Japón

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Efemérides de Cultura para el 8 de agosto

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Estados Unidos/Agosto de 2016/Terra

Un 8 de agosto nacieron personajes de la Cultura como el compositor André Jolivet, el saxofonista Benny Carter y el escritor Alberto Granado; murieron el pintor Alonso Sánchez Coello, la escritora Shirley Jackson y el compositor Peter Sculthorpe.

1512.- El conquistador español Hernán Cortés entra a la Ciudad de México y es recibido por el emperador Moctezuma II.

1588.- Muere el pintor español Alonso Sánchez Coello, reconocido como el más destacado retratista del Renacimiento en su país y el primero en especializarse en el género. Entre sus obras destacan «Retrato al Rey Felipe II», «El Espinar» y «El colmenar viejo». Nace en 1531.

1646.- Nace el pintor británico Godfrey Kneller, quien trabajó como pintor de la corte para varios reyes ingleses. Muere el 19 de octubre de 1723.

1857.- Nace la pianista y compositora francesa Cécile Chaminade, quien realizó numerosas giras de conciertos, sobre todo en Inglaterra. Autora de «Trío para piano op. 11», la sinfonía lírica «Les Amazones» y «Sonata para piano op. 21». Muere el 18 de abril de 1944.

1879.- Nace el líder campesino mexicano Emiliano Zapata, una de las figuras más importantes de la Revolución Mexicana. Muere asesinado el 10 de abril de 1919.

1891.- Nace el violinista alemán Adolf Busch, autor de la «Suite para clarinete bajo o clarinete», en 4 movimientos. Muere el 9 de junio de 1952.

1897.- Muere Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, presidente del Consejo de Ministros de España, asesinado por el anarquista italiano Michele Angiolillo. Nace el 8 de febrero de 1828.

1898.- Fallece el pintor Eugene Boudin, uno de los primeros paisajistas franceses en pintar al aire libre, experto en la representación del mar y la costa. Nace el 12 de julio de 1824.

1905.- Nace el músico y compositor francés André Jolivet, reconocido por sus sofisticados experimentos expresivos, con ritmo y nuevas sonoridades. Muere el 20 diciembre de 1974.

1907.-Nace el saxofonista, trompetista y arreglista estadounidense de jazz Benny Carter, creador de la primera banda de jazz interracial. Muere el 12 de julio de 2003.

1919.- Nace el escritor y periodista cubano Óscar Hurtado, considerado el padre de la ciencia-ficción de su país. Crea y dirige la colección «Dragón», primer sello que difunde la literatura policiaca en la isla. Muere el 23 de enero de 1977.

1922.- Nace el escritor argentino Alberto Granado, autor de textos científicos y testimoniales sobre su fallecido amigo Ernesto «Che» Guevara. Entre sus aportes destacan la fundación de las escuelas de Medicina de Santiago de Cuba y la de Ciencias Básicas y Preclínicas Victoria de Girón. Muere el 5 de marzo de 2011.

1922.- Nace el poeta español José María Fonollosa. Autor de «La sombra de tu luz», «Umbral del silencio», «Ciudad del hombre: Nueva York», «Poetas en la noche» y «Destrucción de la mañana». Muere el 7 de octubre de 1991.

1934.- Nace el comunicólogo español Román Gubern, estudioso de la comunicación audiovisual, presidente de la Asociación Española de Historiadores del Cine y miembro de la Association Francaise pour la Recherche sur I «Historie du Cinema».

1945.- Muere el poeta español Rafael Porlán, miembro de la Generación del 27, enrolado en la literatura de vanguardia y cuya obra manifiesta adscripción al surrealismo. Nace el 9 de abril de 1899.

1945.- Rusia declara la Guerra a Japón e invade Manchuria, en el marco de la Guerra del Pacífico (1879-1883).

1952.- Nace el escritor noruego Jostein Gaarder, autor de la famosa novela «El mundo de Sofía», reconocido por sus libros que examinan la historia de la filosofía y la religión.

