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November 23, 2024
 

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C.W. Nicol
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 2, 2011
Working horses make for even happier woodlands
Our C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust has recently acquired more parcels of land to add to the 30 hectares we have long and lovingly tended up here outside Kurohime in the Nagano Prefecture hills.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 4, 2011
Children — and their children — must be saved from Nature Deficit Disorder
When I first settled down to live here in Kurohime in northern Nagano Prefecture, I wrote an essay about what I considered to be an endangered species.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 7, 2011
The far-out Ogasawaras
The Ogasawaras are a group of lovely subtropical islands about 1,000 km due south of Tokyo, from where they are administered. As there is no airport, you reach them by taking the 6,700-ton liner Ogasawara Maru from Takeshiba Pier in Tokyo — a 25-hour journey that can be rough, so take one of the better...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 3, 2011
Here's herbs with a cherry on top
"Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" is the refrain to one of my favorite songs, the traditional English ballad "Scarborough Fair," which was made famous when Simon and Garfunkel released it in 1966.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jun 5, 2011
Beauty and the noble beech
The first time that Japan's nature really made me stop, stand, stare and listen, totally lost in wonder, was — I clearly remember — in the early summer of 1963. I'm not so sure where in Japan that wondrous occurence took place, but I know just where I was.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 1, 2011
Rethinking Tohoku's rebuilding
The March 11 megaquake and tsunami, and the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant that they triggered, has sideswiped all of us. Nagging worries about the dangers of the radioctivity leaking from that crippled facility and concern for those brave souls striving to tackle the plant's...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2011
Building hospital ships for disaster response
An earthquake of unprecedented magnitude, followed by a terrible tsunami, devastated the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, setting off a nuclear emergency that is having global effects.The combination of these calamities has also plunged Japan into a kind of national depression that I have never...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 3, 2011
Every day ought to be Earth Day
I usually avoid large gatherings of people, even though it has become my job to give lectures and to attend seminars and meetings and such. However, you would never see me anywhere near a rock concert or a rugby, soccer or baseball match.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 6, 2011
Winter's end and the coming spring
I've just finished packing my bag for a visit to the Ogasawara Islands, a boat trip down, a boat trip back, and I seriously doubt if there will be any snow. It will be my first time to those rather remote islands 1,000 km due south of Tokyo (though administratively part of the capital), and I am looking...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 6, 2011
A window on our woods
When I'm sitting at my desk working in my study, I can look up through a large window and enjoy the view of some woods with a meadow beyond. Except that I'm not too happy with the woods, that is, because they belong to a neighbor who has left the trees untended and neglected for all of the 30 years I've...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 5, 2010
Anyone for a great green gourd?
Copying a Canadian friend, during spring for the last two years I have built tepee frames, not conventional trellises, for my cucumbers to trail around as they grow.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Nov 7, 2010
Welsh worries for Japan's woods
Larch trees were introduced to Britain from eastern Europe in the 17th century for their ornamental value in gardens — and the larch is indeed a pretty tree.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 3, 2010
A place in the woods for the world to gather
Construction of the Afan Nature Centre here in our woods outside Kurohime in the Nagano Prefecture hills is complete and the keys have been handed over to us. The beautiful building is the result of a decade of wishing, three years of planning, and a year of onsite building.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 5, 2010
Chickens at (almost) every turn
Go wherever you will in the world but you'll never be far from a chicken.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 1, 2010
A fish that knows not time
Recently, a few days before my 70th birthday, I was visited by the beautiful and vivacious actress Mayu Tsuruta. If you watch Japanese television, I'm sure you will know her from the many films, dramas and documentaries in which she has appeared.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 4, 2010
A meeting of minds
In 1958, just before my 18th birthday, I went along on an Inuit hunt for seals in the Canadian Arctic. That was the first time I tasted that rich, dark red — almost black — meat, and it was like nothing else I had eaten before. I loved it.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jun 6, 2010
Chips for the kids and all
I have just returned to my study after two days and a night spent in the woods with a group of young people who are visually disadvantaged. Some of them had no eyesight at all, some could just barely make out shades and vague shapes.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 2, 2010
Sweet and sour amid the late snow of spring
Two days ago I was in the woods, generally looking around and gathering a few butterburs — the first of the spring sansai (wild mountain vegetables), which I love to serve as tempura.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 4, 2010
Japan, please don't go grabbing Ethiopians' land
On March 15 just gone, this newspaper carried an excellent but disturbing article by John Vidal, environment editor of the London-based Guardian newspaper. He wrote about food shortages and land-grabbing in Africa, and I was particularly troubled to read about deals going on to sell Ethiopian land to...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 7, 2010
Hark ye to the Donkey's Ears
There is a book in my library written by a Russian sailor named A. Novikoff Priboy who was captured by the Japanese during the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. His book was translated and published in English in 1933. It's a fine story, with vivid descriptions of the Russian squadron's epic journey from the...
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
China reinstates visa-free travel for Japanese nationals
Beijing Daxing International Airport
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
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.

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