Ota City is Japan’s Solar City. Three-quarters of the town’s homes are covered by solar panels. The panels are distributed for free. They are also a draw for new residents keen to minimize their power bills.

“We moved here because of the panels — it was something we wanted, but not something we could afford on our own,” said a resident.

Ota is located 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Tokyo and Pal Town is dubbed “Solar City”. The town received free solar panels from 2002 through a 9.7 billion yen state-backed study. Solar power is generally unreliable in cloudy Japan. But at high noon in sunny weather, a 4-kilowatt rooftop power generator can produce enough power to run a typical household. Cloudy weather cuts the power generated to less than half.

It is still not practical to implement the plan nationwide.

“People want solar power,” said an Ota City assistant section manager. That’s right! We want dependable, affordable solar power.

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Prince Charles is in Tokyo urging the world to fight climate change saying that,

“Given the current turbulence in the international financial system and the immediate and damaging effect it is having on the whole world, the credit crunch is rightly a preoccupation of vast significance and importance.

But we take our eye off the ‘climate crunch’ at our peril.”

The Prince thinks that the earth’s temps could rise by more than 6C by 2100, citing UN scientists. He didn’t mention, however, that the scientists aren’t sure what the temps will be next week. Elephants could fall out of airplanes, too.

I think the climate is changing. I think that we ought to be responsible stewards of Earth. I also think that there isn’t a whole lot we can do to change the weather cycles.

It’s kind of like giving $700 billion to Neel Kashkari and expecting him to change the tide of the world’s economies. That didn’t work either.

Image courtesy of petecarr

Polar bears on strike? Protesting the disappearance of the ice around them, asking the world to go green and showing them the way? I am not sure what these green polar bears are thinking, but these fellas at a Japanese zoo in Higashiyama central Japan are creating a ruckus among the Japanese.

Are they sick? Do they have mold? (this one made me laugh out loud.) Moldy polar bears?

High temps and conservation efforts, changing the water less often, caused algae growth in the bear’s bond. So, when they swam, they came out green. The algae goes to hollow spaces in the bear’s fur making it hard to rinse off.

Besides, “I look good in green,” says the papa bear. The color fades in November.

If only it were this easy to get the world to become greener and NOT have it wear off in the winter, eh?

A Giant Panda gave birth to a cub in Japan at the Oji Zoo. It was the first time in 20 years that a panda cub was successfully bred by artificial insemination. Two experts came from China’s Sichuan province to help with the procedure. Apparently the sexy panda videos didn’t work.

The last panda bred by artificial insemination in Japan was in 1988 at Ueno Zoo. The sex of the newcomer is not known. The little critter is just 25 cm long and weighs just 100 grams. (10″ 3.5 oz)

Parents are Dan Dan and Xing Xing. Panda’s in captivity often have low sex drive. I reckon I wouldn’t be too interested in doing “it” either if everyone was watching, would you?

China wants to lease two pandas to Japan’s Ueno Zoo since Ling Ling died but the doubters question China’s good will intention. Can’t have good intentions, now can we?

What do you think of helping animals to breed?

Who’s Looking at Whom?

Those guys down there look like bottom feeders.

Can you find Nemo?

Sky aquarium. Those are two words you might not find in the same sentence, much less right next to one another. There’s a skyscraper in Tokyo, Roppongi Hills that has an aquarium on the 52nd floor. The giant high-living fish tank has over 20,000 fish and 500 different species! Goldfish, Nemo! I don’t get it. Why not bury the skyscraper into the sea, call it a bottom feeder or something along those lines and keep the fish in their natural habitat? I think that was the idea of the fictional Atlantis. Maybe not.

Still, am I the only one wondering what the fish think when they look out of their fish bowl and down 52 stories? Or, am I just thinking too much? So, when have humans gone too far to try and mingle with animals? What do you think?

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Noise pollution can be expensive, especially if you are the owner of a U. S. Military Base in Japan. A court ordered the Tokyo government to increase compensation for hundreds of residents who must endure the noise from U. S. jets in the area. Guess who Tokyo is going to ask to pay. Tokyo’s high court says 257 residents deserve more than the Y190 million ($1.8 million) they have already been awarded. When the residents were informed, they said, “Huh?!”  The residents were already promised Y160 million.

The court rejected suspension of early morning and late night flights. The court says they have no jurisdiction over the military base and the suit wasn’t filed against the U.S. government…hint, hint.

Japan hosts some 50,000 troops who are accused of making too much noise, committing too much crime and causing environmental pollution. Not to mention the fact that the U.S. presence in the area is important for the balance of power.

Not wanting to be defeated by the ruling to not suspend flights, plaintiffs have pledged to continue to make noise until somebody listens to them.

“We will not be defeated by the ruling, but will continue to raise our voice until it is heard.”

“Huh!?”

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Tokyo will be hosting its 21st International Film Festival from October 18th-26th. Not wanting to be outdone by filmmakers across the big pond to the east, can you say Hollywood?, TIFF has a green theme - “Action! for Earth.” Protection and preservation of the environment will be the common theme of films that are exhibited during the week long event. No red carpet this year either. It’ll be green! That will surely save the world.

 “One of the most urgent problems we now face is protecting the Earth’s environment,” said a press statement. “While many individual films have grappled with how to sustain our environment, no international film festival has yet stopped to champion this issue.”

The festival will take place in Roppongi and Shibuya districts, two areas of Tokyo that probably consumes more energy in a week than all of India does in a year. TIFF says, “We hope that our ideas will resonate far beyond the film community, contributing to the global conversation on our planet’s future.”

We hope they will show their movies using renewable energy sources or not show them at all.

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If trees in Tokyo could speak, at least one would say, “This is my space. Get out, or I’ll eat you up.” The problem, of course, is in the digestion. What’s the tree going to do with the waste product? Okay, that might be a little bit too graphic to think about. Still…

The Japanese says in the box at the top right “The tree ate the guardrail? The city is famous for this? What’s up with that? A kind of wrapped sushi?”

The text - “Complete, eh? The tree is all the way around the guard rail.”

Yeah, what if the living things on our planets all fought back against our invasion like this?

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Tokyo passed a mandate for large office buildings, shops, hotels, universities and factories to cut their CO2 emissions. About 1,300 establishments which use 1,500 kiloliters of crude per year will be affected. The hope is to reduce energy consumed by 15-20% by 2020. Tokyo creates about 4.5% of Japan’s overall CO2 emissions, and these 1,300 businesses are responsible for about 40% of that total.

Tokyo’s governor says, ”I want Tokyo to take the lead in efforts against global warming in Japan.” The plan will take affect in 2010 and each company affected will be required to submit a five-year plan. For those who can’t make the grade, emissions quotas can be purchased. Cut their energy use down or pay up. In Japan the feeling is somewhat, if it’s good for Tokyo, it’s good for the country. We’ll see.

In the meantime, why doesn’t every major city in the world follow suit?

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“Cool it!”

If somebody doesn’t tell the Japanese to “Cool it” they won’t.

The hardworking and diligent in the land of the rising sun will don a suit and tie, sweat bullets and otherwise maintain their appearance until the cows come home unless someone tells them it’s okay to do otherwise.

It’s okay!

Japan’s Environment Minister participated in a fashion show at Tokyo’s Midtown.

The emphasis - it’s okay to take your tie off. But keep those coats on, dang it!

It doesn’t matter what the temps go up to, you here!

Gotta love Japan. Gotta love the way they keep up appearances.

Gotta love those products they churn out even more, eh?