Kaori Ayabe - EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ Asia-Pacific Class of 2025 Asking the better questions that unlock new answers to the working world's most complex issues See more AI insights CFO agenda EY Center for Board Matters Podcasts Webcasts Case studies Operations leaders Technology leaders EY helps clients create long-term value for all stakeholders our services and solutions provide trust through assurance and help clients transform EY.ai - A unifying platform Strategy, transaction and transformation consulting Technology transformation Tax function operations Climate change and sustainability services EY Ecosystems EY Nexus: business transformation platform Experienced professionals EY-Parthenon careers Student and entry level programs Talent community our purpose is building a better working world The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients The EY Global IPO Trends covers the news and insights on the global area and regional IPO markets for Q1 2025 and an outlook Leaders that put humans at the center to navigate turning points are 12 times more likely to significantly improve transformation performance Back to Winning Women Asia-Pacific Class of 2025 a lighting equipment company based in Japan SYNQROA specializes in optical equipment for various purposes such as quality control and visual inspection with its innovative phase polarization technology capturing pristine images without digital processing automotive quality control and semiconductor manufacturing Kaori embarked on a career at Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital after her graduation she had transitioned to marketing ultrasound equipment at Canon Medical Systems contributing to the Japanese Society of Radiology and Endoscopic Gynecology and translating medical record language standards Kaori had launched an advertising agency with five female friends Her drive for innovation led to studying design and collaborating with SYNQROA's future CTO resulting in the company's founding in 2011 The company pioneered phase polarization technology Kaori’s entrepreneurial spirit earned her the Kawasaki Entrepreneur Award in 2022 and third place at the Japan National Start Pitch Competition in 2024 She continues to lead SYNQROA toward global expansion having showcased at METALEX 2024 in Thailand and set to initiate a business collaboration with a major Taiwanese manufacturer in 2025 of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited Login | Sign Up Nintendo Life Guest Login or Sign Up A sit-down with the creator of My Summer Vacation & Attack of the Friday Monsters For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere through the magic of video games — and the video games created by one man in particular — it's never too late to take a little summer holiday.. the time seemed right to sit down with Natsu-Mon director We discuss the hard-earned breakthrough in the West of the ‘cosy game’ genre he helped establish in Japan with his long-running series Boku No Natsuyasumi — colloquially known as ‘Bokunatsu’ — made popular on PlayStation Over the course of two days and nearly six hours of conversation, Ayabe-san graced my wife and interpreter, Joy, and me with engaging, enthusiastic, and frequently hilarious conversation in which he discussed his current projects like Natsu-Mon and Shin-chan, as well as past efforts such as Attack of the Friday Monsters! and Other topics that surfaced during our in-depth chat were his love of electronic music and preserving the fleeting magic of childhood through the interactive art form of video games we made our introductions to Ayabe-san over Zoom introduced our very Boku-esque 10-year-old son to him on-screen and got to know each other a bit before jumping right into the conversation the contents of our workspace were visible to him and so begins perhaps the most comprehensive overview of Kaz Ayabe’s works (in English) ever documented Kaz Ayabe: [Noticing our Bluetooth speaker] Oh the small speaker on the floor is the same as mine Nintendo Life (James Mielke): The [House of Marley] Bag of Riddim is it true you really like electronic music a lot the Yellow Magic Orchestra was prolific during our middle school and high school years NL: I discovered YMO—well, I always knew about YMO—but I really got into YMO through [the late WARP founder and game developer] Kenji Eno. Because he was a YMO maniac. Every time I would visit the FYTO [formerly WARP] Studio in Ebisu we would basically drink and listen to YMO It was always a YMO marathon whenever I visited him The only time I was able to see YMO in concert was after the 3/11 disaster in Japan, and YMO held a ‘No Nukes’ concert in 2012 at Makuhari Messe [Interviewer’s note: The location of Tokyo Game Show] with Kraftwerk headlining KA: I went to see that concert at Makuhari Messe NL: So I want to speak to you about your body of work, but more from your perspective and approach as a creator and less specifically about the individual games themselves, because my former colleague, Ray Barnholt, already did such a fantastic job with that with his own magazine I’d basically like to pick up where he left off the Shin-chan games –– did you have some kind of momentum “I'd like to do more of this,” but with something new and an original IP Or was it Spike Chunsoft who reached out to you and said would you be interested in making a new series for us?” How did it all come about KA: [Natsu-Mon developer] Toybox approached me first Toybox is a company created by [Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro] Wada-san and they make the Bokujo [Harvest Moon] series “If you’re interested in making a summer vacation game on Switch we can help find funding for the development costs.” it was decided from the beginning the hardware would be Nintendo Switch I decided to make an open-world game instead of a 2D game We had the developer first and then the publisher joined later NL: Natsu-Mon is interesting to me because the development team One of the games that my 10-year-old son and I played the most of this past year has been Tears of the Kingdom it really reminds me of Tears of the Kingdom It really kind of expands the feel of your ‘summer games’ concept because you're not restricted to preset camera angles as with Bokunatsu or Shin-chan the vibrant colours really remind you of Japanese summer there was no word for ‘open world’ at the time I wanted to make a world where everything was made in 3D So I used 2D anime backgrounds to make my summer series we had the technology to bring my vision to life I also had fun playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild [when it was released] So when I decided to make an open-world game I've been thinking about making a game like this for the past 20 years NL: So people playing Natsu-Mon should just be able to jump right in and start to get going Of course it doesn't have crafting systems or anything; Natsu-Mon keeps things simple You didn't give into the temptation to overload the game with too many systems I like the fact that the fishing is very simple whereas in other games it can get very convoluted with timing meters and things like that Is ‘keeping it simple’ a game design philosophy of yours considering the current trends in Zelda I thought I could make a lot of things but to be honest I didn't have that much budget [...] but another thing I used as a reference was an indie game called A Short Hike A Short Hike is similar to Zelda in that if you get more hearts you can climb higher walls Zelda and A Short Hike are the main inspirations for [Natsu-Mon] I believe that Bokunatsu is pretty well refined so I didn’t want to make it any more complex than the Boku series So it was my intentional decision not to make the gameplay any more complex than what you see in my prior games and that’s why you don’t see any craft elements in Natsu-Mon The other thing is that I presumed that Nintendo would be releasing new hardware soon and we would miss our opportunity to release the game on the current system if we didn't release the Japanese version last summer So we developed the game in a year and a half but we had a relatively large team and these factors came into play for the underlying reason for a lot of the design decisions Players who are not familiar with the Boku series might not be familiar with the insect collection feature there's a mode where you can see the insects up close with poem-like texts about the insect and detailed explanation of the insects we spent a year to update this feature version which we put in the English version Combined with the development for the Japanese release and the extra year before the English release we spent two and a half years for the English version Once the Japanese version was released we evaluated areas of improvement like making it easier to control and speeding up the tempo in certain areas and adding fortune-telling for the English release NL: Are those improvements that were created for the English version patched back into the Japanese version KA: Yeah there was a patch in June for the Japanese version because historically you've taken a lot of opportunities to create a director's cut The first Bokunatsu on PS1 –– you ported the game to PSP –– and that version incorporated a lot of upgrades and fixes and improvements over the original release Do you consider the US version of Natsu-Mon the director's cut We were originally working on this as the director's cut although it’s not officially released as a 'Director’s Cut' in the title The development of the Japanese version took a lot of time and pressure to make parts that we decided that we wanted to do another way were changed for the English version NL: Since Spike Chunsoft is an international publisher — they usually release their games internationally — was Natsu-Mon always planned as a Western release in addition to the original Japanese release But we had already decided to make an English version and release it on Steam NL: