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July 27, 2024
 

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ANIMALS

Tan Tan was supposed to be sent back to China in 2020, but her return was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024
Japan’s oldest panda, Tan Tan, dies at 28
The giant panda leased from China lived in Kobe Oji Zoo for 24 years as a symbol of recovery from the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns says Japan's bears feel the pressure of human presence and have learned that encountering us is not worth their time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 30, 2024
Amelia Hiorns: 'Guiding and introducing people to Japan's nature has been rewarding'
Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns shares how separate interests in Japan and in bears culminated in conservation work in the mountains of Nagano.
An analysis of all the publicly available viral genome sequences yielded a surprising result: humans give more viruses — about twice as many — to animals than they give to us.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 27, 2024
Humans give more viruses to animals than they give us, study finds
Researchers looked at nearly 12 million virus genomes and detected almost 3,000 instances of viruses jumping from one species to another.
A new brain wave study published Friday suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of those objects.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 23, 2024
'Good boy!' Dogs do understand us, says new study
A new study published suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of those objects.
A cow is prepared for slaughter at a facility in Corbas, France.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024
Does religious freedom trump animal welfare?
The European Court of Human Rights found that protecting the welfare of animals is part of the legitimate government objective of protecting public morals.
Scientists on Wednesday identified what might be the genetic mechanism behind humankind's tailless condition — a mutation in a gene instrumental in embryonic development.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 3, 2024
People with tails? No, because of this ancient genetic mutation
The absence of a tail may have better balanced the body for orthograde — upright — locomotion and eventually bipedalism, said one scientist.
Director of the Akan International Crane Center, Miyuki Kawase, says tourism is incredibly helpful for the birds, but the people who come to take pictures of the birds have to remember they are still wild animals.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 24, 2024
Miyuki Kawase: ‘Experience, whether happy, sad or painful, makes you grow’
The director of the Akan International Crane Center in Hokkaido tells us how she found herself in a career centered around the symbolic white birds.
Specimen M831 stored at the National Museum of Nature and Science’s Tsukuba Research Departments in Ibaraki Prefecture
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Feb 22, 2024
How a 13-year-old discovered a possible Japanese wolf specimen
A new paper by Hinako Komori and two academics says a specimen she found could be one of two Japanese wolves kept at Ueno Zoo in the late 19th century.
A boat approaches a dead whale floating in Osaka Bay in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2024
More whales getting stranded in Osaka Bay amid global warming
A narrowing of temperature difference between the Pacific Ocean and Osaka Bay is resulting in more of the mammals wandering into the region.
A whale confirmed dead in Osaka Bay in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on Monday
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2024
Whale found dead in Osaka Bay to be buried on prefectural land
After being buried for up to two years, the skeletal remains will be offered as a specimen to the Osaka Museum of Natural History.
Giant African snails are unpopular among local residents and are referred to as an alien species that shouldn’t be touched, as they damage crops and sometimes hosts rat lungworms.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 19, 2024
Giant African snails mark 90 years of history in Okinawa
The snails, one of the world’s largest of the kind, are native to East Africa, and their shells can grow to as high as 20 centimeters.
A Banei Keiba horse race takes place at the Obihiro racecourse in Hokkaido on Dec. 9. The unpredictable stop-and-start drama of the world's slowest horse race has drawn new fans.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2024
'Suspense' of slowest horse race wins new fans in Japan
At the Banei Keiba races in Hokkaido, spectators cheer on workhorses moving at the pace of a brisk human walk.
Inspections by authorities found that puppies and kittens have been traded at younger ages than permitted by law, apparently because younger animals sell better.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 16, 2024
Birth date falsifications suspected for puppies auctioned in Japan
The Environment Ministry believes breeders altered dates of birth in order to put puppies and kittens up for auction even though they were too young.
Naoko Motooka began hunting 10 years ago. Her hobby is one way Hokkaido hopes to curb a current boom in the deer population.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 15, 2024
Hunting in Hokkaido; Taylor Swift comes to Tokyo
You probably don’t think of guns when you think of Japan, but Hokkaido’s hunters do.
Star Flyer began allowing owners to bring certain pets into cabins on some routes in 2022.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024
Haneda plane collision prompts discussion about pets on flights
Most domestic airlines ban the carrying of pets in airplane cabins, out of consideration for those with allergies.
Members of the police dog units of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department take part in a New Year march in Tokyo in January 2023.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024
How dogs have helped Tokyo police for over a century
The role of police dogs has changed due to the spread of DNA testing, security cameras and other tools of technology.
A sea turtle swims off the coast of Brazil. Sea turtles can migrate hundreds or thousands of miles.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Feb 14, 2024
Overhunting and habitat loss endanger migratory animals, U.N. says
One in five migratory species is at risk of extinction, according to a new report by the United Nations.
Clone piglets born Sunday with genetically modified embryos
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 13, 2024
Japan startup creates pigs with organs suitable for human transplants
Research in the field helped produce pigs that have a smaller chance of immune rejection by human recipients by manipulating 10 related pig genes.
A tsugumi (dusky thrush). Bird-watching increasingly plays a critical role in mapping bird behaviors and paving the way for policy and conservation initiatives.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Feb 11, 2024
How a new flock of bird-watchers is contributing to science
The hobby increasingly plays a critical role in mapping bird behaviors and paving the way for policy and conservation initiatives.
Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward is testing a project to fight rats using garbage bags imbued with the smell of herbs they hate.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 11, 2024
Tokyo ward using garbage bags with herbs to combat rats
Chiyoda Ward received around 200 complaints annually in fiscal 2019 to 2022, a surge from around 50 until fiscal 2018.
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
When did summer in Japan stop being fun?
Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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JNTO promotes sustainable tourism initiatives

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