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Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

Apr 25, 2002

Savor ‘Buddha’s spirit’ kept secret for a century

By Gerard Taaffe

The Arashiyama area in western Kyoto along the banks of the Katsura River is famous for its cherry blossoms in spring and its glorious autumn foliage. Until this month, a less popular attraction had been the gardens of Hogonin Temple, a sub-temple of Tenryuji Zen Temple -- largely because they had been...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Apr 25, 2002

Japan: A land gone to the dogs?

By Stephen Hesse

Alex Kerr loves Japan as much as anyone, but he knows much more about it than most. With the publication April 25 of “Inu to Oni” (Kodansha) -- a translation of his book “Dogs and Demons” (Hill and Wang, 2001) -- Japanese, too, will be able to share his insight. As it says on the cover of “Dogs and Demons,“...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Apr 19, 2002

Copperhead snake

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese Name: Nihon mamushi * Scientific name: Agkistrodon blomhoffii * Description: Copperheads are reddish-brown, coppery colored snakes of the viper family. They have thick bodies, 40-70 cm long, with chestnut-brown rings. * Where to find them: In forests and surrounding farmland, from Hokkaido...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Apr 18, 2002

Back when the Badlands were lush

By Mark Brazil

Drive west from Calgary and rolling foothills dotted with aspen and white spruce rise steadily toward the mighty ridgeback of the Rockies, which dominate the view in this part of Canada’s Alberta Province.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Apr 12, 2002

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Zatokujira * Scientific name: Megaptera novaeangliae * Description: Measuring 12-14 meters, weighing 25-30 tons and with flippers up to 5.5 meters long, the humpback whale is unmistakable. It is black, with white patches on the flippers, which may also be encrusted with barnacles....

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

Apr 11, 2002

Trip through time at Tokyo’s verdant royal hub

By Gerard Taaffe

The Imperial Palace grounds are, without doubt, Tokyo’s green heart. Located inside a 6.4-km ring of walls and moats that were once the inner defensive perimeter of Edo Castle, this verdant oasis now covers 115 hectares in all, with evergreen woodlands overlooking the moats and creating a very special...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Apr 11, 2002

NGOs and odd bedfellows point the way

By Stephen Hesse

Back in the 1960s, plastics were the future. As a result, a significant part of that future will be spent cleaning up after the past. So here is a tip for those of you making plans to help save the Earth: Consider a career in environmental economics. And if you’re already working as an environmentalist,...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Apr 5, 2002

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Shojobae * Scientific name: Drosophila melanogaster * Description: This is a tiny (3-mm) fly, with red eyes and one pair of wings. It is almost too small to notice, yet the fruit fly is one of the world’s most important organisms. Study of the fruit fly led directly to the science...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH

Apr 4, 2002

‘Park on a possum’ is far easier said than done

By Mark Brazil

Back in 1848, some bright spark had a “good” idea. Let’s import common brush-tailed possums from Australia and fur-farm them in New Zealand, they thought. They followed up on that idea with action -- action that New Zealand’s environment has been paying for ever since.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Mar 29, 2002

By Rowan Hooper

* Japanese name: Aka mimizu * Scientific name: Lumricus rubellus * Description: An earthworm’s body consists of a tube within a tube. The inner tube is a digestive tract, the outer is segmented and muscular. Between the two are reproductive organs, and running the length of the body is a simple nervous...

ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH

Mar 28, 2002

Insights from alumni are just one perk of the job

By Stephen Hesse

As a university professor, March ought to be a pleasure. There are no classes and few meetings. It is, though, a bittersweet month. Students who have become an integral part of the fabric and rhythm of my life are graduating. Most of the names and faces will fade, but many will be remembered, and a few...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL

Mar 28, 2002

Zen gardens wondrous to behold, and not

By Gerard Taaffe

I like nothing better than to go and explore gardens and to let my imagination ponder on what’s to be seen. Kyoto has plenty of places just waiting to be discovered, and the best way to go and see its gardens and temples is either on foot or by local bus.

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

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

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