Japan zoo makes wild fashion statement with lion-ripped jeans
A Japanese zoo has taken the catwalk to a wild new level, using some of its fiercest inhabitants to rip and claw jeans to a fashionably distressed look.
Environmental news and related issues
Japan
Japan city launches legal bid to halt reactor build
A Japanese city was Thursday asking a court for an injunction to prevent a nuclear plant being built, in a country that remains deeply suspicious of the technology three years after Fukushima.
Fukushima operator restarts water decontamination system
Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Sunday restarted its trouble-plagued water decontamination system for the first time in three months, the utility said.
Japan ‘plans carbon offset scheme with India’
Japan is set to offer India a carbon offset scheme that would see Tokyo's environmental technology used by the rising Asian giant to help reduce its emissions, a report said.
Japan PM vows efforts to resume commercial whale hunt
Japan's prime minister told parliament Monday he would boost his efforts towards restarting commercial whaling, despite a top UN court's order that Tokyo must stop killing whales in the Antarctic.
New Japan satellite to survey disasters, rain forests
Japan is scheduled to launch a new mapping satellite on Saturday that will be used to survey damage from natural disasters and changes affecting rain forests.
Japanese car giants team up on green engines
Japan's eight carmakers have joined forces to develop environmentally friendly engines to stave off fierce competition from foreign rivals, a press report said Sunday.
Japan whaling town sued by dolphin activists
Animal rights activists said Thursday they had sued a major Japanese whaling town internationally condemned for its dolphin hunts for banning "foreign-looking" visitors from its whale museum.
Japan imports tonnes of whale meat from Iceland, Greenpeace says
Environmentalists on Friday lashed out after Japan imported 2,000 tonnes of frozen whale meat from Iceland, in what they say is continued defiance of world opinion over the hunting of the mammals.
Japan kicks off first whale hunt since UN court ruling
A Japanese whaling fleet left port Saturday under tight security, marking the first hunt since the UN's top court last month ordered Tokyo to stop killing whales in the Antarctic.
Sixty percent of Japanese support whale hunt
Sixty percent of Japanese people support the country's whaling programme, but only 14 percent eat whale meat, a new poll showed Tuesday.
Japan will continue scientific whaling in Pacific: reports
Japan has decided to continue its whaling programme in the Pacific Ocean, reports said Friday, despite losing a United Nations court case on its other "research" hunt in the Antarctic.
Japan lawmakers demand continued whaling
Japanese lawmakers on Wednesday demanded the government redesign its "research" whaling programme to circumvent an international court ruling that described the programme as a commercial hunt dressed up as science.
Japan says no decision on 2015-16 whaling
Japan on Monday insisted it had made no decision on whether to resume whaling in the Southern Ocean next year, after a militant environmental group said Tokyo intended to evade an international court ruling.
Japan kills 251 minke whales in final Antarctic hunt
Japan killed 251 minke whales during the 2014 Antarctic hunt, in what is expected to be the last "research whaling" mission in the Southern Ocean after an international court ruling.
Japan whaling fleet returns from Antarctic
A whaling fleet anchored at a Japanese port Saturday after Tokyo said it would cancel its annual hunt for the first time in more than 25 years to abide by a UN court ruling.
Japan e-commerce giant Rakuten halts whale meat sales
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten said Friday it has told online retailers to stop selling whale meat after a UN court ordered an end to the country's Antarctic whale hunt.
Japan posts top growth in clean energy
Japan last year stepped up spending on clean energy at a faster rate than any other country, despite a drop in the world's overall investment, a study said Thursday.
Japan cancels next Antarctic whaling hunt after ICJ ruling
Japan said Thursday it was cancelling its annual Antarctic whaling hunt for the first time in more than a quarter of a century in line with a UN court ruling that the programme was a commercial activity disguised as science.