So how does that compare to Bokunatsu 24 years ago when you know that you're developing a game for a global audience rather than a Japan-specific audience the first Bokunatsu initially had a global release planned it wasn't released overseas due to various market circumstances I find that especially old Japanese movies that have a high rating don't pay much attention to foreign audiences I think that's the strength of Japanese movies and has a more international appeal I thought it would be okay if we made something that we thought was interesting we made it with the idea that if we made something interesting as Japanese people it would be more interesting for the overseas audience I thought it would be a problem if there was no hook at all So we decided to set the game in 1999 as a nostalgic year that people all over the world can relate [to] I felt that the adults around the world can kind of think back and feel nostalgic for 1999 NL: While the kids should be attracted just to the colourful and simple designs and ease of gameplay I watch a lot of Japanese and foreign movies and Godzilla Minus One is a very Japanese movie that has received a lot of international acclaim It has a lot of relatable things in common for a global audience as it's more Japanese-centric than internationally-focused it’s probably why it's very popular in the West when I'm making a game and I don't know which direction to choose by adding a little bit of selfishness from the game developers I thought it would leave a lasting impression on the gameplay but I thought it was okay because it gave the game originality I felt that I was showing my unique personality by choosing the wilder option of providing the player with more choices than limiting the options to one My creative decisions were based on my personal preferences and not on trying to please the overseas markets There are decisions that were made with the overseas market in mind I tried to make the insect collection set a little more luxurious and interesting I didn't want to make it for people overseas NL: Can you give us an example of how this manifested in the game KA: When you're introduced to Kyoko's character at the very beginning there are three different introductions that the player can chose from there would just be one response from Kyoko I decided to leave in all three phrases and the player can go back and listen to her different introductions That's one example where we left all three lines in the game instead of just simplifying it One reason for it is that we happened to come up with three good answers But by adding a little bit of selfishness from the game developers But I noticed that the conversational paths with each character at least generate a couple different responses each time one of the fun things to see every day is the different dishes that she prepares because every day it veers wildly what we're going to have for dinner Does that come from your own personal interest in delicious food KA: When I first started making Bokunatsu 24 years ago the food in games generally looked terrible I figured we could do better to illustrate food in our games NL: Between your work that helped establish the ‘cosy game’ genre and your focus on making sure that food looks delicious in games it seems like it would be a very natural thing for you to develop a cooking-themed game KA: Let's see... In the '80s or '90s, there was a game called Dungeon Master I’m not sure if that’s the English title [Interviewer's note: It is] That was a game that had delicious-looking meat in it I thought it would be interesting to make something like that in my games NL: It's interesting that Toybox approached you about making a summer game There's something really wholesome about how they reached out to you specifically about this Because when you think of ‘summer game,’ you think of ‘Ayabe Kaz,’ right would they have been able to make Natsu-Mon without you KA: I think it's better that they asked me to make it we didn’t have things like Twitter and Reddit so it was difficult to take feedback from the public and implement improvements until you actually created a sequel of course the internet gives you direct feedback on Twitter or other channels Has there been any feedback about Natsu-Mon in particular that you've taken to heart and are considering for the future especially after the English version came out compared to people in the English-speaking countries of America there has been a lot more feedback from people in Europe from people outside of English-speaking countries but there was someone who wrote that it was a game that “made me feel warm like I was enclosed in a blanket,” and that made me really happy the feedback from people in Japan was interesting There were a lot of people who said they thought it was another Bokunatsu game but it turned out to be 'Natsu-Mon of the Wild.' In varying degrees and different ways but basically it was a more rambunctious game than they expected even though your games are very low-pressure I feel like even though I've got this list of things to do my personal struggle with the game is prioritising what to do because it's so open-ended I'm not exactly sure where to go or what to do in what order and sometimes when I forget about a daily routine now I’m missing a stamp in my stamp collection.' So I'll get mad at myself you can purchase a chestnut gun –– a toy gun that shoots chestnuts that you collect from under chestnut trees –– and use it to catch bugs I thought everyone would use the chestnut gun to catch bugs but we’ve found that players have preferences and it wasn’t always the case players will find themselves distracted on their way to completing the mission and start doing something else But that's actually exactly what we wanted and it's intentionally in the game because that's kind of what summer vacation is Kids going off to do random stuff without a particular mission in mind NL: My 10-year-old son is someone who gets easily distracted like this But is learning these things conducive to replaying the game while I appreciate revisiting the 10-year-old in me the adult gamer in me wants to min-max the perfect summer I want to get all the stamina medals and climb all the towers and I don't want the summer to end having missed out on anything even though that seems like it's the point KA: I personally don't like to complete games or when I'm making my own game and when we're testing bugs and stuff I don't have the need as an adult to complete things when you're designing a game — one of these summer games — do you put so much into the game that it's not really possible to actually complete everything in the summer I know that there are people who like to complete a game so we have designed it so that it's possible to complete it but obviously that's not the purpose of it and I want people to play it in the way that they find it enjoyable but I do think that maybe I added a little too many bugs in the game NL: I know that the game just came out in the West so it’s a little too soon to tell how well it’s doing here KA: The Japanese version was [released] at the end of last summer and it’s sold just over 100,000 copies which isn't bad but I was hoping it would sell a little bit more so I mean it's not bad but it wasn't great NL: Do you think the awareness among the Bokunatsu crowd is high enough and do they recognise that this is sort of like a spiritual successor to the Bokunatsu series the title is different so people thought it was a different game at first they quickly realised the rules were the same I was the one who designed the map and wrote the text So I think the essence is pretty much the same I imagine the players assumed it might be different at first but when they played it I think they recognised similarities to the Bokunatsu series So even though the way it looks has changed I'm making it as if it's a Bokunatsu title and I think players can consider it to be the next successor in the series I think players can consider [Natsu-Mon] to be the next successor in the series but is Natsu-Mon set up so that there's a reason to go through a second time if you didn't get all the exercise stamps on your stamp card you can transfer everything that you collect from the first game when you start over You can play the things you already have over and over again That gives you an advantage when you're replaying it but it's impossible to experience everything in one go especially if you go to places you haven't been to before and during a time of day that you haven’t before I think you can experience a lot of new things we gathered people from the Japanese game media and we all went to Niigata on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to do an overnight press tour We took everyone to see a real live circus together as part of the media PR event Part of the PR event was an opportunity to play the game And there was a moment when the eyes of the people from the media really glowed with awe It was the same moment where even I got lost in the game There are a lot of rocky mountains in the sea It was really fun to start climbing this steep rocky mountain There are items to collect at the rocky top the key thing is that it’s not something that you might usually think to do I encourage players to push the boundaries on where and what you think you can do and collect in the game I think that’s the key to fully enjoying the game NL: I really wanted to play through the DLC before this interview so I'm really looking forward to it because I know that you get a glider It should be fun seeing how different the DLC is from the base game I want to ask if you have any visibility on whether or not Natsu-Mon could turn into a new franchise KA: So while it hasn't been a super bestseller I personally would like to see it become a series and then we'll talk about Bokunatsu at the end.. and co-founder and creative director for BitSummit such a long interview that I unfortunately don't have the time to read it now It