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This paper aimed at explore international ocean governance issues through the perspective of Japan's nuclear contaminated water discharge to the sea. This paper analyzes the core issue of Japan's plan to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the ocean from the perspectives of Japan's international legal obligation, law enforcement issues, and judicial issues after integrated analyzing academic research paper and cases. Japan has obligations such as timely notification, information disclosure, environmental impact assessment, and avoidance of transboundary harm. Intergovernmental and non-governmental international organizations, such as IAEA, IMO and WHO should play a role in setting up an international group of experts to carry out monitoring and assessment, and whose positions and attitudes are important references for judging Japan's behavior. Cases heard before ICJ, ITLOS, and advisory opinion proceeding could provide reference from the judicial perspective on the issue of transboundary harm and proof of damages. Furthermore, this paper discusses the response strategies that the international community especially the opponents may adopt, including promoting the adoption of relevant treaties, take a combination of requesting advisory opinion and file arbitration, establish effective international monitoring mechanism, and engage in close communication with stakeholders. • This paper explored international ocean governance issues through the discharge of Japan's nuclear contaminated water. • This paper majored in Japan's international legal obligation, law enforcement issues, and judicial issues. • This paper discussed the response strategies that the international community especially the opponents may adopt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floating marine debris (FMD) poses several threats to marine species, such as entanglement, ingestion, and the transport of pollutants. The Shiretoko Peninsula, located in northern Japan, is a registered World Natural Heritage Site and a biodiversity hotspot. However, FMD has not yet been thoroughly investigated in this region. In 2022, sighting surveys were conducted in Abashiri (west side of the peninsula) and Rausu (east side) to assess the abundance, composition, and distribution of FMD. The mean densities were notably higher in Abashiri, and there was more fishing-related debris in Rausu. Regarding local human activities, the population and number of tourists are higher in Abashiri, and fishing activities are higher in Rausu. While marine pollution is a global issue, our study suggests that addressing it should commence with community-based management at the local level., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study evaluated the distribution and abundance of marine litter on 30 beaches around Okinawa Island, Japan. Beach quality indices and multivariate statistical analyses were used to assess the quality of the beaches and their pollution patterns. A total of 11,626 items weighing 513.49 kg with an average density of 0.13 ± 0.10 items/m 2 were collected. Litter was dominated by plastics (81.72 %), broken glass (8.38 %), and cigarette butts (7.44 %), and 74.05 % of total litter was from land-based sources. Single-use plastics (SUPs) were present in all surveyed beaches and made up 30.54 % of the total litter. The clean coast index (CCI), plastic abundance index (PAI), and hazardous index (HI) were between 0.1 and 7.6, 0.1-4.0 and 0.01-1.42, respectively, indicating low to moderate levels of pollution of Okinawan beaches. This study should aid in the formation of strategies to deal with marine litter in Okinawa, other areas of Japan and the Asia-Pacific region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

NPPs (Non-phthalate plasticizers) are used as alternative plasticizers to phthalate esters, but there is limited knowledge on environmental residues, and they have not been reported in Japan. A method to analyze NPPs in seawater using solid-phase extraction was developed, and the residual burden of Diisobutyl adipate (DIBA), Acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC), Di-(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA), Di-(2-ethylhexyl) sebacate (DEHS) and Trioctyl trimellitate (TOTM) in seawater and sediment from the Osaka Bay was measured. Using an Oasis Max column and acetone as the eluting solvent, the recovery of the target substances in seawater is >68 %. In Osaka Bay, no NPPs were detected in seawater. On the other hand, ATBC and TOTM were detected in the sediment at 36-69 ng/g and 47-131 ng/g, respectively, from about half of the 14 sites, while DEHA and DEHS were detected at 83 ng/g and 181 ng/g, respectively, from only one site., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the research work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) in March 2011 seawater is still needed to cool the reactor cores. This water, contaminated with radionuclides, has been collected in tanks and treated on the site of the FDNPP. In 2021, the Japanese government decided to gradually discharge treated water into the ocean, which started on the 24th of August 2023 and will continue for the next 30 years. This paper provides a critical analysis of the models that were used in the different radiological impact studies. Based on the analysis, a hydrodynamic and a compartment models with a harmonized setup were used to estimate the impact of the discharge on humans and biota. Doses obtained with these two models were within one order of magnitude for humans (<0.1 μSv/year) and for biota (<10 -6  mGy/d) indicating that harmonization of the model parameters improved the reliability of the simulation results., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)