1964.- Muere el historiador cubano Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, quien dedica su vida a proteger y divulgar el patrimonio histórico y cultural de su país. Escribe más de 200 trabajos periodísticos, así como los libros «Historia de la Enmienda Platt» y «Martí antiimperialista». Nace el 23 de agosto de 1889.

1965.- Fallece la escritora estadounidense Shirley Jackson, quien se especializa en el género de terror, es autora de «The Lottery» (1948). Nace el 14 de diciembre de 1916.

1968.- En México, el Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), las escuelas Normales de Agricultura de Chapingo, El Colegio de México y las universidades Nacional Autónoma de México, Iberoamericana, La Salle y las de provincia, conforman un Consejo Nacional de Huelga.

1994.- Muere el novelista y dramaturgo ruso Leonid Maksimovich Leonov. Su obra narrativa, influida por Fedor Dostoievski, es admirada por estructurar los dilemas morales y espirituales complejos. Nace el 31 de mayo de 1899.

1996.- Fallece escritor estadounidense Herbert Huncke, quien contribuye a la generación «Beat». Entre sus obras destacan su autobiografía «Culpable de todo» y «El diario de Huncke». Nace el 9 de diciembre de 1915.

2001.- El escritor mexicano José Emilio Pacheco gana el Premio Iberoamericano de Letras «José Donoso», que otorga la Universidad Talca de Chile. Entre sus obras destacan «Batallas en el desierto» y «El principio del placer».

2001.- El escritor queretano Ricardo García Mainou es galardonado con el Premio Nacional de Novela Breve «Rosario Castellanos», por su obra «Túnel», de la que destacan su narrativa y la fuerza de sus personajes.

2005.- Arqueólogos del INAH descubren en Xico, Estado de México, lo que podría ser la tumba de algún noble del periodo Coyotlatelco (800 a 1100 dC). Este hallazgo se suma a los 60 esqueletos y más de 300 piezas prehispánicas que se han encontrado hace algunos meses en la zona.

2008.- Con un gran despliegue de tecnología, en el que se combinan expresiones culturales milenarias y artísticas de vanguardia, se inauguran en la capital china los vigésimo novenos Juegos Olímpicos de la era moderna.

2009.- Muere el poeta, novelista, ensayista y crítico chileno Alfonso Calderón. Autor de obras como «Memorias de Memoria», «Memorial del viejo Santiago» y «Una bujía a pleno sol». Nace el 21 de noviembre de 1930.

2010.- Fallece el historiador científico español José María López Piñero. Entre sus obras figuran «La creciente aportación española a la ciencia», «La ciencia en la historia hispánica», «Historia de la medicina» y «Breve historia de la medicina». Nace el 14 de junio 1933.

2013.- Muere el pintor, muralista, escultor, grabador e ilustrador mexicano Fernando Castro Pacheco, cuya obra destaca por mostrar el espíritu y la historia del pueblo mexicano. Nace el 26 de enero de 1918.

2013.- Fallece a los 100 años de edad el historiador argentino Efraín Bischoff. Autor de «Historia de Córdoba» en sus 3 tomos, «Tres siglos de teatro en Córdoba», «El general San Martín en Córdoba» y «La Inquisición en Córdoba», entre otras obras. Nace el 30 de septiembre de 1912.

2014.- Muere el compositor australiano Peter Sculthorpe, quien destaca por sus principales composiciones «Irkanda IV», «Sun Music I», «String Quartet No. 8» y «Small Town», entre otras. Nace el 29 de abril de 1929.

2015.- Fallece el poeta estadounidense James Tate, Premio Nacional del Libro con su obra «Selected Poems», además del Premio Pulitzer y el Premio William Carlos Williams, es autor de «Distance from Loved Ones», «Constant Defender», «Viper Jazz». Nace el 8 de diciembre de 1943.

