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In this handout from the Japanese Defense Agency, personnel are seen clearing sarin off platforms after the 1995 gas attack on Tokyo's subways.

Environment

A Terrorist Attack Led Japan to Remove All Its Trash Cans. Now They’re Making a Comeback.

Public waste bins were largely removed from Japanese cities following the 1995 sarin gas attacks, leading residents to adapt to some particularly stringent waste disposal practices.

Allan Richarz

Stickers are made available to voters who cast a ballot in the mid-term elections at the Polk County Election Office on October 8th, 2018, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Social Justice

Why Are American Elections so Long?

Long campaigns cause candidates to prioritize fundraising, but shorter ones favor party-line voting.

Seth Masket

Economics

High-Speed Rail Helped Keep Housing Affordable in Japan. Could It Do the Same for California?

A new study looks at how Japan's investment in rail has affected the country's real estate prices, and what that might—or might not—mean for Californians.

Joe Eaton

Environment

Could the Reintroduction of Wolves Help Save Japan’s Forests?

A large chunk of the country's forests were harmed in 2015 by wildlife—77 percent due to deer. Bringing back an apex predator could help staunch the bleeding.

Dan Zukowski

Viewfinder: Fishing for Ayu in Japan

Cormorant fishermen use sea cormorants to catch sweetfish on October 9th, 2018, in Gifu, Japan.

Pacific Standard Staff

PS Picks: Echoes of History in ‘Heart Mountain’

PS Picks is a selection of the best things that the magazine's staff and contributors are reading, watching, or otherwise paying attention to in the worlds of art, politics, and culture.

Rebecca Worby

People affected by the recent flooding rest at a makeshift shelter in Mabi, Okayama prefecture, Japan, on July 11th, 2018.

News in Brief

Viewfinder: A Makeshift Shelter During Severe Floods in Okayama

People affected by the recent flooding rest at a makeshift shelter in Mabi, Okayama prefecture, Japan, on July 11th, 2018.

Pacific Standard Staff

Environment

‘The Earth Is Humming’: How to Prepare a Society for Natural Disaster

A conversation with Garrett Bradley about her new documentary, and what America can learn from Japan.

Kate Wheeling

Workers continue the decontamination and reconstruction process at the Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on February 25th, 2016, in Okuma, Japan.

Dispatches: Obama’s Science Adviser on Responding to the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

News and notes from Pacific Standard staff and contributors.

Francie Diep

A protester is removed by police officers during a sit-in to block construction vehicles working on the expansion of Camp Schwab, a United States military base, on May 31st, 2018, in Nago, Okinawa prefecture, Japan. Demonstrators protesting against the U.S. military presence on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa have staged continuous protests outside Camp Schwab to block construction vehicles as the camp is expanded to accommodate the relocation of an airbase in nearby Henoko.

News in Brief

Viewfinder: Okinawa Residents Protest Against U.S. Military Presence

A protester is removed by police officers during a sit-in to block construction vehicles working on the expansion of Camp Schwab, a United States military base, on May 31st, 2018, in Nago, Okinawa prefecture, Japan.

Ashley Hackett