Culture — CIK

Chill February 4, 2014

Obokata and the STAP breakthrough

My blurb from the video:
Congratulations to Obokata Haruko sensei.
She has developed a way to make somatic rat cells (or Mice) pluripotent again.
What does that mean? Well, that means that those cells can be made to develop into any type of cell in the body.

Last year the Nobel Prize went to the team at Kyoto University for the development of iPS cells, a similar result, but very complicated and somewhat slow process.

The S.T.A.P. (STAP) process is much simpler and has a lower incidence of the cells becoming cancerous.

Oh, and NHK, I don’t care that she had the lab walls painted, or what kind of apron or lab coat she wears. In the initial story, you shouldn’t either. If you want to do an in-depth interview or profile later, fine. But the focus should be on education and the accomplishment. And I shouldn’t have to explain that to you. #disappoint

Chill January 31, 2014

Osaka Rolls the Dice

Will Osaka be the next Las Vegas?
And will the same rules apply?

Will happens in Osaka have to stay in Osaka?
How will that effect those of us who live here?

Of course this all depends on whether the Diet will allow casino’s in Japan…
That seems to be where Hashimoto is betting…

Chill January 13, 2014

Now for something a little different…. Welcome to Japan…. Vale

I recently caught up to current with Welcome to Night Vale. But listening to a few episodes, I found a couple of things that fit, uncomfortably, with my day to day life. The one that really jumped out at me was in Episode 27 – First Date.

Cecil says, “Tuesday is a holiday. Make sure you have adequate emergency supplies and plenty of clear plastic sheeting. We’re not sure which holiday it is, so have all possible antidotes on hand.”

Which immediately brought me back to mid-September and when asked several Japanese people what the holiday was coming up, they didn’t know. (It was Respect for the Aged Day.) After that, I have begun to notice a lot more similarities between living in Japan and living in Night Vale. Not all of them match exactly, but they do seem to have strong parallels.
I’ll be doing more of these, probably at a rate of once a month or so until I run out of things to talk about. There is a bit of fiction in there to keep with the Night Vale feeling, but there is also a fair bit of truth.

Hope you like it!