Fuente: https://entretenimiento.terra.com/efemerides-de-cultura-para-el-8-de-agosto,8048a96d43d087cd4b1dc4b120ef0ff4tjykc2py.html

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Japón: Education ministry panel wants more emphasis on English conversation skills

Noticias

Asia/Japón/07 de Agosto de 2016/Autor: JiJi Kyodo/Fuente: The Japan Times

RESUMEN: El Ministerio de Educación pondrá más énfasis en las habilidades de conversación en la enseñanza del Inglés con la esperanza de las personas productoras puedan comunicarse efectivamente en el idioma, según un proyecto de esquema de las directrices del plan de estudios de la escuela. El proyecto incluye mover hasta el año de inicio de la educación Inglés de tercer grado en la escuela primaria a partir del quinto curso. Se dice que las clases de inglés convencionales han estado poniendo énfasis en la gramática y el vocabulario, lo que sugiere que en vez deberían hacer hincapié en la enseñanza de las expresiones apropiadas para diferentes situaciones. El proyecto pone de relieve la necesidad de los estudiantes para aprender todas las habilidades de Inglés – escuchar, leer, escribir y hablar, incluyendo la conversación y presentación – de una manera equilibrada Para lograr este objetivo, las directrices fijarán metas para cada habilidad a través de la escuela primaria con alto y alto, menor, de acuerdo con el Marco Común Europeo de Referencia para las Lenguas, o MCER. El uso de los objetivos establecidos por las directrices, las escuelas establecerán objetivos detallados de rendimiento de los estudiantes.

The education ministry will put more emphasis on conversation skills in teaching English in hopes of producing people who can communicate effectively in the language, according to a draft outline of revised school curriculum guidelines.

The draft includes moving up the starting year for English education to third grade in elementary school from the current fifth.

It says conventional English classes have been placing emphasis on grammar and vocabulary, suggesting that they instead should stress teaching appropriate expressions for different situations.

The draft underscores the need for students to learn all English skills — listening, reading, writing and speaking, including conversation and presentation — in a balanced manner.

To achieve this goal, the guidelines will set goals for each skill through elementary, junior high and high school, in line with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, or CEFR.

Using the goals set down by the guidelines, schools will establish detailed achievement targets for students.

The draft also suggests that fifth and sixth graders should learn English as a regular subject, with additional reading and writing in current activity-oriented programs for listening and speaking, with the aim of helping children become more accustomed to English.

At the third- and fourth-grade levels, when the students are still quite young, lessons should focus on introducing English.

The draft requests that the changes should not simply bring forward to elementary school students what junior high school students now learn, but new classes should be created to help students nurture a basic command of English by letting them get used to reading and writing in line with their levels.

To keep students from growing to dislike English, it is important to encourage them to keep a good attitude in trying to use the language, the draft says.

But an elementary school teacher in Shizuoka Prefecture asked, “How many teachers are there who can teach English in a balanced manner, including grammar and pronunciation?”

The ministry plans to proceed with boosting the English education system by using core teachers who are proficient in the language and by improving training courses, but teachers are concerned if this will work well if the proposed curriculum guidelines go into full effect.

The proposals come from an education ministry panel.

It also urges that a new subject called Public be introduced in high schools to deal with topics such as political participation and labor issues. This is in response to the recent lowering of the voting age to 18.

Another new compulsory high school subject, History in General, would concentrate on modern Japanese and world history.

On the back of progress in information technology, the panel proposed introducing programming education from elementary through high school. Pupils in elementary school would learn logical thinking in relation with programming, while junior high and high school students would learn programming technology.

In elementary schools, “active learning,” a method of education in which students themselves take the initiative in coursework, would be introduced in all courses.

The new curriculum guidelines are expected to be implemented for elementary schools in the 2020 academic year, junior high schools in the 2021 academic year and high schools in the 2022 academic year or later.

The panel is planning to conclude discussions by the end of August and submit its proposed guidelines to the government later this year.

School curriculum guidelines are reviewed about every 10 years because teaching priorities are viewed as changing in line with society.

The current curriculum guidelines were created to break away from the government’s relaxed education policy, which was criticized as having spurred a decline in students’ academic skills.