was nice to see a Boku Natsu character in Astro Bot my Switchi was downloading the Natsu-Mon demo And I am also very much looking forward to the new Shin-Chan game I really hope you can make a new Boku Natsu game for the PlayStation Natsu-Mon has become my game of the year and even Zelda might have a tough time dethroning it I have it on Switch and while I'm doubtful they will improve the framerate every other aspect of the game is perfection the open world is something I've always dreamed of exploring the 30+ hour story (if you slow the rate of time) was really immersive and I loved the way there were countless side quests to complete and even more with the DLC The icing on the cake is that they released it in August 2024 which marked 10 years since I visited Japan It's also really good to hear they could port Attack of the Friday Monsters That was my favourite downloadable title on 3DS and it would be great if we could see it in HD This genre is definitely one of my favorites but I have to say this series is just pure joy I played through the first game on PS1 and hope to work through more (especially since the second was recently translated) I desperately tried to make sure I got an "event" in the journal each day and I only got the generic "I had a great day" message once or twice It's really something when you can make me nostalgic for my summer vacationing as a boy in Japan when.. Hopefully there will be a physical version There's a very fun game to be had here and I think he did a marvelous job I wish I was a kid again to get even more out of this I’m looking forward to replaying it next summer with NG+ and the dlc Last summer I loved Shin-chan and the professor Show Comments Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment.. 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PSA Redownloading Switch eShop Games Has Now Changed With Latest Update ICYMI 12 Switch Games Will Receive Free Switch 2 Upgrades News Switch Users Are Getting Error Codes After Updating To Version 20.0.0 Editorial Gamers, Support The People And Sites You Love, Before It's Too Late Guide Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: Mystery Gift Codes List News Oops, Yuji Horii May Not Have Leaked Massive Remake News After All News The Company That "Leaked" Switch 2 Is Being Sued By Nintendo News Nintendo Highlights Multiple Switch Games Launching In May 2025 News Switch eShop Update Puts Less Focus On The Terrible 'eSlop' Show More © 2025 Hookshot Media, partner of IGN Entertainment | Hosted by 44 Bytes | AdChoices | Do Not Sell My Personal Information Volume 7 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.893829 This article is part of the Research TopicMethods and Applications in Educational PsychologyView all 15 articles Diagram use is generally considered an effective strategy in solving mathematical word problems and many teachers demonstrate the use of this strategy when they are teaching ineffective use of diagrams in problem solving This may be due to a lack of task-appropriate instruction there is inadequate evidence to support this idea the present study aimed to better understand the development of diagram use competence following the provision of task-appropriate instruction focusing on both behavioral and neurophysiological evidence (i.e. using functional near-infrared spectroscopy or fNIRS) Sixteen participants (mean age 15.7 years) were asked to solve mathematical word problems for which the use of tables (which is one kind of diagram) was deemed effective Data collection progressed in three phases: (1) Pre-test without the demand for diagram use and (3) Post-test (after participants received instruction on table use for problem solving) it was only in Phase 3 that such use led to increases in correct answers fNIRS measurements also indicated an increase in blood flow to the frontal area (DLPFC and VLPFC) of the brain usually associated with working memory activity These results demonstrate important neurophysiological changes resulting from task-appropriate instruction that promotes effective strategy use and improves learning performance “A factory manufactures automobile parts and carries as many boxes as possible to an assembly plant every day If the number of parts left is more than 75 the factory will produce 180 parts the next day The number of the parts left on day 1 was 130 How many parts will be left on day 365?” Even elementary school students can probably reach the correct answer to this word problem by repeated calculations it would take a tremendous amount of effort and time to do that Mathematical word problems (often abbreviated as just word problems or WPs) are taught at all levels of education to develop the ability to apply mathematical knowledge to the real world The word problems usually represent the relevant information in a short narrative rather than mathematical notation teachers tend to face difficulty in getting students to master strategies for using diagrams This study aimed to shed light on developing students’ ability to use diagrams that are appropriate for solving corresponding types of word problems To deepen our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the development of such ability we included a neurophysiological approach using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to the behavioral approach mainly utilized in psychology and educational science There are at least two problems that exist where strategy use in general is concerned) The problem is that in many classroom settings, when teachers simply demonstrate the use of diagrams such as tables to solve more complex mathematical word problems, they do not provide sufficient instruction to cultivate the problem-appropriate knowledge necessary for the correct construction and use of such diagrams (JSME, 2009) many students only apprehend the general aspects of the abstract diagram: for example they understand that tables can be used to solve complicated problems but they do not know the exact details of how to construct and use tables correctly for such purposes it examined whether the provision of problem-appropriate instruction might help develop diagram use competence that would result in overcoming the two problems noted in the previous subsection that both spontaneity in appropriate diagram use and generation of correct answers would be promoted but also neurophysiological evidence that the cognitive mechanisms that drive the ability to simply construct a diagram and the ability to correctly construct and use a diagram according to task specific requirements are distinct and identifiable This study used arithmetic or numeric mathematical word problems which are only a small part of the types of problems available Previous studies have reported that declarative knowledge (“what to use”), procedural knowledge (“how to use”), and conditional knowledge (“when to use”) are all necessary to successfully use learning strategies (Brown et al., 1981; Paris et al., 1983; Garner, 1990) When teachers explain how to solve a particular mathematical word problem through the use of a diagram they may generally believe that demonstration of such use is sufficient it may only largely promote the acquisition of declarative knowledge (i.e. although both procedural knowledge and conditional knowledge would be implicit in such a demonstration they may not be adequately salient or detailed enough to facilitate acquisition Instruction therefore needs to include sufficient details of the steps to take in correctly using the strategy in specific types of problems and explicit explanations of the conditions for when to use the strategy (including specific steps that may only apply when certain conditions are present in the problem given) practice would be indispensable: it would help consolidate procedural and conditional knowledge necessary for correctly using the strategy (diagrams in this case) for the specific types of problems being considered If instruction is provided not in a broad-brush manner but specifically dealing with details of the types of word problems that students should be able to solve and the ways that appropriate kinds of diagrams can be constructed and used to solve those problems the understanding of the problem-appropriate diagram can effectively be conveyed to students Combined with adequate practice with feedback students should then be able to not only overcome their lack of spontaneity in using diagrams but also the problem of failing to generate the correct answers despite diagram use They would not only know that the problem-appropriate diagram would help in solving the problem—and hence spontaneously use it but also how to construct and use that diagram to help obtain the answer required The solution proposed above needs to be tested and verified and doing so requires not only measurements of problem solving behavior and performance but also of the cognitive process involved in changes that are proposed to occur It is often difficult to ascertain when students have acquired problem-appropriate diagram knowledge as opposed to general knowledge about diagram use based on behavioral and performance measures alone as those do not objectively portray the changes that occur in the minds of students physiological studies have clarified the various localization of brain functions we believe it useful to examine whether there might be neurophysiological correlates of the changes in behavior/performance that we were hypothesizing would occur as a consequence of providing problem-appropriate diagram use instruction Evidence of such correlates would confirm that such instruction leads to enabling at least some of the cognitive processes that are necessary for students to develop One of the mechanisms that mediate the prefrontal cortex’s hemodynamics and cognitive mechanisms is the working memory system these results provide neuroscientific evidence for an association between diagram use and brain activity evaluating behavioral outcomes based on these