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JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 5, 2008

WiMAX set to alter wireless landscape

Now that the government has licensed use of the 2.5-gigahertz bandwidth, Japan will soon be joining South Korea, Taiwan and others in offering next-generation wireless services for users of mobile phones and computers.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 26, 2007

Wrapping up the year with dollops of whale and tuna

With Christmas behind us and New Year's less than a week away, this month's column combines a bit of yearend desk clearing with some suggestions for belated stocking stuffers.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2007

Fast Retailing plans 200 stores in China, H.K.

Fast Retailing Co., Asia's biggest clothing retailer, plans to operate 200 Uniqlo stores in mainland China and Hong Kong within five years, with the region set to overtake Japan as its largest sales generator by 2017. About 80 percent of the stores will be in mainland China, Senior Vice President Tiger...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2007

Japan enters orbit of nations exploring the moon

The moon has languished in the shadows of space exploration since the heyday of manned missions in the 1960s and 1970s, eclipsed by projects focused on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, not to mention the U.S. space shuttle and the International Space Station.
BUSINESS
Aug 28, 2007

Kepco enters carbon-credit deal

Kansai Electric Power Co. has agreed to buy carbon credits from a Malaysian fertilizer maker to help Japan meet its emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2007

Plan to move venerable Tsukiji market draws fire

Trucks transporting ice, fish and produce traverse a maze of narrow alleys, threading their way through throngs of visitors.
COMMENTARY
Jun 18, 2007

The first to save the planet

HONG KONG — Focusing on climate change, the most recent Group of Eight meeting, chaired by Germany and attended by five of the world's biggest developing countries, marked a significant step forward in a battle for nothing less than the survival of humanity on this planet.
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2007

Toward greener transportation

A compromise agreement at the Group of Eight summit to seriously consider halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 incorporates Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's proposal for halving the emissions by that year without setting a baseline year. Japan, the host of next year's G8 summit, must do its utmost...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 12, 2007

Japan's green strides belie spotty record

Last month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought a leading role in the fight against climate change when he proposed a global initiative to halve greenhouse gas emis sions by 2050.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2007

Strategic Economic Dialogue stumbles

The increasingly shrill dialogue between the United States and China over economic issues should sound familiar to many Japanese. A swelling U.S. trade deficit with China has led to demands by Washington for the revaluation of the Chinese currency, threats of trade sanctions from Congress, and angry...
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2007

Improving consumer lifestyle choices key to meeting CO2 goals

Consumer behavior holds the key to Japan's ability to fulfill its commitments under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming, as rising greenhouse gas emissions in the household and transport sectors make it increasingly hard to achieve the nation's goals, said participants in a recent symposium...
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2007

Shaking up Russia's Far East

LONDON -- If you Google "Vladimir Nikolaev," mayor of Vladivostok, 2007," you will come up with an interesting story about how he was recently arrested. You will also find stories about how he resisted arrest, but finished up in handcuffs.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2007

Local leaders undaunted by tough greenhouse goals

KYOTO -- Think globally and act locally may be a cliche. But as the ambitious goals set by participants of the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change demonstrated, local governments worldwide are feeling the effects of global warming and believe they can no longer wait on national leaders to do something...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2007

Local leaders OK post-Kyoto plan

KYOTO -- More than 100 local government leaders from 26 nations agreed Saturday to an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007

Get out of this world

Forget Hawaii, Hong Kong, Bali, Britain or Paris -- before too long your family vacation choices will include staying at space hotels or taking a 10-day spin around the moon.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2006

Doubts hamper hydrogen's spread

Despite the BMW Group's assurance that it has taken every precaution and covered the worst-case scenarios, many people still doubt the wisdom of using highly flammable hydrogen as a fuel.
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2006

Beijing loath to cast the fate of elections in Hong Kong to the wind

HONG KONG -- With Hong Kong having entered its 10th year as a Chinese special administrative region, pressure is building on Beijing to honor its promise of allowing full democratization of this former British colony. Opinion surveys consistently show that the majority of Hong Kong residents want to...
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 10, 2006

Ex-Giants skipper Fujita dies at 74

Former Yomiuri Giants manager Motoshi Fujita, who led the Central League club to two Japan Series titles, died of heart failure Thursday evening at a Tokyo hospital. He was 74.
COMMENTARY
Jan 9, 2006

Post-Kyoto wind picking up

The 11th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Montreal from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9, more than a year after Russia ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, thus enabling it to take effect last Feb. 16.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2005

Economic growth making emissions goal elusive

Japan may have difficulty reaching its greenhouse gases-reduction goal under the Kyoto Protocol if its economy grows at a pace of around 1 percent annually, according to a recent study by a team of environment experts from Japan and Britain.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2005

How London blitzed Paris for the Games

SINGAPORE -- London's winning bid for the 2012 Olympics at the 117th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Singapore came as a surprise July 6. The IOC voted 54-50 for London after Madrid, New York and Moscow were eliminated in the earlier rounds. French newspapers were already reporting...
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2005

Chirac sees his fortunes slip

PARIS -- After a majority of French voters handed President Jacques Chirac a defeat by voting no in a referendum on the proposed EU constitution, he kept his fingers crossed in the hope that Paris would be chosen to host the 2012 Games. You can imagine his disappointment when the International Olympic...

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?