Fuente: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/01/national/education-ministry-wants-emphasis-english-conversation-skills/#.V6Zg8RJGT_s

Fuente de la imagen: http://www.gnlglobal.com/mercados/asia/precio-del-gnl-en-japon-cayo-al-nivel-mas-bajo-durante-junio/attachment/bandera-de-japon/

 

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Desarrollan en Japón un aparato para radiografiar el interior de los volcanes.

Noticias

Asia/Japón/02.08.2016/Autor y Fuente:http://agn.com.gt/

Investigadores japoneses y húngaros desarrollan un instrumento portátil para radiografiar el interior de los volcanes por medio de partículas subatómicas y que podría ayudar a predecir su actividad, explicó hoy a Efe el responsable del proyecto.

Esta tecnología, basada en la detección de los muones (partículas elementales con carga eléctrica) y destinada a reflejar las estructuras internas de objetos opacos, se ha empleado ya en el campo de la arqueología o para analizar el interior de los reactores de la accidentada central nuclear de Fukushima.

El nuevo instrumento concebido por científicos de la Universidad de Tokio y de la Academia Húngara de las Ciencias es mucho más pequeño, ligero y barato que los otros equipos actualmente disponibles, dijo en declaraciones a Efe el investigador nipón y líder del proyecto, Hiroyuki Tanaka.

Estas características permitirían su uso en estudios de campo de vulcanología y sismología, así como para analizar las condiciones internas de edificios y otras estructuras arquitectónicas, entre otras posibles aplicaciones comerciales, según sus creadores.

El prototipo en el que trabajan los científicos japoneses y húngaros tiene un peso de 10 kilogramos y cabría dentro de una bolsa, mientras que los equipos disponibles en la actualidad superan la tonelada de peso y alcanzan los 100 millones de yenes (873.000 euros/ 973.000 dólares).

Los científicos han probado varias versiones del aparato equipado con un filme sensible a los muones y con un detector de partículas luminescentes, que permitieron recoger por primera vez instantáneas similares a una radiografía del interior de un volcán e incluso un vídeo del mismo, señaló Tanaka.

Para reducir el tamaño y la complejidad técnica del aparato, los científicos han sustituido los tubos sensibles a la luz empleados en los equipos de detección de muones de segunda generación por detectores de gases, lo que también permite aumentar la resolución de las imágenes captadas.

Los investigadores del Instituto de Sismología de la Universidad de Tokio y del Centro Wigner de Física de la Academia Húngara de las Ciencias firmaron el pasado mayo un acuerdo de cooperación para compartir la propiedad intelectual del invento.

El equipo conjunto aspira a comercializarlo “en los próximos años” por un precio inferior al 10 por ciento de los sistemas actuales, lo que facilitaría su uso en otros campos como el análisis de glaciares o la exploración minera, señaló el científico.

Fuente: http://agn.com.gt/index.php/2016/07/05/desarrollan-en-japon-un-aparato-para-radiografiar-el-interior-de-los-volcanes/

Imagen: http://agn.com.gt/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/descarga-3-1-696×390.jpg

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Japón y España: Los alumnos del Ataúlfo Argenta participan en un concierto multicultural en el Instituto Cervantes de Tokio

Noticias

Japón / lainformación.com / 27 de Julio de 2016

Los alumnos del conservatorio Ataúlfo Argenta de Santander han ofrecido un concierto en el Instituto Cervantes de Tokio, dentro del programa de su viaje de intercambio con el Meitoku College de Chiba, al este de la capital japonesa.

Ésa es la tercera edición de este intercambio musical España-Japón, que surgió a raíz del terremoto y tsunami de 2011 en el país nipón, y que trata de buscar nexos de unión y distintas formas de ver y sentir la música y la vida entre dos culturas muy diferentes.

El Instituto Cervantes de Tokio ha sido el lugar elegido, un año más, para simbolizar esta unión cultural entre los dos países, España y Japón, con un espectáculo en el que han participado jóvenes de ambos centros y que ha incluido música, canto y danza.

El programa del concierto ha recogido obras de Philipp Telemann, Rachmaninov, Waldman, Grieg, Offermans o Gen Akashi.

