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December 22, 2024
 

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A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 21, 2024
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
Flowing more than 4,300 kilometers from the Tibetan Plateau to Vietnam, the Mekong River is the lifeblood of the region. It also faces a spiraling problem with plastic.
Food loss happens at food-related businesses including-food makers, retailers and restaurants, as well as at households.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2024
Japan drafts more ambitious 60% goal for cutting business food loss by 2030
The government hopes to require food businesses to change practices such as rejecting foods and beverages that are close to their best-before date.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visits the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Ishiba makes first visit as PM to crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant
The trip was apparently intended to demonstrate his administration's focus on revitalizing the disaster-hit Tohoku region.
In scrap yards lacking proper environmental safeguards, towering piles of scrap are at risk of collapse.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Dec 10, 2024
Japan to tighten regulations for electronic devices scrap yards
Local communities have expressed concerns over frequent fires and noise pollution.
Starbucks Coffee Japan will replace paper straws with plant-based biomass plastic straws from next month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2024
Starbucks in Japan to ditch paper straws for plant-based biomass plastic in 2025
The coffee company says the new straws are fully biodegradable in seawater and soil, and will not soften like paper ones.
Residents of Suttsu in Hokkaido attend a briefing session Saturday explaining a recent survey by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan in relation to building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 1, 2024
Locals uneasy after Hokkaido nuclear waste survey results
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) briefed Suttsu residents on research regarding volcanoes and active tectonic faults near the town.
Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, and microplastics have been found in air, fresh produce and even human breast milk.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 1, 2024
Battle over curbing plastic output jeopardizes U.N. treaty hopes
The hoped-for treaty could be the most significant environmental protection deal since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Environmental activists demonstrate in front of the convention center in Busan, South Korea, where delegates from around the world are seeking to reach a binding treaty against plastic waste.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 29, 2024
Showdown looms on plastic treaty days before deadline
With just two days of talks left, countries seeking an ambitious treaty urged delegations that "have not moved a centimeter" to make compromises or "get out of the way."
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2024
Tepco eyes second test removal of Fukushima nuclear fuel debris
As in the previous test, the operator plans to use a fishing rod-shaped device to remove the debris.
Plastic waste that manicurist Naomi Arimoto collected from the sand at a beach, is pictured at her nail salon in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Oct. 21.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2024
Japanese manicurist takes on plastic pollution, one nail at a time
Naomi Arimoto carefully sifts beach sand for tiny bits of plastic that she can mold into decorative tips to put on the false nails at her salon.
An employee of Trex stands with bales of used plastic, which the company recycles into decking material.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024
Can the world unite to end the plastic pollution crisis?
The rising toll of plastic in the environment is impossible to ignore.
Sacks of untreated and shredded plastic waste, left unattended, collect at an inoperative recycling site in Asan, South Korea, on Nov. 19.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024
South Korea's mountain of plastic waste shows limits of recycling
Seoul says that it recycles 73% of its plastic waste, but environmentalists say the real number is about 27%.
Akira Yamaguchi (right), president of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, hands the results of a survey, the first step to select a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, to Haruo Kataoka, mayor of Suttsu in Hokkaido, on Friday in the town.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2024
Nuclear waste body backs further Hokkaido disposal site surveys
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan has concluded it can move on to a preliminary survey that involves drilling work in Suttsu and Kamoenai.
Employees load a transportation box containing fuel debris into a container at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 7.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2024
Fukushima nuclear debris arrives at lab after secret journey
The announcement comes after operator Tepco said that a tricky trial debris removal operation using a specially developed extendible device had been completed.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako release young marbled flounder and red sea bream into the sea from the port of Beppu, Oita Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2024
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend annual marine convention
The emperor and empress later moved to the city of Beppu and released young marbled flounder and red sea bream into the sea from the port of Beppu.
Debris recovery equipment at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is seen during a public demonstration in May in Kobe.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2024
Nuclear debris from Fukushima reactor weighs 0.7 gram
The collected substance will be analyzed at four facilities for research toward full-scale extraction of nuclear fuel debris.
The Unit 2 reactor at Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2024
Tepco removes nuclear fuel debris from Fukushima disaster site
Radioactive debris was removed from the Unit 2 reactor at the plant and was placed inside a sealed container for transportation.
Interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in the city of Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2024
Japan's first interim spent fuel storage facility starts operations
The facility is scheduled to take in a total of eight casks by March 2027.
The top of the damaged No.1 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2024
Nuclear fuel debris extracted from Fukushima No. 1 reactor
Tepco retrieved a device holding a small amount of fallen debris from the containment vessel of the plant's No. 2 reactor as part of experimental removal work.
FamilyMart has introduced discount stickers with teary-eyed characters and the plea "Please help me" on near-expiration rice balls, sandwiches and bento boxes.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2024
FamilyMart trials sobbing discount stickers to help prevent food waste
The convenience store chain hopes the stickers will tug on customers’ heartstrings and encourage them to purchase items nearing their expiration dates.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Ride-hailing restrictions to be eased during 2025 Osaka Expo
A venue for the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka
Foxconn's interest in Nissan said to be on hold amid Honda merger talks
Foxconn’s pause in its pursuit of Nissan is the latest development in the unexpected emergence of two suitors for the ailing Japanese carmaker.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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