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November 21, 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
Nov 27, 2011
Demand change: an open letter to Japan's rising generations
If you're like my 17-year-old, then you probably already know just about everything there is to know, and reading this column you'll likely just say: "Yeah, right, whatever," or "So?"
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 23, 2011
Only the Japanese public's will can raze that lethal 'village'
"Of all the places in all the world where no one in their right mind would build scores of nuclear power plants, Japan would be pretty near the top of the list," wrote Leuren Moret in a "Power and the people" Timeout special in The Japan Times on May 23, 2004.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 25, 2011
Now is the time for a 'brand Japan' that creates and inspires
On Sept. 19, just as this column hit deadline, news outlets reported that a massive demonstration was taking place in Tokyo, rallying tens of thousands of people against nuclear power.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 28, 2011
Is youth's 'creeping passivity' happening by design?
Last February, I wrote an Our Planet Earth column titled "Don't give up on Japan's kids," noting there that despite all the hand-wringing that goes on about this nation's young people, my own experience with university students gives me cause for considerable optimism.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 24, 2011
What chance a 'free market' would cure all the world's ills?
An old friend is a successful investment banker who makes more money in a year than I will make in my lifetime. Like many people, though, he would like to make even more.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2011
Readers offer 3/11 insights, valuable resources
As Japan has struggled with the physical and emotional challenges of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, and the ongoing nuclear crisis that resulted, I have written three Our Planet Earth columns related to those events: one on Japan's response (March 27); one on alternative...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 22, 2011
U.S. court victories show how to get rid of nuclear plants
Lawyer Tom Twomey knows far more than most of us about the importance of citizen participation in making energy policy. That's because Twomey has spent four decades keeping a watchful eye on electric power suppliers in New York — and he's learned that what we don't know can hurt us.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 24, 2011
After March 11, Japan must reconsider its energy options
Viewed from abroad, there is no doubt that Japan is suffering an unmitigated disaster.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 27, 2011
Spare us shoganai as we face an ominous spring
For two weeks now, ever since death and destruction swept northeastern Japan, all of us here have been trying to get our heads around this catastrophe.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 27, 2011
Don't give up on Japan's kids
Last March, the president of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin Faust, visited Japan to find out for herself what has become of Japan's once-vibrant contribution to American academia. The numbers of Japanese students enrolling in Harvard have declined steadily over the past decade, and in September 2009...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 23, 2011
Forests worldwide: a primer
For those living in Japan, it's easy to forget that forests are not a given.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 26, 2010
Your money or your life: Where happiness lies
Year-end holidays always elevate hopes for happiness, but with expectations set high it is not surprising that they often seem to bring depression and loneliness instead.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 28, 2010
Veering off the path of mutually assured destruction
As individuals, we usually recognize when we're heading off in the wrong direction and then have the good sense to get ourselves back on the right track.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 24, 2010
Saving biological diversity: a challenge for survival
Eight years ago in Johannesburg, government delegates from around the world gathered for the World Summit on Sustainable Development — and made a promise "to substantially reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 26, 2010
Asia is surely gaining an unquenchable thirst
G. Kallupatti is a small village in the Theni District of western Tamil Nadu, tucked up against the rocky foothills of the Western Ghats in southern India.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 22, 2010
Of forests and floods
Last week I enjoyed the sublime luxury of watching a sunrise from the middle of a lake in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 25, 2010
Wherefore art thou, corporate social responsibility?
As an American lawyer, I know a bit about working in a profession that has had serious image problems.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 27, 2010
BP oil disaster is one more chance to learn badly needed lesson
More than two months ago, BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in a ball of fire, killing 11 workers and leaving a crippled wellhead that continues to bleed millions of liters of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 25, 2010
Will arrogance and ignorance doom our biosphere?
This year, 2010, is the United Nations' International Year of Biodiversity — which is a very good thing. But why this critically important global concern gets just one year is seriously worth debating.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 28, 2010
Sea change: Can science, sense turn the tide?
In "The Tempest," William Shakespeare writes of a human body deep beneath the waves undergoing "a sea-change into something rich and strange," transmuting into coral and pearls.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
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.
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.
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

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