El Instituto Cervantes es una institución creada en 1991 para promover, enseñar español y difundir la cultura de España y de los países hispanohablantes.

Está presente en cuatro continentes con más de 70 centros, entre los cuales destaca el Instituto Cervantes de Tokio, el más grande del mundo, que inició su actividad en 2007

Fuente: http://noticias.lainformacion.com/educacion/escuelas/Ataulfo-Argenta-Instituto-Cervantes-Tokio_0_938906942.html

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Japón: Teachers say Japan’s young voters need to have political awareness nurtured in schools

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Asia/japón/Julio 2016/Autor: MIZUHO AOKI / Fuente: japantimes.co.jp

Resumen:  Tres estudiantes de secundaria, de 18 años de edad, en Shinagawa Joshi Gakuin en Tokio dijeron que estaban contentos de emitir su voto en las elecciones de la Cámara Alta del domingo, estando entre los primeros adolescentes de la nación a unirse al electorado.

Three 18-year-old high school students at Shinagawa Joshi Gakuin in Tokyo said they were excited to cast their ballots in Sunday’s Upper House election, being among the nation’s first teenagers to join the electorate.

“Just the thought of having a chance to possibly change the future (of this country), and the prospects of seeing more policies addressed to younger generations makes me excited,” said Rena Yamaguchi, a third-year student at the school, while her two fellow students nodded.

“It’s a historic event, and I’m proud to be among the first 18-year-olds to vote,” agreed Mizuki Inoue.

The students also admitted, however, to being slightly bewildered, and were not exactly confident about selecting a party or a candidate.

They have studied campaign pledges and followed media coverage. But rather than making things clear, the long lists of policy pledges have left the girls uncertain about how to make the best decision.

“We want to know what we are supposed to look for before casting our votes,” Inoue said.

Now that the voting age has been lowered from 20 to 18, the nurturing of political literacy among young people is becoming increasingly important to overcome the strong sense of apathy and inertia that has characterized them in recent decades.

Observers naturally see this as an opportunity to get younger generations more involved in politics.

Educators, however, are caught in a dilemma, trapped between cultivating students’ political literacy and maintaining political neutrality as required by law.

Education ministry guidelines require teachers to maintain this “neutrality” by refraining from expressing their personal political views.

“It’s easily said. But in reality, it’s hard to maintain that neutrality,” said Shigeyuki Yamane, a social studies teacher at Kokugakuin Kugayama High School in Tokyo.

In light of the new minimum voting age, the school held a special class about the importance of voting and the basic rules of an election. It also conducted a mock election last year, hoping to raise student awareness.

But when it comes to teaching students about contentious political issues, it can get difficult, he said.

“Even just nodding when a student expresses an opinion about a certain political party may give the impression that I support that party,” Yamane said.

When discussing contentious issues such as the constitutionality of the Self-Defense Forces, he made sure to introduce the different stances of political parties to ensure neutrality.

“It makes us nervous,” Yamane said. “Political neutrality, after all, is to introduce both sides of an argument.”

In Japan, political education had long been almost a taboo topic, observers say.

Shigeo Kodama, a professor of education at the University of Tokyo, said the taboo originally functioned to keep certain ideologies from manifesting themselves in school education.

From the late 1950s to 1970s, the Japan Teachers’ Union (Nikkyoso), which was a strong supporter of opposition parties and mainly leftist-leaning, staged strikes to fight the conservative government’s education policies, particularly the textbook screenings and rating system for teachers.

To prevent ideological confrontations, schools gave short shrift to political issues, Kodama said.

Also, university student movements in the 1960s against issues such as Japan’s security alliance with the United States were rife, later spreading to high school students, with some setting up barricades to close schools in protest.

In response to those events, in 1969, the education ministry issued guidelines banning high school students from engaging in political activities.

“With the guidelines, politics were put on a par with alcohol and tobacco,” Kodama said.

Rather than cultivating students’ social awareness, schools put weight on nurturing their ability to pass high school and university entrance exams, though that focus has been changing slowly in the past two decades, he said.

