How Japan’s Media Ecosystem Is Fighting Climate Change |
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How Japan’s Media Ecosystem Is Fighting Climate Change
Hundreds of outlets across the country have joined the “I am the 89%” campaign.
A woman carries an umbrella to shelter from the sun as pedestrians cross a street in the Kabukicho entertainment area of Shinjuku in central Tokyo on July 29, 2025.
At a time when some US news outlets have retreated from the climate story, hundreds of news organizations in Japan are headed in the opposite direction.
Inspired by Covering Climate Now’s “89% Project,” every television network and station in Japan this spring began a two-year program of airing public service commercials pointing out that 89 percent of people in Japan support climate action, “so people shouldn’t be afraid to talk about it.” And talking about climate change, the noted climate science communicator Katharine Hayhoe often says, is an essential first step towards doing something about it.
Now 136 of Japan’s news outlets have gone further, joining a public awareness project called “I am one of the 89% who want to stop global warming.” Organized by the UN Information Center in Japan, the project aims “to make visible the voices of prominent figures and people from all walks of life who want to stop global warming, and to amplify them into a collective voice of society.”
Many of the biggest names in Japan’s news media are taking part, including three CCNow partners: the newspapers Asahi Shimbun and Hokkaido Shimbun and the public broadcasting service NHK. Other participants include the newspapers........