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ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

Jun 13, 2002

Water, water irises everywhere

By Gerard Taaffe

For those who live in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, tsuyu officially began last week. Although in some years little or no rain falls in this rainy season, I personally always hope the heavens open to give some respite from the relentless heat.

ENVIRONMENT

Jun 13, 2002

Different folks have different remedies for strokes

By Laura Spinney

A popular explanation for recovery from stroke is that the healthy side of the brain assumes control of the functions lost from the damaged side. Most existing therapies are designed to encourage this transfer of function. Now, however, researchers in the United States are suggesting that the brain changes...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jun 7, 2002

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Togarinezumi * Scientific name: Sorex gracillimus * Description: The shrew is the archetypal small furry mammal, resembling the first mammals that ever existed. It has brown fur with a white underside, a long tail, small ears and eyes, and a pointy nose. Slender shrews are 6-7 cm...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Jun 6, 2002

Don’t go making a monkey of yourself, man

By Mark Brazil

Monkey, primate, ape; the terms slip so easily off the tongue, but just what do they mean, and how do they differ? And what does it mean to talk of New World and Old World monkeys?

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK

Jun 6, 2002

Why do forests flourish on fish?

By C.W. Nicol

Ever since I went on my first expedition to the Canadian Arctic in 1958 I have kept a notebook, and this habit is still with me. Now, with this column on the first Thursday of each month, you too, Dear Reader, can share in these jottings from over the years.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

May 31, 2002

Black soldier fly

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Amerika mizuabu * Scientific name: Hermetia illucens * Description: Black soldier flies look a bit like wasps, but they have no sting and are not interested in humans -- at least while we are alive. They are robust black flies about 15 mm long, with wings that lay over the body when...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

May 30, 2002

Puzzling over monkeys’ many ways of life

By Mark Brazil

It was a faint and far-off sound, barely audible, like the distant rumbling of thunder. Something about it triggered memories, and I asked skipper Mike to cut our outboard motor. Even with the engine off and my hands cupped behind my ears, head turning like a radar dish, I was still not absolutely sure....

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

May 24, 2002

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Komori-gumo * Scientific name: Pardosa astigera * Description: Wolf spiders are dark brown, predatory and fast-moving spiders measuring 7-10 mm long. Females may continue to grow after they are sexually mature. They do not spin webs like many spiders. They have eight eyes, in pairs:...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

May 23, 2002

Scientists petition Japan to lay down harpoons

By Stephen Hesse

Early this week, readers of the New York Times may have been surprised to find among its pages a full-page petition, in English and Japanese, signed by 21 eminent scientists, including Richard Dawkins, E.O. Wilson and Jane Lubchenco, and the Nobel prize-winners Roger Guillemin, Sir Aaron Klug and Alan...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

May 23, 2002

Dallying where daimyo strolled

By Gerard Taaffe

Next time you find yourself in Okayama Prefecture, down by the beautiful Seto Inland Sea in western Honshu, you could do worse than allow some time to visit Shuraku-en Park, a well-known historical garden in the Sanyo district of Tsuyama.

ENVIRONMENT

May 19, 2002

What the label doesn’t say

By Mark Brazil

Scandals about deception in product labeling have been in the news of late, with both the expiry dates and the origins of dairy and meat products called into question. While not as big a news item, the labeling standards for whale meat take deception to further, murkier depths -- and to dangerous ones....

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT

May 19, 2002

Whaling: A live issue over death

By Mark Brazil

Whales dolphins and porpoises, the aquatic mammals collectively called cetaceans, number less than 80 species, or fewer than 2 percent of all mammals. They are, however, probably the most talked about and written about of all wild animals -- despite being some of the most poorly understood creatures...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.

What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Restaurant list highlights Japan’s emerging contours

Restaurant list highlights Japan’s emerging contours

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