One recent change was the education ministry’s scrapping of the 1969 guidelines last year, lifting the longtime ban on political activities by high school students.

“Schools avoided exposing young people to politics for a long time,” Kodama said. “Considering that, it’s not something that can be changed overnight.

“Japan is still struggling to transform the educational system it adopted during the period of rapid economic growth (between the 1950s and 1970s),” Kodama said.

One lingering concern is that educators are still refraining from raising political issues in class due to fears of violating neutrality. But teachers need to understand, Kodama said, that ensuring political neutrality means teaching students about both sides of contentious issues, and explaining why political parties are fighting over them.

“Otherwise students may never understand,” Kodama said. “The teacher’s role is to fully explain a current situation without taking sides, and to think together with students.”

Shigeo Kawaguchi, a social studies teacher at Denen Chofu Gakuen High School, agreed, saying teachers must provide students with many different points of view on current political issues.

He attempted to stimulate students think about such issues by introducing several newspaper articles in his classes.

He has also shown a placard used in a rally to oppose the security legislation to expand the scope of overseas operations of the Self-Defense Forces. Kawaguchi was among the participants in the rally .

“I don’t think I’m violating political neutrality,” Kawaguchi said. “I’m showing them that adults should have opinions on (political issues).

“I believe children won’t form political opinions unless teachers say what they think,” he said. “I always tell students it is OK to have different opinions from mine.”

Shiori Ito, 16, one of Kawaguchi’s students, said his introduction to current political issues helped deepen her understanding of what was going on in society.

“I think it has given me the chance to gain more knowledge about society,” said Ito, a second-year student who will be speaking in the United States this summer about the voting age change on a travel-abroad program.

Although Ito is not eligible to vote in Sunday’s election, she welcomed the change. “It is a great opportunity for society to hear the voices of teenagers. We could change society.”

Kawaguchi also said it is important for adults to discuss social issues to cultivate political awareness among young students.

“Their parents and their grandparents need to discuss politics in front of them,” Kawaguchi said. “But sadly, many don’t.”

Fuente de la noticia: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/07/08/national/politics-diplomacy/teachers-say-japans-young-voters-need-political-awareness-nurtured-schools/#.V4CoINLhC01

Fuente de la imagen: https://www.google.co.ve/search?q=Teachers+say+Japan%E2%80%99s+young+voter&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVpv6CuuXNAhWEJB4KHaxvAQEQ_AUICCgB&biw=1366&bih=637

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Japón: Entrepreneur on mission to make it easier to study abroad

Noticias

Asia/Japon/03 de Julio de 2016/Autora: Magdalena Osumi/Fuente: The Japan Times

RESUMEN: Los estudiantes extranjeros que desean estudiar en Japón probablemente deseen hacer un millón de preguntas antes de dar el paso. ¿Qué escuelas y universidades ofrecen clases de Inglés? ¿Qué clase de programas de becas hay? ¿Cómo se encuentra la vivienda? ¿Hay trabajos de medio tiempo disponible? Pero teniendo en cuenta los sitios web y la barrera del idioma, muchos encuentran las respuestas difíciles de alcanzar. Introduzca Shota Morikawa, un empresario de 24 años de edad que se está forjando un nicho para sí mismo en la industria de la educación, donde la tecnología web se mantiene bastante baja.En septiembre pasado, Morikawa lanzó ST reserva, una ventanilla sitio web que ofrece información a los estudiantes extranjeros que desean estudiar en Japón.

Foreign students looking to study in Japan would probably want to ask a million questions before taking the plunge.

Which schools and universities offer classes in English? What kind of scholarship programs are there? How does one find housing? Are part-time jobs available?

But given the language barrier and school websites that are less than helpful, many find the answers elusive.

Enter Shota Morikawa, a 24-year-old entrepreneur who is carving out a niche for himself in the education industry, where website technology remains fairly low-tech.

Last September, Morikawa launched ST Booking, a one-stop website offering information to foreign students who want to study in Japan. Morikawa wants schools to use his site as a marketing platform to recruit students, just like prospective home owners use Suumo.jp, a popular real estate search engine.

