Tag - pollution

 
 

POLLUTION

Lawyers representing plaintiffs of a lawsuit demanding damages after being rejected from a special Minamata disease relief program as sufferers of the disease hold up signs in front of the Osaka District Court on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 27, 2023
Court recognizes 128 plaintiffs as Minamata disease sufferers
Presiding Judge Yuki Tatsuno ordered that ¥2.75 million in damages be paid to each of the 128 people who sued the central government.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2023
Solomon Islands leader 'appalled' by Japan on Fukushima water
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare warned of effects on his South Pacific archipelago.
Ali Zaidi, the White House climate adviser, at a climate rally outside the White House, in Washington on April 23, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 22, 2023
U.S. government shutdown poses ‘seismic’ threat to climate
A shutdown would mean many federal regulators would have to stop writing marquee Biden administration environmental regulations.
Commercial fishermen form the word "SOS" to spread the message about ocean acidification caused by fossil fuel emissions, in Homer, Alaska, in 2009. Ocean acidification is one of nine planetary boundaries that determine life on Earth.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Sep 14, 2023
Humanity pushing Earth far beyond 'safe operating space': study
Six of nine planetary boundaries — within which the world is livable for most species, including our own — are already deep in the red zone.
Asep Muizudin Muhamad Darmini was recently discharged from a hospital in Jakarta after being treated for a respiratory illness caused by the city's air pollution.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2023
Breathless Indonesians irate over pollution crisis in Jakarta
Air pollution is hardly a new phenomenon in the city, but monitors and activists say the effects have been even worse than usual this year.
Young villagers gather on the black sand beach in the village of Waisisi in Tanna, Vanuatu.
ENVIRONMENT / Oceans
Sep 11, 2023
Sinking islands turn to court as they fight for climate survival
The latest legal push comes amid frustration among island states and developing nations that the world is addressing global warming too slowly.
An activist in Seoul protests Japan’s plan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 7, 2023
Anger at Fukushima’s wastewater; hope in its renewables
Good news and bad news out of Fukushima.
Packs of raw fish at a Japanese food store in Beijing prior to China's ban on Japan's seafood products
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 6, 2023
China takes its anti-science disinformation campaign to a new level
Japan can counter China's disinformation on the safety of the Fukushima water release, and gain people's trust, by sharing the data.
Journalists tour the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the tanks that contain contaminated water on Aug. 27
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 6, 2023
We need to put low-dose radiation into perspective
Public fear of the effects of low-dose radiation isn’t backed by science. The Fukushima water release shows, once again, that better education is needed.
Environmental activist Yakov Demidov inspects a landfill on the outskirts of Penza, Russia.
WORLD / Society
Sep 1, 2023
Russian teen eco-activists fight for future as risks mount
Environmental groups in Russia not linked to the government have long faced pressure from authorities.
At Beijing’s Jingshen Seafood Market, sales of Japanese maritime products are now banned — just as they are elsewhere in the country.
EDITORIALS
Sep 1, 2023
China is about to get a lesson in the limits of economic coercion
Most governments in Asia are relying on science to guide their responses to the Fukushima water release.
Fisheries minister Tetsuro Nomura apologizes at the ministry on Thursday after calling treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant "contaminated."
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 1, 2023
Fisheries minister under fire for ‘contaminated water’ gaffe
“Contaminated water” is the expression used by China, and Japan has been extremely critical of Beijing's labeling.
Visitors at the Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo on Aug. 25
JAPAN / Society
Sep 1, 2023
China banned seafood from Japan. Some tourists are eating it in Tokyo.
Travelers from China seem largely unfazed despite the ban, with many local seafood restaurants seeing little impact so far.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida eats fish from Fukushima Prefecture at a luncheon on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2023
Kishida eats 'safe and delicious' Fukushima fish
"This is very good," Kishida said as he chewed on a slice of flounder sashimi, calling on viewers to enjoy Japanese seafood.
A sign reading "suspend the sale of all fish products imported from Japan" in an area of Japanese restaurants in Beijing
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2023
China’s actions on Japan and religion are cut from the same cloth
Beijing’s stoking of anti-Japanese sentiment based on unscientific accusations mirrors its suppression of religious freedom in Xinjiang.
People sit on a rail track as smoke rises from steel mills near a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 30, 2023
Air pollution now a risk to life expectancy in South Asia: study
Rapid industrialization and population growth have contributed to declining air quality in South Asia.
People protest after Japan moved to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the sea, in Hong Kong on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 28, 2023
Japan urges China to rein in harassing calls over Fukushima water
The calls, which sometimes numbered in the hundreds for certain targets, were made to businesses, schools and government offices.
Seawater sampling operations near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant after treated water was discharged into the ocean on Friday
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 27, 2023
More tests show radiation levels of Fukushima seawater remain below limits
Tokyo hopes what it says is a transparent release of data will serve as a strong rebuttal to claims by Beijing that the discharge is dangerous.
Customers shop at a seafood market in Beijing on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2023
Russia hopes to raise seafood exports to China after Japan ban
Russia is already one of the biggest marine product suppliers to China, with 894 Russian companies allowed to export seafood.
People buy salt in Daoxian, China, in this screenshot obtained from a social media video released on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2023
China says salt supply ample as Fukushima prompts panic buying
The nation can produce 50 million tons of salt that is used in food each year, much higher than annual consumption of around 12 million tons.

Longform

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