019. Japan has been criticized by environmental groups for its strategy on plastics, which is heavily reliant on recycling instead of reduction.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
May 25, 2025
Are microplastics hurting our fertility?
While a lot remains unknown about how microplastics affect our health, scientists in Japan and around the world broadly agree there's an urgent need to reduce plastic production.
40 years after Plaza Accord, Japan still at mercy of forex swings
The Plaza Hotel in New York, where finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of Five countries met and struck the Plaza Accord on Sept. 22, 1985.
As Japan keeps buying gas, Aboriginal Australians pay the price
Paulina “Jedda” Puruntatameri with Antonia Burke and Tiwi fisher Clinton offshore of Melville Island, one of the Tiwi Islands, in Australia's Northern Territory. Together with other Tiwi, Jedda has been campaigning for years to stop Australian company Santos and its backers, including Japanese investors, from drilling for natural gas at the Barossa gas field.
Abuse of 'zombie cigarettes' among Okinawa youths raises alarm
A street in Naha in August. In entertainment districts in southern Okinawa, a drug known as "laughing gas vape" is being abused at nightclubs and bar. Now, some establishments have put up warning notices.
More German companies choosing Japan as Asia manufacturing hub: survey
Japan has many positive qualities for German companies, but the market does face some challenges, such as talent acquisition and retention, particularly as demand for skilled workers grows, a survey by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan showed.
Boom in business class travel from Japan fuels airlines profits
A business class suite of an Airbus SE A350-1000 aircraft operated by Japan Airlines is seen during a media preview at the company's hangar at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in January last year.
Who’s who in the LDP presidential race?
(From left) Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi; former foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi; Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Shinjiro Koizumi; former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi; and former minister of state for economic security Sanae Takaichi, speaking at events in Tokyo.
Behold the glory of Japan’s fruit boxes
Otherwise common sights in Japan's supermarkets, the country's fruit and veggie boxes can hide surprising symbols of local pride.
YouTuber Gigguk shifts from talking anime to making anime
The process of making “Baan” was personal and enlightening for Maneetapho, who spent years talking about anime on his YouTube channel and podcast before making the jump to becoming an anime creator himself.
How Yuki Joseph Nakajima turned failures into breakout success at Tokyo worlds
Yuki Joseph Nakajima after finishing sixth in the men's 400-meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.
Robot tour guides in Tokyo offer way for those with disabilities to work
Tours are being offered in Tokyo using a shoulder-mounted robot equipped with a camera, speaker and microphone. The robot twitches its wing-like arms, which it can fold together as if in prayer when visiting a temple.

Podcast

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

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan
By Christoph Sponsel

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