Alligator weed, sometimes called one of the worst invasive plants on Earth, has been spreading through rice paddies and waterways in Japan. Here's what makes it so hard to stop, and how it was first traced to a paddy in Okayama Prefecture.

Canadian researchers photographed the faint light that mice and plants give off — a glow that grows under stress and vanishes at death. What ultraweak photon emission might one day tell us about the health of plants and people alike.

We took one of our own ukokkei chickens to an official Japan Native Chicken registration review in Mie Prefecture. Here's what happened, and why this striking black-boned breed was designated a national natural monument back in 1942.

In May 2026, black bamboo in Nagoya flowered for the first time in roughly 120 years. Here's why this ultra-rare event was once feared as a bad omen — and why more people now see it as a symbol of renewal.

A trail camera left for 47 days in a bamboo grove in Mie, Japan, recorded 24 visits. Half were at night. The smallest animal in the footage turned out to be the one planting the oaks.