ST Booking provides information on language schools, universities, housing and job opportunities in Japan — everything you’d want to know.

“Access to information on educational programs in Japan is still limited,” Morikawa said in an interview. “This industry has not changed over the past five decades. There are no young people working in this business, so the whole system is outdated and doesn’t suit the current needs.”

Given the problems caused by Japan’s shrinking population, Morikawa believes his website can help Japanese schools recruit in a more effective and efficient way than the traditional promotional events they hold at home and abroad.

He said many schools with attractive programs, including English-based curricula and scholarships, simply aren’t doing a good job attracting students — Japanese or otherwise — in the internet age.

“The information on schools’ websites is either in Japanese only or hard to find, which discourages prospective students from seeking the answers,” he said. “That’s a huge loss for schools because many of them are struggling to attract foreign students.”

His website has since become a platform for Japanese schools and overseas agents eater to network, he said.

A Hyogo Prefecture native, Morikawa himself studied in the United States for a year as an exchange student at Portland State University in Oregon.

The only reason he chose Portland State was because his school, Waseda University, had an exchange program with it. He didn’t even bother looking at other universities.

“Later I realized I could have chosen from other possibilities that I had no idea about,” Morikawa said.

It was this realization that access to information is crucial to young foreign students that led to him to start ST Booking.

At first, however, the idea was just one of about 50 other business ideas he was mulling.

Born into a family of entrepreneurs, Morikawa always thought he would start his own business by the time he was 30, just like his parents did. So his plan was to enter a company first, study how to start a business, then establish his own.

But after returning from Portland, quitting Waseda and working at consultancies and venture firms, he witnessed countless young entrepreneurs his age launching startups, going bankrupt and starting over. That kindled his entrepreneur spirit.

So he headed to Silicon Valley, home to world’s largest high-tech corporations and thousands of startups, to start a music streaming startup, only to close it within a year.

He then focused on an industry where technology had not yet made a splash — education.

With his international background — born in Hawaii with dual nationality — and a passion for computer programming, it didn’t take long for him figure out that a website catering to exchange students would be a perfect fit. Especially with the Japanese government eager to double the number of foreign students to 300,000 by 2020.

To differentiate his website from his rivals, including Ryugaku Journal or Education First, Morikawa decided to focus on services for Southeast Asia.

“There’s no service targeted at Southeast Asian students … this is an area where we can achieve a competitive edge,” he said. “The number of Vietnamese students is growing rapidly and the number of Southeast Asians coming to study in Japan will continue to rise.”

So far, ST Booking, which offers services in English, Chinese and Vietnamese, has offices in Tokyo, Vietnam and Taiwan, with a fourth expected to open in Thailand.

The company has already established a network connecting 60 Japanese universities, language schools and vocational schools in Japan with 1,100 agents in Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan.

“This is our strength — our agents are based not only in Japan, but also in those countries” it targets, Morikawa said.

The firm, launched with venture capital of $200,000 (¥24,000,000), makes money by charging schools commissions for students recruited via ST Booking and from promotional fees for advertising their academic programs to contractors in Asia.

“We want people to associate studying abroad with ST Booking — this is our goal for this year,” he said. “The government wants to boost the number of incoming students to 300,000 by 2020, but I want to boost it to a million.”

That seems ambitious for a startup still testing the waters. So far, Morikawa’s firm has received dozens of inquiries and four students have completed the application process.

But the long road ahead won’t discourage him from taking up the challenge.

“There’s no point in doing anything if you can’t reach number one,” said Morikawa.

“My parents never criticized me even when I stopped attending classes and quit university,” he said. “They would rather say ‘If there’s something you want to do, just do it.’ “

Fuente: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/07/03/national/entrepreneur-mission-make-easier-study-abroad/#.V3kY-yFGT_t

 

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Japón: Scientists Find New Kind of Fukushima Fallout

Noticias

Asia/Japón/Julio 2016/Autor: Sam Lemonick / Fuente: Forbes

Resumen:  Científicos han descubierto que parte del material radiactivo que escapó del reactor nuclear de Fukushima Daiichi en 2011 tomó una forma que nadie estaba buscando. Ahora tienen que averiguar lo que significa para Japón y para futuros desastres

Some of the radioactive material that escaped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor in 2011 took a form no one was looking for, scientists have discovered. Now they have to figure out what it means for Japan and for future disasters.

