Japan is known as the biggest consumer of tuna. Be it raw for sushi or sashimi or fried, broiled or canned, tuna is an important element of the food culture.
But concerns are growing because tuna is disappearing, and this is putting Japan in a difficult diplomatic position.
How much tuna does Japan consume annually, and how does the rest of the world feel? Following are basic questions and answers:
How many types of tuna are there?
Read the rest of the story: Does Japan’s affair with tuna mean loving it to extinction?.

Tokyo’s first electric-powered taxis hit the streets on Thursday Two ‘Zero-taku’ (Zero-taxis), so called because the electric cars produce no carbon emissions, began picking up fares at JR Tokyo Station’s Marunouchi South exit after an inauguration ceremony. ‘If fully charged, we can drive to Yokohama, operator Hinomaru Limousine Co. boasted. The company’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp. i-MiEV electric cars can travel 160 kilometers on a fully charged battery. Fares start at 710 yen ($7.80) for the first 2 kilometers, similar to most taxis.

On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations.

Nano-Optonics Energy Inc., a closely held energy technology firm, plans to start producing electric vehicles next year, becoming the first non-automotive company in Japan to make the vehicles.

A factory site owned by Japan Tobacco Inc. in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, will be purchased as early as next March, Masayuki Naruoka, a spokesman for the Kyoto-based company, said today by telephone. The plan was announced yesterday by Shinji Hirai, governor of the western prefecture.

Bullet trains are generally considered to be those traveling faster than 180 mph (290 kph). Japan is home to the world’s first “shinkansen” and the biggest high-speed network, carrying 308 million people in the 12 months through March 2009. JR Central runs Japan’s busiest bullet-train line.

The UN-backed wildlife trade agency supports a call to stop cross-border trade in the fish when 175 member nations to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meet next month in Doha, Qatar.

Marine wildlife experts say that, despite fishing quotas, bluefin tuna stocks have plunged by 80 percent in recent decades in the Western Atlantic and Mediterranean, threatening the predator species with extinction.

Seeking to turn an environmental problem into an economic opportunity, high-tech companies in resource-poor Japan are mining mountains of toxic e-waste for precious materials.
One model project, the sprawling Panasonic Eco Technology Center, sits in lush rice fields an hour’s drive outside of Osaka city.
Inside, workers and humming machines disassemble flat-panel televisions, refrigerators and air conditioners, sorting their metal and plastic components into boxes for recycling.

About 90 percent of dismantled parts are reused in one way or another, says Yutaka Maehara, a manager at the plant.
Among the most precious parts …

Japan said Wednesday it would offer 1.75 trillion yen (19.5 billion dollars) to developing nations under a climate deal, offering a major boost to the summit in Copenhagen.

The figure amounts to more than half of the money as part of a plan to assist developing nations, a key sticking point at the 194-nation conference in the Danish capital.

Toyota plans to lease out 600 of the plug-in hybrids to governments and corporations in Japan, the United States and Europe and gain feedback.

It says it will start selling the plug-in hybrid at home and abroad in two years.

The five-seater has a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine and an electric motor. Increased capacity of the lithium-ion batteries gives it a longer electric-motor-only cruising range. Its plug also allows users to charge the batteries using household electricity.

Japan needs to step up and take a more prominent and visible leadership role at the U.N. climate talks or the conference could end in failure, Japanese and foreign nongovernmental organizations said Thursday.
The Copenhagen conference is supposed to forge a deal on greenhouse gas emissions after the first period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
With developed and developing countries still divided and a growing split within developing countries over some issues threatening a successful outcome at the conference, calls for the country where the protocol was forged to …