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August 15, 2024
 

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ENVIRONMENT

John Kerry at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021. Kerry, U.S. President Joe Biden's special envoy for climate, plans to step down from the Biden administration.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 14, 2024
John Kerry to step down as Biden’s climate envoy
Kerry, 80, plans to transition out of the U.S. government and help the re-election campaign of U.S. President Joe Biden, a report said.
Climate activists install a portrait of French President Emmanuel Macron at Trocadero Square in front of the Eiffel tower to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement, in December 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2024
We need to remain true to the pillars of green wisdom
While the Group of Seven countries bear the greatest CO2 responsibility, China, which is now the second-largest emitter in history, must be fully committed, too.
A Joshua Tree is seen as the York fire burns in the distance in the Mojave National Preserve on July 30, 2023. The year of 2023 was the hottest on record, with the increase in Earth's surface temperature nearly crossing the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2024
2023 declared hottest recorded year as Earth nears key limit
Climate change intensified heatwaves, droughts and wildfires across the planet, and pushed the global thermometer 1.48 C above the preindustrial benchmark.
Kotaro Seki, CEO of Ellange, in front of the truck that he uses to collect nets from fisheries
JAPAN / Society / OUR PLANET
Jan 7, 2024
Trash into treasure: Can fishing net waste be the future of fashion?
A pair of Japanese startups are looking to solve a problem for the nation's fisheries: What to do with old fishing nets.
Harvesting wheat in Punjab, Pakistan
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 7, 2024
Military men want to kickstart Pakistan’s green revolution
Islamabad argues that corporate farming is essential to ensuring food security for its 240 million people.
Cargo ships wait in the anchor zone to cross the Panama Canal from the Pacific entrance near Panama City, Panama, on Sept. 1, 2023. Ships have been waiting for days as the congestion to cross from both sides increase due to intense droughts in the country.
WORLD / Society
Jan 3, 2024
Saving the Panama Canal will take years and cost billions, if it’s even possible
Climate change-induced drought is limiting the number of ships on the waterway, which handles about 46% of containers moving from Northeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast.
Paper pulp processed from used disposable diapers
JAPAN / Society
Jan 2, 2024
Graying Japan pushes to recycle disposable diapers to curb waste
The amount of diaper waste grew to 2.2 million tons in fiscal 2020. While efforts are being made to recycle them, high costs remain a hurdle.
Though ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, it was really in 2023 that we started to get a sense of what large language models could do, including diagnosing complex medical issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2023
The 10 most intriguing science breakthroughs over the past year
As 2023 has drawn to a close, let’s look back on some of the astounding breakthroughs we’ve seen in the last 12 months.
A Khudi Bari tiny home in Char Shildaha, Bangladesh
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2023
Bangladesh's tiny houses tackle giant flood challenge
The Khudi Bari — resilient tiny homes made on bamboo stilts rising out of the floodwaters that are also easy to move to safer locations when needed — offers hope to millions.
Workers plow a field at the site of an economic land concession outside Praeus K'ak village in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province on Dec. 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 24, 2023
'Doom for forests': Fears over new Cambodia land grants
Thousands are affected by economic land concessions (ELCs) — land grants to businesses that experts say have driven deforestation and dispossession.
A field study by elementary school students takes place in the Izawa River basin in Shiso, Hyogo Prefecture.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 24, 2023
Unveiling Shiso, a hidden gem of nature and coexistence
With 90% of its area covered by forest, the Hyogo city boasts picturesque streams and a bounty of access points to refreshing natural spring water.
Sacks of coffee beans at a storage unit in the Sidama region of Ethiopia.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023
Coffee firms switch sources, evading impact of EU deforestation law
Under the new law, importers of various commodities and products that use them must prove goods did not originate from deforested land.
Customers browse through items sold as part of the Uniqlo Pre-owned Clothes Project at the brand's Harajuku store in Tokyo in October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2023
Japan revisits used garments as inflation adds to fashion appeal
Awareness of the sector's huge environmental impact has yet to spark much interest in secondhand options in the world third-biggest clothes market.
Michael Bloomberg, U.N. special envoy for climate ambition and solutions, speaks during a summit on methane and other greenhouse gases at COP28 in Dubai on Dec. 2.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2023
What did COP28 achieve?
With pledges to cut methane, among other achievements, COP28 may have helped reduce the costs of decarbonization — an essential stepping stone.
Researchers prepare to conduct a mapping survey of a reforested area on a hillside near Chiang Mai, Thailand.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 18, 2023
In Thailand, drones help solve forest carbon capture riddle
Drones are part of an increasingly sophisticated arsenal used by scientists to understand forests and their role in the battle against climate change.
China's heating supplies are facing their biggest test of the winter so far as snow and frigid air descend on northern parts of the country, putting the electricity grid under huge pressure.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 17, 2023
Parts of China gripped by record-low temperatures as icy snap intensifies
President Xi Jinping called for an "all-out" emergency response to the cold snap that began at the start of the week.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the start of a bilateral meeting in Tokyo on Saturday
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 16, 2023
Japan-ASEAN summit aims to advance 'security cooperation'
Japan is also expected to use the summit to push energy cooperation as it seeks to export emissions-reducing tech that critics have questioned.
An exhibition on marine life at COP28 in Dubai. The conversation around oceans and climate change was not the main focus of the conference, despite the key role oceans play in absorbing carbon.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2023
COP28, didn't the oceans deserve more attention?
Oceans are key to mitigating climate change and severely impacted by it. Yet they didn't take center stage at COP28 — though some progress was made.
Climate activists protest against fossil fuels at the COP28 conference in Dubai on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 14, 2023
'Many will die': Climate scientists slam COP28's limited ambition
Last-minute compromises on wording described as 'devastating' and a 'death knell' for averting the worst impacts of long term planetary heating.
Japan is aiming to boost renewable power capacity to help achieve its 2050 goal of becoming carbon neutral.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2023
Three groups picked for second round of offshore wind power tender
Japan's offshore wind power market is set to grow as the government aims to have 10 gigawatts of offshore wind farm deals by 2030.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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