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July 09, 2026
 

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ENVIRONMENT

The Eaton Fire, which ravaged part of Los Angeles in January 2025, was one of the most destructive wildfires in California history.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 14, 2026
Scientists confirm 2025 was third-hottest year on record
2025 saw a cooling phase in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, yet heat from greenhouse gases countered that cooling enough that the year still was among the warmest.
People involved in tree-planting activities under the profit-sharing afforestation program in March in Kagoshima Prefecture
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2026
Japan to quantify companies’ forest conservation efforts
The agency’s goal is to encourage corporate participation in forest conservation by making it easier for companies to gain recognition from customers and the market.
Chef Kiyoshi Fujimoto seasons bear meat at his restaurant in Sapporo in December.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2026
From predator to plate: Japan’s bear crisis sparks culinary craze
Although far from an everyday dish, bear has long been eaten in mountainous villages across Japan.
The United Nations headquarters in New York. U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered his government to withdraw from 31 U.N. entities.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2026
Trump withdraws U.S. from 31 bodies in U.N., already in fiscal peril
The U.S. leader also directed the government to cease participating in 35 non-U.N. organizations because they “no longer serve American interests.”
A bear warning sign is displayed in Shirakawa-go, Gifu Prefecture, in November.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2026
Japan sees record 47,000 Asian black bear sightings over eight months
The April-November figure nearly doubled from the previous annual record high of 24,348 marked in fiscal 2023.
A young local Fijian walks on flooded land in her village in February 2016. The ocean is nearing a dangerous tipping point, but 2025 marked a shift from incrementalism toward meaningful global action.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2026
A decisive year for ocean conservation
The ocean’s decline is not inevitable. It is our choice whether to deliver a healthier, more abundant oceans for future generations.
In Japan, key stakeholders, including corporations and industry groups, are working to make ESG investment a pillar of sustainable growth despite global headwinds.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 31, 2025
Japan strives to sustain ESG investment amid global retreat
Corporations and industry groups are pushing back against the global headwinds and working to make ESG investment a pillar of sustainable growth.
Women use a pipe to fill water from a bore well in a village in Alwar, Rajasthan, India.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2025
India’s water crunch brews risks for beverage giants
The challenges for the brewers in Rajasthan mirror a wider crisis across India, which holds 17% of the world’s population but just 4% of its freshwater.
In 2025, overlooked climate challenges included the warming effects of reduced pollution, stalled progress in green hydrogen and rising financing costs for renewables.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2025
Here’s the bad climate news you missed this year
The current renewables boom will need to prove those fossil plants superfluous, and quickly, if we want to stop them getting built.
Workers assemble new Nissan Leaf electric vehicles at a production facility in Sunderland, England, on Dec. 16.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2025
The positive climate news you may have missed this year
Much climate news is gloomy, but there are positive developments all the time — so many, in fact, that it’s easy to miss some of the things that have been happening.
An Eiffel tower replica statue is on display outside the United Nations COP21 climate summit in Paris in November 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2025
Ten years after the Paris agreement, let’s redouble efforts
France has reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 30% compared with 1990, including 20% between 2017 and 2024.
A container ship departs the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai. U.S. President Donald Trump's trade wars only serve to drive up global emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2025
Trade wars destroy the planet
If trade tensions reshape industrial structures in China and the U.S., the shift toward more energy-intensive activities will raise the weighted-average carbon intensity.
Dried out trees in a forest near Reiskirchen, Germany
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 23, 2025
How German engineers are building future-proof forests
Forest engineers are working on ways to future-proof forests in ‍North Rhine-Westphalia under a program that includes mixing tree varieties to build resilience.
Earlier this month, the central government announced plans to introduce a system that would require third-party organizations to verify the safety of megasolar projects before construction begins.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Dec 22, 2025
Hokkaido governor sharpens stance against megasolar development
Gov. Naomichi Suzuki’s decision to toughen up on the sector comes amid growing local backlash against several projects in Hokkaido.
U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in the city of Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, in 2023
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2025
U.S. military rejects Okinawa access requests over PFAS findings
PFAS have been found in nearby rivers and other sites, raising concerns about potential effects on drinking water.
This year Japan sweltered through its hottest summer since records began. Hundreds of people across Japan filed the country's first lawsuit against the central government on Thursday, seeking damages over what they call “unconstitutional” inaction on climate change.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 18, 2025
Hundreds sue Japan’s central government over ‘unconstitutional’ climate inaction
The 450 plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit say the country’s “grossly inadequate” response jeopardizes health and livelihoods.
Yamaha Motor President Motofumi Shitara said Wednesday that the company plans to release a 125 cc moped model that meets new emissions rules in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 18, 2025
Yamaha to launch 125 cc moped that meets new emissions regulations
Companies are working to develop new models due to the difficulty of existing mopeds with engine displacements of up to 50 cc to conform to the new rules.
Under the current law, storage is regulated only when scrap brought into yards is classified as “waste.”
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2025
Japan to introduce permit system for scrapyard businesses
The move is a response to cases in which environmental problems like fire and soil contamination were caused by improper storage of such scrap as used metals and plastics.
ANA Holdings are equipping its commercial jets with sensors to track gases like carbon dioxide.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2025
Passenger jets are Japan’s newest tool to track climate change
ANA and the nation’s space agency are accelerating efforts to use sensors mounted on commercial jets to improve the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions.
A Volkswagen T-Roc is loaded into a delivery tower at the German carmaker's plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, in November. Carmakers such as Volkswagen have pushed for an easing of carbon dioxide targets and fines for missing them.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 16, 2025
EU set to scrap 2035 combustion-engine ban in boon for car industry
Critics say an anticipated proposal to target reducing emissions by 90% instead risks undermining the EU’s green agenda and deterring investments in electrification.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Osaka trumps Tokyo as both ranked among world’s top 10 most livable cities
Osaka’s infrastructure earned higher marks than Tokyo’s in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.
Japanese teen arrested for booting users off streaming service
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly creating a malicious program and canceling subscription accounts on the Bandai Channel.
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Long-stalled maglev line finally gets green light from Shizuoka Prefecture
Environmental concerns relating to the construction of Central Japan Railway’s high-speed maglev line had contributed to years of delays for the project.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

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