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July 04, 2026
 

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WHALES

Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 2, 2023
U.S. ignored own scientists’ warning in backing Atlantic wind farm
Marine scientists have warned that projects along the New England coast could imperil endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 22, 2021
Whale sightings aid quest to protect wildlife in Indian Ocean oasis
Scientists are on a quest to document whales and other marine mammals living around the Mascarene Plateau, hoping to bolster arguments for protecting the remote underwater ridge.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 30, 2019
Japan’s return to commercial whaling brings criticism from conservationists and praise from industry players
Following its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission, Japan will resume commercial whaling within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 1, 2019
U.S. biologists probe deaths of 70 emaciated gray whales
U.S. government biologists have launched a special investigation into the deaths of at least 70 gray whales washed ashore in recent months along the U.S. West Coast, from California to Alaska, many of them emaciated, officials said on Friday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 1, 2019
Russia orders firms to free captive orca, Belugas held in Far East ‘whale prison’
Russian authorities have ordered the release of nearly 100 whales held captive in cages in Russia’s Far East in a case that has drawn the ire of President Vladimir Putin, the public and international film stars, TASS news agency said on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2018
Japan’s sei whale meat sales deemed to be in violation of Washington convention
An international conservation committee ruled on Tuesday that Japan’s domestic commercial distribution of meat from sei whales caught for scientific purposes violates the so-called Washington convention and advised the country to take corrective steps.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 21, 2018
Proliferation of marine parks in China fueling shadowy trade in cetaceans
Eight beluga whales jump in unison out of a bright blue indoor pool, flipping their tail fins and spewing water as a packed audience cheers and snaps photographs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 8, 2018
200-year-old Mie puppet’s neck on the line as whaling ban makes crucial part scarce
Onyudo is a giant kimono-clad, long-necked puppet that has been preserved by residents of the Nakanaya area of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, for more than 200 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2018
Defying criticism, Taiji pushes forward with bold plans based on continued dolphin hunts
A few years back, the normally sleepy town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture was filled with activists furious with its traditional dolphin hunt, which was featured in “The Cove,” a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 17, 2017
Big and brilliant: Study links large size of sperm whale’s brain to complex social behavior
Cetaceans — whales and dolphins — are among the brainiest of beings. In terms of sheer brain size, the sperm whale is tops on Earth, with a brain six times larger than that of a person.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 17, 2016
Did Japan fudge the truth about whaling?
If you’ve been following the tragic farce that is Japan’s official stance on whaling, you’ll know that the arguments made by the country’s Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) to try and justify the hunting of whales have been soundly rejected. Japan maintains it needs to kill whales as part of a scientific...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 7, 2016
Exquisite dolphin fossils provide insight into evolution of ultrasonic hearing, echolocation
Fossils unearthed in a South Carolina drainage ditch are providing insight into the development of ultrasonic hearing in prehistoric whales, a trait closely linked to their uncanny ability to hunt and navigate using sound waves and echoes.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 3, 2016
Crab traps pose growing threat to whales along U.S. West Coast
A blue whale found tangled in plastic rope off California has become a symbol for a little-known but growing hazard faced by the ocean’s largest creatures along the U.S. Pacific Coast: commercial crab traps dotting the sea floor and drifting astray by the thousands.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 10, 2015
Fossil of carnivorous whale named to honor ‘Moby-Dick’
Don’t call me Ishmael. Call me “Albicetus.”
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 19, 2015
Taiji drops anchor on dolphin hunts despite increasing pressure
On the harbor road heading east toward Tomyozaki Point, there is a moss-encrusted monument dedicated to an ill-fated whaling expedition in 1878. Facing fierce westerly winds, the fishermen released their catch, a right whale and her calf, and tied their boats together with nets to bolster defenses, but...
WORLD / Science & Health
May 12, 2015
Blue whales, unused to dodging, at risk from ship strikes
Blue whales are vulnerable to cargo ship strikes because they are so used to being the largest animal in the ocean that they often fail to avoid the vessels, a Stanford University biologist has found.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2015
Taiji dolphin culls dealt setback
The world’s leading zoo organization announces it has lost patience with Japan’s continued use of dolphins from the fisheries drives at Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, and suspends its Japanese member from its roster.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 17, 2015
Longevity, genetics and the whale
The oldest person in the world — and the oldest ever Japanese person — is Misao Okawa. She lives in Osaka and is 116. She’ll be 117 in March.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 10, 2015
Modern technology aids whale research
In my last column of 2014, “Twelve ways to spend 2015 with nature,” I mentioned the possibility of taking a whale-watching trip to the Ogasawara Islands. Ignore the international media hype about the country’s pelagic whaling industry — it’s a dying custom; instead, focus on the fact that Japan has...
WORLD
Aug 8, 2014
California cargo ships to slow for whales under new program
The massive container ships passing through the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of Southern California will be paid a bonus of $2,500 per trip to slow down, in an effort to cut off-shore air pollution and reduce collisions with whales.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

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