Recent data shows Japan posted a record high trade deficit of ¥6.93tn (A$73.16bn) in 2012. Japan is struggling with rising imports as it tries to replace the energy lost when it shut down of most of its…
In the aftermath of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Japan is phasing out nuclear power.
EPA/Julien Warnand
On 14 September 2012, the Japanese Government considered a new policy that excited many self-proclaimed environmentalists and anti-nuclear power protestors. Following intense political wrangling, they…
Exporting elephants from Laos to Japan could be the end of this Asian elephant population.
ElefantAsia
The 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan was undeniably a tragedy on many scales. Thousands killed, tainted agriculture, disappearing tourism and overall economic gloom. It’s little wonder the Japanese government…
Protesters in Seoul are right to be sceptical about the prospect of nuclear security.
EPA/Jeon Heon-Kyun
It could all be a fanciful face lift, a matter of pure appearance.
Behind the pretty face of a regulated nuclear world, the somewhat more lethal effects of meltdown and its associated dangers are concealed…
The true health costs of Fukushima’s radiation leaks won’t be known for decades.
AAP
A year can be a long time in politics. But for the radioactive particles released from Fukushima’s damaged nuclear reactor, a year is just a moment in their life of hundreds or thousands of years.
So…
The more we understand about earthquakes, the more we can do to reduce their impact.
EPA/Kimimasa Mayama
The magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku-Oki earthquake of March 11 last year was the largest earthquake in Japan’s modern history. In fact, it was the fourth-largest earthquake anywhere in the world since 1900.
The…
It is a year since the Fukushima reactor was swamped by a tsunami, knocking out the cooling systems and causing a series of explosions. A large area is still off-limits to the local people, with about…
The carpet of sludge and debris left by 2011’s tsunami wreaked havoc on paddyfields.
AAP
By Darren Plett, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics
Japan’s tsunami of March 11 2011 brought a wall of water laden with debris up to 5 kilometres inland from the sea. After the surge receded, the surrounding farming area was left covered in debris and…
We should be investigating all options if we’re serious about reducing emissions.
saturdave/Flickr
Australia aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 (compared with 2000 levels). This will be achieved by substituting renewable energy and gas for coal and adopting carbon capture…
We know how much damage tsunamis can cause, we need to know more about when and where they come from.
AAP
A year ago yesterday the Tōhoku-Oki earthquake and resultant tsunami hit the Japanese coastline, triggering the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster.
A year on, many questions are being asked about how…
Japan has lost its taste for nuclear, which means higher emissions and less energy security.
AAP
Recently, Jenny Corbett, Executive Director of the Australia-Japan Research School at ANU, sat down with Tatsuo Hatta, Professor Emeritus at Osaka University and a former President of the Japanese Economic…
Project: Quantify the benefits of decentralised, renewable energy production Cost: $3 million Timeframe: Three years
Burning fossil fuel causes CO₂ pollution. But organisations making profits from selling…
New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda faces major challanges.
AAP
Former Finance minister Yoshihiko Noda has become Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years after winning a leadership vote in the parliamentary wing of his Democratic Party of Japan.
Noda replaces Naoto…
Despite the clear benefits, Japan’s agricultural sector seems resistent to an FTA with Australia.
AAP
Prime Minister Julia Gillard was one of the first world leaders to visit Japan after the nation was stricken on 3 March by the earthquake-tsunami-radiation triple disaster.
But the Australian government…
The last 10 years have seen three of the seven biggest earthquakes ever recorded.
Tubbi/Wikimedia Commons
Since the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, there have been several major events, and a large number of magnitude-8 earthquakes – a cluster, it could be said, of large earthquakes.
The last time we saw this was…
Is earthquake prediction even possible?
Soe Than WIN/AFP
Why have so many lives been lost in Japan and New Zealand recently? And why have so many survivors – the so-called “lucky ones” – had their livelihoods and homes destroyed?
As a seismologist, I ask myself…
Is the nuclear industry facing unfair criticism?
AFP Photo/Don Emmert
Japan relies on nuclear power for about 30% of its electricity. It has few natural resources and imports large quantities of coal, gas and oil at an ever increasing cost. Some Japanese people are not in…
Should we be able to better “manage” extreme events?
Kimimasa Mayama/EPA
What lessons can we learn from the March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami?
Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing. We can, of course, question the wisdom of placing nuclear power plants in coastal locations…