findings should help identify more detailed cognitive processes Our second question was whether students’ abilities to produce correct answers would improve after they receive problem-appropriate instruction on the use of tables for solving those problems it would suggest that such instruction equipped them with problem-appropriate knowledge about table use—in this case specific to solving the types of problem they were administered apart from evidence from problem solving performance it would be possible to verify such differences in general and problem-appropriate knowledge about the use of a diagram (tables) through neurophysiological evidence (i.e. The possession of the relevant general knowledge would likely be adequate to enable the construction of tables with the possession of only such knowledge students are unlikely to be able to utilize the table they construct to correctly solve the problem they have been given we predicted the blood flow in the prefrontal cortex (VLPFC and DLPFC) would decrease It means the executive function of working memory works actively cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex should be large On the other hand, the prompt “Use TABLE to solve the word problem” would restrict free solvers’ behavior and cognition. They would struggle if they do not have table knowledge for solving problems. Even if they constructed a table, it would likely remain incomplete because they know the table only in language and general appearance. Most of them should not be able to visualize it completely (Mayer and Gallini, 1990; Reuter et al., 2015) allocation of germane cognitive load would likely fail and result in the stagnation of the executive function of working memory cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex should be small problem-appropriate knowledge which could be developed following the provision of problem-appropriate instruction in table use could enable successful table use for solving and calculating the correct answer to the problem given we predicted that the cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex would increase in order to execute the executive function of working memory we predicted that differences in cerebral blood flow in the VLPFC and DLPFC regions may indicate differences in the general or problem-appropriate knowledge about table use that our participants possessed The following were the corresponding hypotheses we tested: when prompted to construct tables during problem solving the majority of students would be able to do so—hence that table use would increase after providing a prompt for its use That correct answer rates following the prompt to use tables would evidence no change compared to previous performance That in the VLPFC and DLPFC regions of the brain cerebral blood flow would decrease after the prompt for students to use tables in their problem solving That spontaneous table use would increase after the provision of problem-appropriate instruction in table use That correct answer rates would increase after the provision of problem-appropriate instruction in table use cerebral blood flow would increase after the provision of problem-appropriate instruction in table use The conduct of this study was approved by the research ethics committee of the university to which all the authors belong All the students who participated in the study did so voluntarily and provided informed consent for their participation The participants were 16 right-handed students from elementary school to undergraduate university levels (female = 6; mean age = 15.7 ± 2.9 years, from 10 to 19 years; laterality quotient = + 69.6 ± 22.5, Oldfield, 1971) recruited from students who were attending an after-school tutoring service in Japan. The decision on the wide age range of participants for the study was based on previous findings (Ayabe et al., 2021b) no significant age effect was found for scores in diagram use although they conducted similar experiments They provided instruction to improve diagram knowledge about tables in 40 students ranging in age from 10 to 20 years (15.0 ± 3.1 years old) The results showed no correlation between age and frequency of table use and correct answer rates when solving the mathematical word problem we decided the necessary sample size to be 15 We used data from 16 students in the analyses after excluding the four To confirm the equivalence of three mathematical word problems that were used during the assessment sessions, the participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups according to the sequence with which they received those problems (Group A, n = 6; Group B, n = 5; Group C, n = 5; see Table 1) Outline of the experimental design and procedure A pre- and post-intervention design within participants, with four phases was used (see Table 1 for an outline) participants were asked to solve one of three mathematical word problems according to the group they were randomly assigned Apart from being asked to solve the problem no other instruction or information was provided Phase 2 (Pretest 2) was identical to Phase 1 in that participants were again asked to solve a different but isomorphic problem they were explicitly asked to construct and use a diagram—more specifically a table—in their attempts at solving the problem during which the participants received instruction and practice in the construction and use of tables in mathematical word problems like those administered in the assessment sessions of this study the participants were administered a third problem to solve (different but again isomorphic to the previous two they had received) they received no other instruction or requirement (i.e. it was up to them how to approach solving the problem brain activity data (cerebral blood flow) was also taken using fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) equipment during the time the participants were solving the word problems These phases were conducted in a laboratory to enable the use of the fNIRS equipment which is the time taken to solve each of the mathematical word problems The solving time provides a measurement of the participants’ duration of engagement in relation to their problem solving performance and cerebral blood flow The instruction provided in Phase 3 was conducted in a different experimental room and 4 took approximately 20 min each (including attachment and detachment of the fNIRS equipment) All procedures were conducted individually for each participant The four phases were conducted in sequence with short rest breaks of about 5 min in between All the materials used in the experiment were collected immediately after each phase to ensure that they would have no influence on the participants’ learning or problem solving performance outside of the sessions provided (e.g. that the participants would not look over and think about them during the short breaks) The problems used were all mathematical word problems in which tables were deemed to be helpful for solving. They all required the apprehension of the pattern of change in numbers described in the problem, and the prediction of a future quantity (see Table 2) All the problems were presented in sentences only and did not include expressions to explicitly induce the use of diagrams Preliminary statistical analysis confirmed their isomorphism in terms of difficulty as no significant differences between problems occurred in all phases isomorphic problems refer to problems that have different cover stories but have equivalent solving structures After attaching the fNIRS holder to his/her head to measure brain activity (cerebral blood flow), each participant was seated in the laboratory (in the shield room constructed so that it is not affected by external electric or magnetic fields and does not leak to the outside.). A computer monitor was installed on a desk in front of the seat, and instructions and questions were displayed on that monitor (see Figure 1) The LCD monitor (21.5 inches) was 70 cm away from the participant’s face Figure 1. Test condition and procedure. Example of Group A (problems presented depends on the group; see Table 1) The procedures for all three test sessions were the same Only in pretest 2 was the prompt to solve using the table given in the clue phase The test procedures performed in Phases 1, 2, and 4 were all the same, but the problems provided according to group assignment were different (see Table 1). The time course was as follows. First, the participants were asked to rest with their eyes closed (30 s). After that, the problem answer sheet, which also contains the problem story was provided to the participants (see Table 2) The question for the problem was displayed on the computer monitor on the desk After reading the problem story and the question the participant could then start his/her attempt at answering the question (for which they had up to 5 min) instruction to “Please solve the problem using a TABLE” was displayed on the computer screen just before (i.e. To ensure that the student would follow the instruction the experimenter asked if the student had understood the display and only allowed the student to move on to the problem solving phase after receiving a YES response instruction to develop procedural and conditional knowledge for the use of tables was provided This phase comprised two parts: instruction and practice The third author and a teacher with no vested interest in the outcomes of this research provided the instructions and facilitated the practice session for each participant individually To ensure procedural fidelity and consistency in the conduct of this intervention PowerPoint slides and worksheets were used The intervention was conducted in an experimental room different from the shielded room used in Phases 1 limit their bodily movements to only those that are necessary to execute the task administered (i.e. the fNIRS data were filtered through a low pass filter at 0.5 Hz and fifth order Since cerebral blood flow changes