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November 22, 2024
 

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Stephen Hesse

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Stephen Hesse
Stephen Hesse is an educator and writer living in Tokyo. He graduated from Vermont Law School, where he received a JD and an LLM, and is now a professor in the Law Faculty of Chuo University, Tokyo, as well as Associate Director of the Chuo International Center.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 12, 2001
From ridiculous to sublime: the arguments of a fossil fool
Last month, the White House announced that U.S. President George W. Bush would not support the Kyoto Protocol because it "is not in the United States' economic best interests." The protocol is aimed at reducing human emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, that contribute to global...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 26, 2001
Bush ignores experts on climate change
The rubber has met the road and we now know that U.S. President George W. Bush is driving under the influence, his judgment impaired by fossil fuel lobbyists.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 11, 2001
Japanese neighbors join in incinerator struggle
Two previous columns have focused on a United States government lawsuit seeking a provisional injunction against a private incinerator in Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture. The Americans, however, are not the only ones eager to shut down the facility. Other neighbors, too, are fired up about Envirotech...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 26, 2001
Incineration as usual in Kanagawa, despite suit
If the video were not so alarming, it would be humorous: Chaplinesque workers scurry to and fro while a claw-loader swivels and bends in every direction, making piles of waste disappear, covering others with paper and cardboard, and using a mattress clenched in its claw to sweep its work area clean....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 12, 2001
U.S. sues Atsugi incinerator operator
A landmark pollution case now before the Yokohama District Court is exposing the dirty underbelly of incineration practices in Japan, and highlighting what some would call the willingness of officials to turn a blind eye to dangerous waste burning.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 22, 2001
Hydrogen future: Iceland's quest for a clean, green energy legacy
The future is wherever people are "thinking outside the box," seeking atypical solutions to problems of the status quo.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 8, 2001
Zero emissions: route to sustainability for a clean revolution in the 21st century
The age of zero emissions is dawning, and Japan could one day lead a global clean revolution. The next decade should tell whether this nation will lead, or will consign itself to industrial mediocrity by adhering to the status quo.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 25, 2000
World fisheries collapsing as technology and demand soar
As this is the season of giving, here is a gift, a riddle:
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 10, 2000
Japan's new goodwill ambassador to the UNEP
Tokiko Kato Tokiko Kato is every bit as energetic and candid in person as she appears on stage. Best known as a singer and musician, Kato is also a poet and painter, and serves on the board of the World Wide Fund for Nature Japan. Though her schedule is hectic, it is by choice, and she has energy to...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 27, 2000
Hague climate change talks getting lost in niggling details
They say "the devil is in the details," and so it was at The Hague recently during negotiations of the sixth Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. Two weeks of stonewalling and hairsplitting, and we are really no closer to dealing with the global warming problem...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 12, 2000
On taking the eightfold path to environmental awareness
Environmentalists are a hard breed to pin down, much less to classify. They come in all shapes and sizes, and some even reject the name.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 23, 2000
Clock tolls for environmental action
Mika Suzuki may not be a professional designer, but her keen eye and concern about the environment recently won her the top prize in a Tokyo eco-design contest.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 9, 2000
When micropower comes of age: an alternative to nuclear power?
Two weeks ago Taiwan's economic minister, Lin Hsin-i, proposed that his nation give up plans to build a fourth nuclear power plant, despite having already spent several billion dollars on the project.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 25, 2000
CNIC report lights up the dark side of Japan's nuclear power industry
One year ago this week, a nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki Prefecture, experienced a "criticality." That accident shattered once and for all the crumbling myth of safety that has encased Japan's nuclear power industry, and changed the way Japanese view nuclear power.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 19, 2000
Program laying groundwork to conserve rivers and trails
John Monroe jokingly refers to himself as a "conservation venture capitalist." Unlike most investment bankers, however, Monroe is investing for the long term.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 28, 2000
General Motors humming along -- never mind the environment
A vacation is such a wonderful chance to seek out the unusual and inexplicable. This month my family and I are immersed in a foreign culture, intrigued and perplexed by the ways of an alien people. Most confounding, this culture is my own.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 21, 2000
Yokohama student to champion environmental concerns of youth
Rieko Kubota, who is 20 years old and a second-year student majoring in economics at Yokohama City University, is not your average Japanese university student.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 24, 2000
Persistent organic pollutants: toxic chemicals here to stay
The acronym POPs sounds harmless enough, bringing to mind glasses of bubbly champagne and harmless fireworks. The reality is far less celebratory.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 17, 2000
Dioxin found deadly for sure -- and they're pumping it out
First, the good news.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2000
Is there free speech in Japan? Greenpeace activists arrested
"For the sake of good environmental policy, it is necessary to have freedom of expression which forms public opinion." These are the words of Sweden's environment minister, part of a press release issued in March 1999, following the arrest of several Greenpeace activists who were in Tokyo protesting...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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