Search - environment

 
 
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2003

Nearly 90% of fish in moat are native species

The Environment Ministry completed Saturday the netting of fish in an imperial moat in central Tokyo and, contrary to a 2000 survey, found nearly 90 percent of the catch to be native fish, not marauding foreign species.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2003

Zoo animal care rules get first update in 27 years

The Environment Ministry plans to update guidelines for how zoos and aquariums should care for animals for the first time in 27 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Cleanup of palace moat yields just two bluegill

Contrary to initial predictions, the cleanup of Ushigafuchi moat at the Imperial Palace that began Tuesday yielded just two small bluegill, government officials said.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 20, 2003

No taste for obesity

In the British cult comic 2000AD, future lawman Judge Dredd patrols the streets of Mega City One, a vast metropolis on the eastern seaboard of what was once the United States. Mega City One makes Tokyo seem spacious, and its residents make Harajuku's weirdest seem tame: One group of future misfits are...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 11, 2002

International ideas take shape in Lebanon

Though the word "symposium" comes from Plato's ideal of a drinking party held to facilitate philosophical discussion, most of us are familiar with its modern usage, meaning a conference or meeting. Few people, however, know about the sculpture symposium movement, started by Karl Prantl in Austria in...
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Pair of wetlands added to list of important areas

The Miyajima marshland in Bibai, Hokkaido, and Nagoya's Fujimae tideland were listed Monday by the Swiss-based Ramsar Convention Bureau as wetlands of international importance.
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2002

Lie back and think of . . .

In the early 1950s, neurophysiologist John C. Lilly conducted studies on the human brain for the United States government. To create an environment conducive to the observation of mental activity, Lilly invented the isolation tank -- an environment free of all sensory stimuli.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 10, 2002

Giving you something to stretch your head round

Modern American anthropology owes a lot to one man: Franz Boas, widely regarded as the father of the discipline.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 26, 2002

Ozone hole? Soon it could be . . . 'what hole?'

Despite the international set-to over Iraq and caustic reviews for the recent U.N. Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, there is still some good news on cooperation and the environment.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2002

Shiokawa wheels out ministry's latest tax plan

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa made a fresh proposal Wednesday to implement tax cuts of 1.5 trillion yen over a five-year period while simultaneously imposing tax hikes.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 12, 2002

Agreeing to disagree makes no sense at all

The deluge of posters, pamphlets and platitudes that roared out of Johannesburg during the 2002 Earth Summit has ended, though to no one's surprise this summit's conclusions were much the same as those of the first Earth Summit in Rio a decade ago.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2002

Summit should move toward people-based action: official

The World Summit on Sustainable Development currently under way in Johannesburg must move beyond rhetoric and commit to action if the global environment is to improve, according to a Foreign Ministry official knowledgeable about Africa.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2002

A new strategy for 'forgotten' Chernobyl

Almost half a world away, in a remote corner of Ukraine, a routine safety experiment at a nuclear power station went terribly wrong in 1986, resulting in what in human history became universally recognizable by a single word: Chernobyl. Hiroshima and Nagasaki should never be repeated, and it is up to...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Aug 26, 2002

Emphasize the beauty for grand objectives

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The best book on the modern Japanese political economy is the late Shigeto Tsuru's "Japan's Capitalism: Creative Defeat and Beyond," published by Cambridge University Press in 1993. Tsuru holds to the great original tradition of economics as a sub-branch of moral philosophy,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 25, 2002

Buying into the idea of saving the planet

It may not be intentional, but the new batch of ads by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. could be seen as taking advantage of the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, which opens in Johannesburg on Monday. In each TV spot, following energy-saving advice related to the use of air conditioners,...
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2002

Kato's concerts to push conservation at Earth summit

Tokiko Kato, a singer and United Nations Environment Program goodwill ambassador, will perform on two days later this month in South Africa to promote conservation efforts, organizers said Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Communities are offered cash to reduce pollution

The Environment Ministry plans to tackle global warming by paying community groups for their reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2002

Nature restoration NPOs also work to create jobs

A few nonprofit organizations are attempting to restore nature around the nation's lakes and mountains.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 21, 2002

Sailing in the world

Japan's area is less than that of California, though its economic exclusion zone takes in an enormous 4 million sq. km of ocean. The length of the coastline per sq. km of land is second only to Denmark, yet Japan's annual celebration of its partnership with the sea, Umi no Hi (Marine Day), rated hardly...
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2002

Poll finds deterioration at 17 public operations

The financial conditions of 17 operations conducted by government-affiliated public corporations have deteriorated despite government instructions to streamline, a government ministry said Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 27, 2002

Swimming against the tide of marine good sense

Several years back, the Fisheries Agency of Japan began claiming that whaling is necessary to protect valuable fisheries. The agency argues that if we do not kill whales, they will eat millions of tons of fish that are rightfully destined for human consumption. Since some whale populations are increasing,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2002

Nuclear taboo remains strong

Recent comments by leading Japanese politicians have raised international concern about Tokyo's nuclear intentions. Those fears are misplaced: Japan's nuclear taboo remains as powerful as ever. The comments do signal growing frustration within Japan's policy community over the need for a long-delayed...
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
May 26, 2002

Soccer coach for the intellectually challenged lets 'em play

After being made head coach of the national soccer team last August, Hiroshi Ohashi's first order was for the grown-ups to get off the pitch.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WHALE WATCHING
May 16, 2002

Legal mechanism flawed: wildlife expert

Japanese laws are ill-equipped to protect marine mammals and need an overhaul if these animals are to receive attention akin to their terrestrial counterparts, according to a leading wildlife expert.
ENVIRONMENT
May 16, 2002

Home sweet Nagoya Port home

It would probably come as a surprise to most Nagoya residents to learn that a sizable population of finless porpoises resides in the dark, extremely polluted waters of Nagoya Port -- even in its busy heart near Kinjofuto, the Meijo Bridge, the shipbuilding dock and among the enormous ships that carry...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 25, 2002

Japan: A land gone to the dogs?

Alex Kerr loves Japan as much as anyone, but he knows much more about it than most. With the publication April 25 of "Inu to Oni" (Kodansha) -- a translation of his book "Dogs and Demons" (Hill and Wang, 2001) -- Japanese, too, will be able to share his insight. As it says on the cover of "Dogs and Demons,"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2002

Peak attraction

When the cherry trees in the highlands of Nagano Prefecture start blooming, Hajimu Miyamoto of the Azumi Village tourist association begins to feel excited -- and a little nervous.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 13, 2002

Honda races to find environmental solutions in F-1 lab

Honda launched its third assault on the Formula One World Championship in 2000 after seven years away from the world's top tracks. So far, though, success has eluded it -- despite this year's massive $210-million budget, which -- according to Euro Business magazine -- tops the lot, with Renault second...

Longform

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