several seconds later than neural activity fNIRS data for the initial 10 s of stimuli onset in rest and solving phases were removed from the analysis We subtracted the average oxy-Hb during the rest phase (30 s) from the average during the solving phase for each phase (e.g. Pretest 1—rest) and defined this relative oxy-Hb change as activation of the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) (Δoxy-Hb) we subtracted the Δoxy-Hb in the two tests (Pretest 2—Pretest 1 Post-test—Pretest 1) and calculated the changes between the solving phases Note that the rest phase immediately prior to each test session was set as the baseline for each test We used three kinds of analysis to examine the dependent measures (behavioral and physiological data) depending on the variable type to analyze the data about the students’ table use and the correctness of their answers For pairwise comparisons of simple main effects we used McNemar’s test as it is likewise suitable for detecting differences in dichotomous dependent variables The null hypotheses were set against each effect of prompt for table use (before Pretest 2) and problem-appropriate instruction on table use (before Post-test) we used paired t-tests to analyze the students’ cerebral blood flow before and after the prompt and the instruction In order to understand variations in blood flow in the entire frontal lobe we performed an analysis on all 42 channels measured further analysis focused on the four channels above (the ROIs) Table 4 shows the results of the acquired behavioral data. And Figure 3 shows an example of tables drawn by the students for Pretest 1, Pretest 2, and Post-test. In Pretest 1, most students wrote numbers, calculation formulas, and calculations on paper, like in Figure 3 and the other three only used calculation formulas all 16 students drew (nearly) complete tables it does not matter if the values in the table are correct or not One of the four students who constructed and used a table in Pretest 1 did not construct a table in Pretest 2 despite being prompted to use a table eight students followed the prompt and constructed a table for the first time in the experiment A comparison of participant table use in Pretest 1 and Pretest 2 revealed that table use significantly increased following the prompt to construct and use it during problem solving. This can be seen in Figure 4 which shows Table use as a function of the test phases The percentages of answer sheets that included a table (represented by the red bars) before and after the prompt (i.e. most of the participants tried to solve the mathematical word problem by calculation alone after the provision of the prompt to use a table Changes in table use and correct answer rate (N = 16) The analysis showed a significant test phase effect for table use p < 0.001 [where Q (df) = Cochran’s Q value with the corresponding degrees of freedom] a significant difference was found in table use between the test immediately before and after the prompt for table use [Pretest 1 vs where χ2 (df) = McNemar’s χ2 with the corresponding degrees of freedom] This result provides full support for the first hypothesis five students did not construct a table despite being instructed to do so As noted in the “Materials and methods” section the experimenter asked all students to use a table by displaying the prompt on the monitor and soliciting verbal confirmation of the student’s understanding of the instruction all students wrote something on their answer sheet (i.e. No students answered the problem correctly in Pretest 1 Only one student answered correctly in Pretest 2 That student constructed a table in both tests (i.e. failed to correctly solve the problem in Pretest 1 A comparison of participants’ correct answer rates in Pretest 1 and Pretest 2 revealed no improvement in their correct answer rates. Figure 4 shows table use as a function of the test phases. The blue bars in Figure 4 show that no correct answers were produced in Pretest 1 and only a very slight increase occurred at Pretest 2 The statistical analysis confirmed this—that is despite a significant test phase effect for correct answer rates p < 0.01 [where Q (df) = Cochran’s Q value with the corresponding degrees of freedom] there was no significant difference between the correct answer rates immediately before and after the prompt to use tables [Pretest 1 vs This result provides full support for the second hypothesis despite using tables in attempts to solve the problem given during Pretest 2 there was no significant improvement in the participants’ ability to produce correct solutions the cerebral blood flow other than in the left DLPFC more specifically in the right DLPFC area and left/right VLPFC areas decreased when comparing Pretest 2 to Pretest 1 The numbers in Figure 5A indicate the t-test values in comparing the blood flow in Pretest 2 to that in Pretest 1 Significant differences in cerebral blood flow were found in the right DLPFC [t(15) = −3.47 p < 0.05] and left VLPFC [t(15) = −2.45 no significant difference in cerebral blood flow was found in left DLPFC area [t(15) = −0.69 These results provide partial support for the third hypothesis that despite using tables to solve the problem during Pretest 2 rather than an increase in blood flow in these ROIs there was instead a tendence for blood flow to decrease In Pretest 2, 11 students constructed a table following the prompt, but in Post-test, all 16 students constructed a table without being prompted (see Table 4). A comparison of participant table use in Pretest 2 and Post-test revealed that Table use significantly increased following the provision of problem-appropriate instruction in table use. This is shown by the red bars in Figure 4 The statistical analysis revealed a significant test phase effect for Table use significant difference was found when comparing Table use between Pretest 2 and Post-test (i.e. before and after instruction had been provided) These results provide full support for the fourth hypothesis there is evidence indicating that provision of problem-appropriate instruction in table use led to improvements in participants’ ability to use tables spontaneously to solve the type of mathematical word problems the students were not prompted to use the table to solve the problem Only one student succeeded in deriving the correct answer in Pretest 2, but six students succeeded in the Post-test. The only student who succeeded in Pretest 2 also succeeded in Post-test. Five students failed to obtain the correct answer in Pretest 2 despite constructing tables but succeeded for the first time in the Post-test (see Table 4) There was a significant increase in the correct answers produced by participants at Post-test compared to Pretest 2. This is shown by the blue bars in Figure 4 The statistical analysis revealed a significant test phase effect for the correct answer rates [Q(2) = 10.33 significant difference was found when comparing correct answer rates between Pretest 2 and Post-test (i.e. These results provide full support for the fifth hypothesis there is evidence indicating that provision of problem-appropriate instruction in table use led to improvements in participants’ ability to solve the type of mathematical word problems that would benefit from the use of tables (i.e. those that require working out the pattern and rule of change in amounts) ten students who failed to obtain the correct answer in the Post-test and they constructed nearly complete tables A close examination of their answer sheets showed that although they all undertook the appropriate approach in attempting to solve the problem they made mistakes in the arithmetic procedure to determine or infer the values/numbers that make up the tables In Pretest 2, we instructed students to use a table, but most of them could not create and use a table as the problem demanded. As described before, all students used a table spontaneously in Post-test. The tables they drew were nearly complete ones (see Figure 3) so they likely engaged in similar cognitive activities regardless of their success or failure in correctly solving the problem we compared the cerebral blood flow while solving the mathematical word problem in Pretest 2 with that in the Post-test There was a significant increase in cerebral blood flow to the left and right DLPFC and VLPFC regions of the brain at Post-test compared to Pretest 2. This is shown in Figure 5B: pay particular attention to the circled ROIs. The numbers in Figure 5B indicate the t-values on each of the fNIRS channels When comparing cerebral blood flow readings between Post-test and Pretest 2 the analysis found significant differences in blood flow in the right DLPFC [t(15) = 3.00 These results provide full support for the sixth hypothesis: following problem-appropriate instruction in table use there was a significant increase in blood flow to the DLPFC and VLPFC regions of the brain when participants were working on the problem they were given suggesting active engagement of working memory functions noted earlier Finally, although not directly related to the hypothesis of this study, the results of comparing brain activity in Pretest 1 and the Post-test are shown in Figure 4C No significant difference was found in any ROI a significant difference was seen on only one channel (33 ch.; t(15) = 2.32 this result shows the brain activities in Pretest 1 and Post-test were comparable if considering the multiple tests we were able to obtain performance/behavioral and neurophysiological evidence of the effect of providing problem-appropriate instruction which develops students’ ability to construct and use diagrams for solving mathematical word problems this is the first study to report cerebral blood flow changes as a consequence of developing strategy use knowledge in problem solving (1) If students were required to use diagrams (tables) such construction rarely led to successful problem solving cerebral blood flow to regions of the brain related to working memory