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ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Jan 24, 2002

Eco-tours venture into forests and ‘forests’

By Stephen Hesse

Two weeks ago, this column introduced Stefan Ottomanski as an educator who thrives on uncertainty. However, he is the first to admit that he did not acquire this trait by choice: It is simply a necessity in his classroom.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

Jan 24, 2002

Twin peaks offer a double take on plants

By Gerard Taaffe

The summit of Mount Tsukuba in southern Ibaraki Prefecture has two peaks, one regarded as female and the other as male. Rising to 876 meters, with a shrine on the top dedicated to Izanami no Mikoto, the female creator deity, Nyotaisan is just 6 meters higher than Nantaisan, topped by a shrine to the...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jan 18, 2002

Great diving beetle

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Gengorou * Scientific name: Cybister japonicus * Description: This is a large, streamlined water beetle, highly adapted to an aquatic life. It is a powerful swimmer, with hind legs flattened like oars and fringed with long hairs. The body is green or black, with yellow-white bands...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Jan 17, 2002

Adapting to living when the mercury falls

By Mark Brazil

While you were tucking into roast feathered dinosaur (turkey) with all the trimmings this Christmas past, I hope you spared a thought for how other avians make it through the winter. While we humans celebrate in various ways to dispel the gloom of midwinter from the encapsulated warmth of our homes,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jan 11, 2002

Northern fur seal

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Kita-ottosei * Scientific name: Callorhinus ursinus * Description: Fur seals have bodies streamlined for life in the sea. They have four limbs (unlike dolphins and whales, which have only two), but the arm and leg bones are relatively short and are contained within the body. The hand...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

Jan 10, 2002

Plants for all seasons bring us midwinter cheer

By Gerard Taaffe

Little by little the days are starting to get longer, though with spring still a long way off this is a good time to do some armchair gardening. Whether you browse through gardening books or magazines, or search the Internet for your reading material, without stirring from your armchair there’s plenty...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Jan 10, 2002

Eco-tour program puts priority on people

By Stephen Hesse

First of two parts Stefan Ottomanski is a rare educator: He thrives on uncertainty and views obstacles as opportunities to teach both his students and himself lessons that were never part of the curriculum.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jan 4, 2002

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Akaushiabu * Scientific name: Tabanus chrysurus * Decription: This is a stout-bodied insect with huge, iridescent compound eyes (the eyes touch in the center in males but are separated in females). They have one pair of wings and are strong fliers, able to cover long distances. The...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Jan 3, 2002

Why do birds of a feather tend to flock together?

By Mark Brazil

“Flocks” read the sign outside the onsen, or so I thought. My bird brain immediately clicked into “Hey, an onsen for birders.” But why in remote Higashi Mokoto, Hokkaido? Surely it wasn’t “Frocks?” A women-only onsen? But no, men were most definitely welcome. So what, I asked, did “flocks” mean?

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Dec 28, 2001

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Nihon zairaiba * Scientific name: Equus caballus * Description: Hoofed animal that bears its weight on its central third toe. Its family, called the perissodactyls, also includes tapirs and rhinos. The first horse ancestor was doggish and dog-sized, with four toes on the front foot....

ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

Dec 27, 2001

Berries to bring cheer at the turn of the year

By Gerard Taaffe

The festive season is in full swing, and though it’s cold outside in the parks and gardens there are still plants that bring joy to our hearts -- few more so than the nanten (Nandinia domestica) with their profusion of attractive bright-red berries at this time of year.

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Dec 27, 2001

Resolve to raise a toast to thinking globally

By Stephen Hesse

With only days to go before 2002, New Year’s resolutions are in order -- in theory, anyway. Whatever we promise, one thing is certain: Resolutions, viewed from this side of Jan. 1, are always made with the best of intentions.

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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