
-
Pentagon watchdog to probe defense chief over Signal chat row
-
US tariffs could push up inflation, slow growth: Fed official
-
New Bruce Springsteen music set for June 27 release
-
Tom Cruise pays tribute to Val Kilmer
-
Zuckerberg repeats Trump visits in bid to settle antitrust case
-
US fencer disqualified for not facing transgender rival
-
'Everyone worried' by Trump tariffs in France's champagne region
-
Iyer blitz powers Kolkata to big IPL win over Hyderabad
-
Russian soprano Netrebko to return to London's Royal Opera House
-
French creche worker gets 25 years for killing baby with drain cleaner
-
UK avoids worst US tariffs post-Brexit, but no celebrations
-
Canada imposing 25% tariff on some US auto imports
-
Ruud wants 'fair share' of Grand Slam revenue for players
-
Lesotho, Africa's 'kingdom in the sky' jolted by Trump
-
Trump's trade math baffles economists
-
Gaza heritage and destruction on display in Paris
-
'Unprecedented crisis' in Africa healthcare: report
-
Pogacar gunning for blood and thunder in Tour of Flanders
-
Macron calls for suspension of investment in US until tariffs clarified
-
Wall St leads rout as world reels from Trump tariffs
-
Mullins gets perfect National boost with remarkable four-timer
-
Trump tariffs hammer global stocks, dollar and oil
-
Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI
-
Tate Modern gifted 'extraordinary' work by US artist Joan Mitchell
-
Mexico president welcomes being left off Trump's new tariffs list
-
Tonali eager to lead Newcastle back into Champions League
-
Lesotho hardest hit as new US tariffs rattle Africa
-
Stellantis pausing some Canada, Mexico production over Trump auto tariffs
-
Rising odds asteroid that briefly threatened Earth will hit Moon
-
Italy reels from Brignone broken leg with Winter Olympics looming
-
Is the Switch 2 worth the price? Reviews are mixed
-
Civilians act to bring aid to Myanmar earthquake victims
-
US trade gap narrows in February ahead of bulk of Trump tariffs
-
Stocks, dollar and oil sink as gold hits high on Trump tariffs
-
Arsenal defender Gabriel out for rest of the season
-
Trump says US to emerge 'stronger' as markets tumble over tariffs
-
Wiegman says Belgium games can aid England's women's Euros title defence
-
Prosecutors demand jail term for Ancelotti for tax fraud
-
Syria accuses Israel of deadly destabilisation campaign
-
Skiing World Cup champion Brignone suffers broken leg
-
Iconic Paris hotel Lutetia taken over by Mandarin Oriental
-
Nepal capital chokes as wildfires rage
-
AI could impact 40 percent of jobs worldwide: UN
-
Liverpool's Slot happy to let Premier League title bid take its course
-
Tesla sales fall again in Germany amid Musk backlash
-
Italy's skiing champion Brignone air-lifted to hospital after crash
-
Defending champion I Am Maximus heads final field for Grand National
-
Rubio says US committed to NATO - but tells allies to spend more
-
India eyes opportunity despite Trump tariffs hit
-
UK show reveals tawdry tale of Shakespeare folio theft
JRI | -1.48% | 12.85 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.73% | 22.665 | $ | |
BCE | 3.75% | 22.67 | $ | |
NGG | 5.41% | 69.54 | $ | |
SCS | -6.21% | 10.79 | $ | |
BCC | -7.84% | 94.65 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.2% | 9.8 | $ | |
RIO | -2.17% | 58.625 | $ | |
RELX | 1.18% | 51.59 | $ | |
BTI | 4.39% | 42.1 | $ | |
GSK | 3.72% | 39.095 | $ | |
AZN | 2.47% | 74.05 | $ | |
CMSC | -1.31% | 22.21 | $ | |
VOD | 2.82% | 9.385 | $ | |
BP | -7.76% | 31.376 | $ | |
RBGPF | -0.41% | 67.72 | $ |

Japan 'poop master' gives back to nature
When nature calls, Masana Izawa has followed the same routine for more than 50 years: heading out to the woods in Japan, dropping his pants and doing as bears do.
"We survive by eating other living things. But you can give faeces back to nature so that organisms in the soil can decompose them," the 74-year-old told AFP.
"This means you are giving life back. What could be a more sublime act?"
"Fundo-shi" ("poop-soil master") Izawa is something of a celebrity in Japan, publishing books, delivering lectures and appearing in a documentary.
People flock to his "Poopland" and centuries-old wooden "Fundo-an" ("poop-soil house") in Sakuragawa north of Tokyo, sometimes dozens of them a month.
There, in his 7,000-square-metre (1.7-acre) woodland -- about the size of a football pitch -- visitors get tips for open-air best practice.
"Noguso", as it is known in Japanese, requires digging a hole, a leaf or two for wiping, a bottle of water to wash up, and twigs to mark the spot.
The sticks ensure he doesn't use the same place twice and can later return to keep precise records of the decomposition process.
"Feel the back of these. Can you tell how soft they are?" he said, showing palm-sized silver poplar leaves picked from a branch.
"(It's) more comfortable than paper."
- 'Egocentric' -
Izawa is a former nature photographer who specialised in mushrooms before retiring in 2006.
His excrement epiphany came at age 20 when he saw a protest against the construction of a sewage plant.
"We all produce faeces, but (the demonstrators) wanted the treatment plant somewhere far away and out of sight," he says.
"People who believed they were absolutely right made such an egocentric argument."
He concluded that to alleviate his own conscience at least, outdoor defecating was the answer.
- Falling foul -
Toilets, toilet paper and wastewater facilities require huge amounts of water, energy and chemicals.
Letting soil do the work is much better for the environment, says Izawa, who believes more people should follow his lead.
Human waste -- more than other animals' -- can contain bacteria that are potentially harmful to the environment, and defecating outside is banned in Japan.
But since Izawa owns the forest around his centuries-old house, he has not fallen foul of the authorities.
He digs up old spots that he says show human stools are entirely and quickly broken down, unless they contain antibiotic medicines.
"Fungal activities degrade and transform things like dead animals, excrement and fallen leaves into nutritious earth, on which a forest grows," he says.
- Risky Business -
Izawa's iron beliefs have cost him dearly, not least his second marriage after an incident involving Machu Picchu, the popular tourist site in Peru.
He cancelled a leg of their honeymoon trip to the site after learning he would have to use the facilities.
"I jeopardised my wife and a trip to Machu Picchu just for a single 'noguso'," he says, laughing.
He believes that climate change and the growing interest in more sustainable ways of living may be winning him more attention, especially from young people.
Kazumichi Fujii, 43, a soil scientist at the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) in Japan, agreed.
"(It is) due to the Fukushima (nuclear) disaster, the Greta Thunberg movement... (and) distrust for the preceding generations and the desire for alternatives," Fujii said.
But Fujii warns Izawa that his methods may not be as safe as he thinks, particularly his habit of tasting the soil from Poopland to demonstrate how safe it is.
The city of Edo, as pre-modern Tokyo was known, used human excrement to fertilise farmland, but "some 70 percent of residents suffered from parasite infection," Fujii said.
"I must be seen as a hell of a freak," laughs Izawa. "But it is due to the human-centric society.
"In the whole ecological system, no other animal but humans use toilets...the human world is rather absurd to me."
He now strongly hopes that his body will also be decomposed in the forest instead of being cremated as is customary in Japan.
"I find the purpose of living in doing 'noguso'," he said.
A.Santos--PC