functions (i.e. the VLPFC and DLPFC areas) decreased compared to when students were not required to use tables in problem solving (3) After problem-appropriate instruction had been provided both the students’ spontaneous use of diagrams (i.e. without prompting) and their production of correct answers increased cerebral blood flow to the regions of the brain associated with working memory functions increased compared to measurements prior to the provision of instruction Furthermore, we were able to demonstrate the usefulness of fNIRS as a tool for establishing neurophysiological evidence for strategy use acquisition—in near normal teaching and learning settings (i.e., participants were able to behave as they normally would in problem solving, which would have been difficult to do with the use of more movement-restrictive equipment such as fMRI and EEG; Soltanlou et al., 2018) and in the Post-test after table use knowledge instruction the correct answer rate improved as table use increased the mathematical word problems used in this study can be taken as having worked to identify the components of table use knowledge As mentioned earlier, all students would know what a table is (Ayabe et al., 2021a) We also carefully gave them instructions that they needed to use a table for solving the problem given (monitor display and verbal confirmation) the five students who did not construct a table probably gave up on constructing one because they did not know how to use it of the 11 students who constructed a table according to the instructions The rest (10 students) failed to solve the problem even though prompted to use a table The limited value of such advice was clearly demonstrated by our result of students being able to construct tables but failing to use them to work out the required answers The results at Post-test showed that both table use and correct answers increased The problem-appropriate knowledge about table use provided during instruction students to not only construct a more useful table for the problem they were given (paying attention and extracting relevant numerical and other details from the text of the problem itself) but also to visually apprehend patterns of number changes to inductively infer the rules that govern such patterns and to undertake more efficient calculations of the answer required The crucial point is that after teaching them that knowledge the students possessed the necessary procedural and conditional knowledge appropriate for solving the type of problem given but it will unlikely lead to the production of the correct solution only the blood flow reductions in the DLPFC and VLPFC regions Working memory demands could explain the reason for no difference in activity in the prefrontal cortex between Pretest 1 and Post-test those working memory demands were the same we can interpret that the table use improved problem-solving performance even though no differences were found in brain activity An important educational implication of the present study is that the problem-appropriate declarative, conditional, and procedural knowledge pertaining to strategy use (Paris et al., 1983) needs to be directly addressed through problem-appropriate strategy/diagram use instruction Most teachers would show and tell students to use diagrams to solve mathematical word problems such general and largely superficial instructions may be limited to just imparting declarative knowledge The teachers may believe that the student would be able to solve problems if they provide a careful explanation including the conditions for when to use the diagram if the student cannot connect the declarative and conditional knowledge they have gained with the necessary procedural knowledge it is likely that the student will fail in correctly using a diagram to solve the problem To effectively connect and integrate declarative and conditional knowledge for strategy use problem-appropriate instruction on the strategy to use (in this case tables for solving particular types of mathematical word problems) is necessary In order to contribute to improving students’ diagram competencies follow-up research is needed to cover the wider range of problem types and corresponding kinds of diagrams Diagrams are an interactive and powerful thinking tool a better understanding of the correspondences between the functions that different kinds of diagrams can serve in mathematical word problem solving and the range of problem types that can be encountered not only in the classroom but also in real life can equip students with a powerful thinking tool for the duration of their formal education and the rest of their lives The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee Kyoto University Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin Written informed consent was obtained from the minor(s)’ legal guardian/next of kin for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article HA and EM contributed to conception and design of the study HA performed the statistical analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript All authors contributed to manuscript revision HA’s work on this research was supported by 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Hiroaki Ayabe, YXlhYmVAYWNhZGVtaW9uLmNvbQ== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid gets an English translation in about two months director Kaz Ayabe and his game development studio Millennium Kitchen debuted the Boko no Natsuyasumi (translates to My Summer Vacation) series about nostalgic Alongside Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon the series practically kickstarted the 'cozy' boom we see today and while the series never saw official global localizations the team's next game is getting a proper release abroad Should you already own the game's Japanese release on Steam then a free update will simply patch in an English option come August 9 Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid might not be properly a part of the My Summer Vacation series that everyone's been begging to see ported over but it still carries much of the same DNA and is basically a My Summer Vacation game in all but its name The upcoming game is still filled with chirping cicadas and a sunny town that serves as both a nostalgic escape and a reminder of lost childhood Kaz Ayabe is still in the director's chair A press release explains that "a circus troupe comes to Yomogi Town a rural town in Japan situated between mountains and the ocean." We play "as the son of the circus ringmaster" who can either help the circus or just lounge about enjoying the festival The trailer above looks delightful either way While none of the Boko no Natsuyasumi games ever saw an official English release you might have played the team's somewhat similar follow-ups with the 3DS' incredible Attack of the Friday Monsters and the Switch's Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation.  Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser Japanese version Lisa Ayabe’s first exposure to law was through her litigator father “I’m not really an adversarial person by nature I think we are so lucky to live in such a unique environment trying to bring parties together with a mutual goal,” she says After graduating from UH’s Richardson School of Law Ayabe clerked with Mark Recktenwald in the Intermediate Court of Appeals and in the Hawai‘i Supreme Court before joining Cades Schutte as an associate She made partner after only six years with the firm and is one of 12 female partners “I think that it’s important to have a strong female representation at the partnership level to serve as role models,” she says She says she’s been fortunate to have several mentors who helped her advance her career She’s a mentor to an associate in Cades Schutte’s Finance and Real Estate Department and is a member of the firm’s Attorney Development and Training Committee which helps associates transition from law school to private practice by giving classes on topics like billing She also helped to organize speed mentoring events for first- and second-year UH law students and served on a panel for the school’s part-time program Ayabe sits on the board of directors of the Hawai‘i chapter of NAIOP the commercial real estate development association; is a past president of the Hawai‘i chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association; and was part of the Pacific Century Fellows class of 2015-16 “I really believe that with someone like her to spend time to do things that a lot of people probably wouldn’t do really one of the key players in the Hawai‘i community,” he says They want to work with her because they view what kind of person she is And so I think that all those combinations of personality and determination and intelligence will really drive her to become successful in whatever she wants to do.” View the rest of the 20 for 20 2020 cohort here. 90 Companies and Nonprofits Where Employees Thrive. “It’s very black and white. You build homes, you reduce the homeless population,” says HomeAid Hawai‘i’s executive director, Kimo Carvalho. Send help right to the people and causes you care about Your donation is protected by the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee PremiumIt's pretty tough to be a woman (Berserk 06) After leaving NMK, Ayabe joined K-Idea, a game design planning firm. Their biggest titles being those in the Jungle Wars series, Ayabe is credited with "system assistance" on Jungle Wars 2 for the SNES Ayabe describes his role at K-Idea as game design along with project management The latter would help inspire him to start his own studio After departing K-Idea, Ayabe founded the studio Millennium Kitchen so that he could begin to work on his own games. The idea for the series that would define the studio, Boku no Natsuyasumi was something Ayabe states had been stewing within even before he founded his own company The game would draw inspiration from Ayabe's own childhood and his time spent drawing and building