Japan will pay schools near the quake-ravaged Fukushima nuclear power plant to remove radioactive top soil and set a lower radiation exposure limit for schoolchildren after a growing outcry over health risks.

The Education Ministry triggered protests in April when it set a radiation exposure limit for children of 20 millisieverts per year, the same dosage the International Commission on Radiati

Japan, stung by international criticism of its handling of a nuclear crisis, will likely include foreign experts in a review of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, an aide to the prime minister said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has promised an eventual review of the crisis, in which cooling functions at the nuclear power plant in northeast Japan were knocked out by a 15

Japan opposes extending the Kyoto Protocol binding only rich nations to limit carbon emissions and will fight for a broader deal even if it finds itself isolated at U.N. talks, a senior official said on Thursday.

Nearly 200 nations will gather in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29-December 10 to try to agree on some of the elements of a U.N.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will unveil a plan to support developing countries in technology and funding to fight climate change at a U.N. meeting this week, Japan's environment minister said on Sunday.

Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has pledged to target a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020, despite opposition from industry, which says the goal will hurt the economy.

The target, more ambitious than the previous government's, is premised on a deal on goals being agreed by major nations.

Japan's target for a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 could include purchases of carbon credits from abroad, the country's new environment minister said on Thursday.

Japan's whaling catch in its latest Antarctic hunt fell far short of its target after disruptions by anti-whaling activists, the Fisheries Agency said on Monday.

Japan, which considers whaling to be a cherished cultural tradition, killed 679 minke whales despite plans to catch around 850. It caught just one fin whale compared with a target of 50 in the hunt that began in November.