More Environment Articles - The Japan Times

November 23, 2024

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Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Jan 15, 2004

An island alone that is worlds apart

By Mark Brazil

If it were possible to view the Japanese archipelago rising from the Pacific in profile, a distinct, lonely, broad cone would be immediately apparent between the high peaks of the Japanese Alps of Honshu and the even higher peaks of Taiwan. That cone is the long-isolated, mountainous island of Yakushima,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT

Jan 15, 2004

'Miyake man' leaves a legacy of inspiration

By Stephen Hesse

Last week, the environmental community lost a beacon of wisdom and inspiration, a gentle and passionate man who dedicated his career to raising awareness of the oceans' unique ecosystems and Japan's in particular. On Friday, at the age of 74, Jack Thomson Moyer is believed to have taken his own life,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jan 15, 2004

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Oomari-kokemush * Scientific name:Pectinatella magnifica * Description:The common name says it all. This organism looks like nothing so much as a quivering lump of jelly. It is often mistaken for the egg mass of some animal, but in fact the blob is itself a colony of tiny animals....

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Jan 8, 2004

Corporate America's attack on common sense

By Stephen Hesse

Common sense may keep us out of harm's way and save us from terminally bad deciEsions, but a recently leaked chemical-industry memo inEsists that common sense is bad for business. Elsewhere in the corporate sector, too, common sense is increasingly seen as a dogged nuisance that hinders mindless conEsumption...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK

Jan 4, 2004

It's time to stop looting Japan's tree treasures

By C.W. Nicol

A couple of decades ago, I had a very public confrontation with the government's Forestry Agency. It was about the cutting of old-growth deciduous forest around where I live in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture -- trees that were hundreds of years old.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / GARDEN PATHS

Dec 25, 2003

A romantic gem in Tokyo's heart

By Linda Inoki

Japanese gardens were designed for poetry, music and romance; think of all those lovers in "The Tale of Genji" trailing through dew-drenched gardens to trysts with ladies of their dreams.

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Dec 25, 2003

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Ikarimushi * Scientific name: Lernaea cyprinacea * Description: The anchor worm is a small parasite (1-1.5 cm long) that lives in the muscles of freshwater fishes. The female anchor worm has a tubular body divided into a cephalothorax, thoracic region and abdomen. However, you're unlikely...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Dec 18, 2003

Cold feet over winter camp

By Mark Brazil

Camping is a wonderful way to unplug from the computer and e-mail, catch up on sleep, and escape the never-ending round of deadlines and commitments. While summer and autumn camps offer opportunities to "shoot the breeze" around a campfire, on dark evenings in the winter there is nothing more one can...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Dec 11, 2003

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Koganegumi * Scientific name:Argiope amoena * Description: Writing spiders, also known as yellow garden spiders, have an egg-shaped abdomen with yellow or orange markings on a black background. The legs have red or yellow sections. While insect bodies are generally comprised of three...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Dec 11, 2003

Guiding U.S. corporations to the greener side

By Stephen Hesse

Elizabeth Sturcken could easily have passed for a hotshot IT executive, dressed for the part in a business suit and low heels. Instead, the 37-year-old resident of San Francisco is a major player in the drive for environmental change.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK

Dec 4, 2003

Alarm mars a runaway success story for salmon

By C.W. Nicol

In October, I spent some time in Vancouver. I have grown-up children there, as well as grandchildren and a lot of old friends, most of whom I met while working for the Environmental Protection Service. Even though I left Canada in 1978 to come to Japan and pursue the often dubious course of a writer,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Nov 27, 2003

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Yagi * Scientific name:Capra hircus * Description: Feal goats are smaller and stockier than their domesticated relatives. Males (billies) weigh 30 to 45 kg, females (nannies) 25 to 35 kg; they are 60 to 70 cm high. The color varies from white to dark brown, black or gray, and while...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

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