Radioactive cesium—specifically, cesium-137—is one of the waste products of nuclear power. It’s also one of the most dangerous substances in a nuclear disaster like Chernobyl or Fukushima.

One reason why is that the type of radiation it emits is particularly damaging to our bodies. Another is that cesium-137 dissolves in water. That means it can spread quickly through the environment and get into the plants, animal and water we consume.

Until now, scientists and disaster experts thought cesium-137 fallout from the Fukushima reactor meltdown was in this soluble form. That guided their cleanup efforts, like removing and washing topsoil, and helped them map where radiation might spread.

It turns out that wasn’t entirely true. Satoshi Utsunomiya, a geochemist at Kyushu University in Japan, announced over the weekend that he had found cesium-137 in a new form: trapped inside tiny glass particles that spewed from the damaged reactors. These particles are not water soluble, meaning we know very little about how they behave in the environment—or in our bodies. He found the particles in air filters placed around Tokyo at the time of the disaster.

According to Utsunomiya, high temperatures inside the malfunctioning reactors at the Fukushima plant melted and broke down the concrete and metal in the buildings. Silica, zinc, iron, oxygen and cesium-137 fused into millimeter-wide glass microparticles, each about the size of a pin’s head. Lifted into the atmosphere by the fires raging at the plant, they then blew about 240 kilometers southeast to Tokyo.

“As much as 89% of all of the cesium [in Tokyo] was in fact in these particles. It’s profound,” says Daniel Kaplan, a geochemist at Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina. He attended Utsunomiya’s lecture describing the findings at the ongoing Goldschmidt Conference in Yokohama, Japan.

Kaplan says similar particles were observed near the Chernobyl reactors after the explosion there in 1986. But they were only seen within about 30 kilometers; beyond that, cesium-137 was only observed in rain.

The discovery could change how we model fallout from nuclear disasters. Kaplan explains that it might add a new variable to the models we use to predict where radioactive particles will go and how long they’ll stay there. It might also change how we treat cesium-137 during cleanup and monitoring.

It is probably still too early to say what this means for people living in Tokyo or elsewhere in Japan. Kaplan thinks the amount of radiation they received probably hasn’t changed. Whether they got it from water-soluble cesium-137 or from these particles, the radiation dose was the same—and for Tokyo residents, that number was within the margin of safe exposure.

The bad thing about water-soluble cesium-137 is that it can easily get into our bodies from soil by way of plants and animals. This new discovery alleviates that concern. But it opens up a new possibility we know little about.

“If the particles are in the air—because that’s how they get to Tokyo—then when you are aspirating this air you should find them in some ways on your lungs,” says Bernd Grambow, who studies nuclear waste chemistry as head of the SUBATECH laboratory in France.

Water-soluble cesium-137 that makes it into our lungs passes into the bloodstream and is peed out within a few weeks. But Grambow says we really don’t know what happens to insoluble cesium-137-containing particles if they get in our lungs. Some of them are likely coughed out or removed by our lungs’ other normal processes. As for the rest, Grambow says we don’t know how long they might remain.

He cautions that any internal radiation from particles containing cesium-137 would be much less than the doses people got from external radiation, which would come from cesium-137 and other radioactive elements in the soil or the environment around them. “We don’t know very much, and my point is only that they should be studied,” Grambow says.

Utsunomiya’s next step is finding out how much of the cesium-137 that ended up in soils in Tokyo and elsewhere was in these glass particles. That way, researchers will be able to better understand how cesium made its way out of the reactor and into the environment.

Fuente de la noticia: http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/37768-scientists-find-new-kind-of-fukushima-fallout

Fuente de la imagen: http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs21/021680-japan-070116.jpg

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