plastic models of towns as a kid After pitching the game and getting his idea to portray a 10 year old boy's summer vacation green-lit by Sony, Ayabe and his company along with help from Japanese illustrator, Mineko Ueda, started work on the first Boku no Natsuyasumi game. Enter the URL for the tweet you want to embed. This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for: ESCLog in to comment "data-img-src" : imgSrc } = buylink %> />><%= itemTitle %> Simpson University says a major expansion to its nursing program is on the way The money will be used to buy high-tech medical simulation training manikins and to hire the additional teaching personnel needed to significantly expand the university's Bachelor of Science in Nursing program The Pasadena-based Fletcher Jones Foundation which supports private colleges and universities in California earlier in June authorized the half-million-dollar grant Having more certified instructors — and additional human-like manikins used to train new nurses — means Simpson will be able to graduate 90 registered nurses each year the California Board of Registered Nursing which regulates all nursing education and certification programs statewide must approve of Simpson bringing on more students That approval process is expected to take "a few more weeks," said Ayabe on Thursday Dean School of Nursing has graduated 590 nurses and the university is consistently ranked among California's top 140 nursing schools Money from the new grant also means that Simpson is solidifying plans to launch a new Master of Science in Nursing program designed to train family nurse practitioners — registered nurses with advanced training in family medicine Related: Human-like robots are helping train nurses in Redding Family nurse practioners are in high demand across the North State where they provide medical care to various communities in the midst of a chronic physician shortage in the region The grant money will enable the university's nursing program to buy three state-of-the-art electronic medical simulator training devices The school already owns several internet-connected patient manikins that are set up in classrooms made to look like real hospital rooms down to the specialized beds and other equipment Ayabe said some of the university's training devices need to be replaced since the technology that makes them work has advanced Note to readers: If you appreciate the work we do here at the Redding Record Searchlight, please consider subscribing yourself or giving the gift of a subscription to someone you know Thank you for your continued investment in our community coverage next-generation training manikins are pricey with some models costing between $125,000 and $165,000 Simpson introduced nursing students to medical mankins in August 2014 when the university's newly-constructed Science and Nursing Building first opened "We will be retiring one of our current manikins with this grant so we'll see a net increase of two manikins so we'll have 11 after this purchase," said Ayabe The human-looking pieces of technology are a neccessity for nurses' medical education since students may not be able to see actual patients with specific kinds of medical conditions in the hospital Related: Why Redding has a doctor shortage and what medical centers are doing about it Using simulators "allows for specific kinds of conditions or skills that...a nurse may need to learn that they may not be able to experience on a given day in a real health care setting like a hospital because of just the patients that happen to be there that day," Ayabe said are anatomically correct and controlled by a laptop computer nursing students are using a variety of medical simulation manikins to learn a range of essential health care skills from using stethoscopes to pick up a heartbeat or hear the sound of breathing they learn how to detect fluid buildup in a patient's legs and measure pulse rates at different parts of the body nearly every medical education program has medical manikins A host of education and health institutions in Shasta County have invested in the devices to help their medical professionals-in-training learn the skills they need to handle real patients in hospitals or medical clinics The California Board of Registered Nursing allows up to 25% of a nursing student's clinical hours to be completed through a combination of time spent training in a simulation lab and hours spent practicing on student colleagues in a clinical lab setting Students must also pass board exams after they graduate Researchers aiming to improve healthy birth outcomes in Japan have identified a compound that is a practical indicator of microbiome health and invented a smart tape to remotely monitor mothers for signs of unusual contractions “We are beginning to see that babies inherit the microbiome and epigenome of their mother at birth,” explains Kiminori Nakamura from Hokkaido University’s Faculty of Advanced Life Science An antimicrobial peptide called α-defensin (imaged by Kiminori Nakamura) released by Paneth cells in the small intestine the average bodymass index of pregnant mothers in Japan is decreasing and the microbiomes that mothers pass on to their babies appear to be changing along with Hokkaido University researchers is investigating the link between a mother’s microbiome and the likelihood of low-weight births as well as the health of low birth weight babies over time run through Hokkaido University’s Center of Innovation aims to reduce the rate of low-weight births in Iwamizawa the city with Japan’s second lowest birth rate a compound secreted from cells in the small intestine called Paneth cells is key to evaluating a mother and child’s microbiome a leading figure in inflammatory bowel disease “These cells were largely ignored in the research world 30 years ago but are garnering much attention today for their role in innate immunity and regulating gut flora,” he says Recent studies find that α-defensin plays a significant role in controlling microbiome diversity; in 2020 Ayabe and Nakamura found that mice with Crohn’s disease released a deformed version of α-defensin The compound serves as a potent microbicide against pathogens and lifestyle diseases are associated with low microbiome diversity the team has started to position α-defensin as a proxy for evaluating microbiome health “A ‘good’ microbiome can look very different between people Just because a person doesn’t have the same microbial profile as another healthy person it does not mean that they are unhealthy,” says Nakaoka who performs big data analyses in the project it becomes difficult to identify similarities.” plays a role distinct from prebiotics and probiotics “α-Defensins are about leveraging a mechanism programmed into the body’s own cells rather than about feeding or consuming microbes as is the case with prebiotics and probiotics Although prebiotics and probiotics are important in themselves α-defensins show us that the body’s innate mechanism for controlling microbiome diversity is also a crucial element to consider,” he says Paneth cells (imaged by Kiminori Nakamura) found at the bottom of crypts in the small intestine secrete α-defensins in response to bacteria Nakamura developed a technology to measure α-defensins from human stool samples they continue to find associations between α-defensin and metabolomes from thousands of samples collected from mothers and their children over several years Nakaoka’s analyses are bringing to light the types of foods that stimulate Paneth cells into secreting α-defensin “Some ingredients that we are examining are those that our business collaborators provide while others are ingredients in Japan’s traditional herbal kampo medicine,” explains Nakamura our group found that leucine − a type of amino acid − increases α-defensin secretion in mice is turning out to be more sophisticated.” Eventually they hope these findings will serve as a basis for personalized diet recommendations in preventing low-weight births Closely linked to low birth weights are premature births To allow the remote detection of warning signals is developing a wearable device that detects uterine contractions The technology could prove particularly useful in rural Hokkaido where pregnant women from far away villages sometimes have to rent shortterm accommodation in urban areas for months to be close to services as they prepare for delivery this means leaving their other children behind in the care of others for an extended period Umazume describes the new wearable device − designed in partnership with a tape manufacturer − as a tape with pressure sensors that mothers can attach themselves across the abdomen Takeshi Umazume (pictured) of Hokkaido University Hospital is developing a wearable device that detects unusual uterine contractions remotely “When contractions suddenly become frequent it can be an indicator that there is inflammation in the uterus and some women have to give birth early via a C-section,” says Umazume “Contractions are a simple signal that can tell us loads about an expecting mother’s state of health allowing us to monitor 24-7.” A corresponding smartphone app also records signals from the device so that clinicians and mothers can receive alerts when labour is imminent Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More HONOLULU — The Hawaii State Senate on Thursday unanimously confirmed three judges to serve on the Circuit Court of the First Circuit on Oahu Timothy Ho and John Montalbano were each interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday and each nomination was unanimously recommended for consent at a follow-up session on Wednesday Kawashima was approved for a term to expire in 2032 Both Ho and Montalbano’s terms will expire in six years The confirmation marked the successful end of a dozen-year quest for Ho a former chief deputy public defender who shared his desire to serve as a full-time judge in emotional testimony before the judiciary committee earlier in the week “This has been a long journey for me,” Ho told the committee “I’ve been applying pretty much for every position since 2010 meeting with senators and discussion my views but on the precipice of this moment acknowledged Ho’s perseverance in seeking a judicial position and likened it to his own political path who also expressed his belief that Ho would be a “law-and-order judge” despite his background as a public defender Ho is a per diem judge with the District Court of the First Circuit and previously worked as an associate attorney in private practice and helped with various positions at the Office of the Public Defender He also worked as a lecturer and adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii’s William S He did his undergraduate studies at Creighton University and earned his J.D is a judge with the District Court of the First Circuit and previously served as a per diem judge with the District Court He was also an attorney in private practice chief instructor of the SAT program at Le Jardin Academy and Punahou School He was an adjunct instructor with Kapiolani Community College’s paralegal program He is a graduate of Princeton University and holds a J.D from the University of Southern California Montalbano will replace retired Judge Sheri-Ann Iha in District Family Court He has served as a per diem District Court judge since 2014 He is currently on temporary active duty as the Deputy Command Judge Advocate for the 9th Mission Support Command in the U.S Army Reserve he worked in family law at Farrell & Associates and in civil litigation with Fukunaga Matayoshi Hershey & Ching he deployed as trial counsel with the 657th Area Support Group in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom He served as a deputy prosecuting attorney with the City and County of Honolulu from 2002 to 2008 Montalbano is a graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law and was admitted to the Hawaii State Bar in 2001 Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. Volume 13 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.992625 This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological Studies in the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of MathematicsView all 32 articles The use of diagrams can be effective in solving mathematical word problems solving students worldwide do not construct diagrams unprompted or have trouble using them the effects of problem-appropriate diagram use instruction were investigated with an adaptation of the multiple baseline design method and graphs was provided to 67 junior high school students in a staggered manner and the effects on problem solving of three different types of problems was examined The results showed that use of problem-appropriate diagrams increased and persisted over time the instruction led to increases in problem solving performance and to decreases in perceived cognitive load These findings support the argument that effective diagram use depends on the acquisition not only of declarative knowledge but also sufficient procedural and conditional knowledge we set out to study instruction as a way of improving students’ construction of appropriate diagrams in mathematical word problem solving which helps in identifying points of intersection of two or more trajectories Three kinds of representational knowledge are a prerequisite for effective diagram construction and use: declarative (knowing that), procedural (knowing how), and conditional (knowing when; cf. Paris et al., 1983; Garner, 1990) students need to know that certain kinds of diagrams are helpful for solving certain kinds of problems (declarative knowledge) They need to know how to correctly construct the appropriate diagram based on relevant information in the problem description (procedural knowledge) they need to know when to use a diagram as well as when to use a specific kind of diagram (conditional knowledge) The question arises whether instruction about representational knowledge of different types of diagrams would increase unprompted diagram use per se and problem-appropriate diagram use in particular In investigating different types of diagram instruction the current study addresses this question and thus goes one step further than previous studies on the interplay between different types of diagrams and different types of problems For developing knowledge about diagrams, appropriate instruction appears to be necessary (van Meter and Garner, 2005; Jitendra et al., 2007; van Garderen, 2007; Uesaka et al., 2010; Manalo et al., 2019) Although instruction appears to promote spontaneity in diagram use the role of cognitive load and the effect on the correctness in problem solving particularly where more complex problems are involved Our main purpose therefore was to investigate whether diagram instruction results in increases in unprompted diagram construction we expect an increase of problem-appropriate diagrams following corresponding diagram-specific instruction correctness in solving corresponding word problems should increase and persist over time we expect to see corresponding decreases in levels of perceived cognitive load when working on mathematical word problems This design involves giving the three types of instruction in a staggered manner and observing the effect on all types of problems for the same participants an increase in the use of line diagrams specifically and corresponding improvement in problem solving performance should only occur after the line diagram instruction and exclusively for the targeted Compare quantities problems not the Predict patterns and Compare trajectories problems this design is more appropriate than a “no instruction” control group because it allows comparisons of (1) the same students (within-participant design) and (2) several kinds of instruction H1: Diagram instruction leads to an overall increase in unprompted use of diagrams H2: Diagram instruction leads to an increase in the use of problem-appropriate diagrams persisting in time H3: Diagram instruction increases problem-solving performance (correct answer rates) H4: Diagram instruction reduces perceived cognitive load A faculty ethics committee of Kyoto University approved the study participants received verbal and written explanations Informed consent was obtained from all participants and their parents This estimated that 46 participants would be required to detect a statistically significant difference for the assumed small to medium size effect (ƒ = 0.25 Considering class sizes in the school (≤ 25 students) three classes were included to ensure minimal sample size The experimental sessions were conducted during regular class sessions All the students participated but three missed some sessions and their data were excluded Data from 67 students (female = 36) were used in the analyses Three dedicated instruction sessions covered the use of line Instruction and practice sessions were held during regular class sessions (45 min duration) The instructions were given by the first author To ensure fidelity to plan and equivalence of the three instruction sessions the authors discussed all contents and the instructional steps were determined in advance PowerPoint slides were prepared and used to guide instruction The instruction covered (1) the characteristics and functions of each kind of diagram (declarative knowledge) (2) the types and features of mathematics word problems that each diagram is useful for (conditional knowledge) and (3) the ways of constructing and the reasoning behind each diagram (procedural knowledge) the students solved example problems and constructed diagrams individually Line diagrams, also known as “line numbers” or “tape diagrams” (Murata, 2008) visually express quantities as line segments Line diagrams allow inferring relationships between sums Constructing a line diagram involves converting quantities to lines to enable easier visual comparisons of the lengths of the lines Conditional knowledge included that line diagrams are helpful for solving complex problems about relationships between quantities students were asked to construct line diagrams in solving three word problems (isomorphic but different from those used in the tests) The instructor explained and demonstrated how tables are effective for organizing numbers or quantities of two variables of interest The students were told that creating an array for one variable and then arranging the second variable in a corresponding array would clarify the relationship between the two variables a table makes it easier to find the rule that determines how the two variables change (declarative knowledge) The conditional knowledge conveyed was that tables are helpful for identifying a consistent pattern or rule of change in quantities to predict a future amount the students practiced constructing tables for use in solving three isomorphic word problems The instructor explained that graphs (more specifically cartesian graphs) are useful for visually representing complex variations or changes of quantities and gave a demonstration on how to represent two variables of a word problem as points with connecting lines on the x-and y-axes The declarative knowledge included that graphs enable visual awareness of the change in quantities as they increase It also included knowledge about how graphs can be used such as extending two lines on graphs to find their intersection The conditional knowledge conveyed was that a graph should be used for complicated processes of change that require projections of future events the students practiced constructing graphs in solving three isomorphic problems Five isomorphic problems (same problem structure but with different cover stories) for each of three problem types (Compare quantities and Compare trajectories) were used for three types of problem-appropriate diagrams (line Compare quantities problems contained information about the magnitudes of lengths or distances. Solving these problems involved comparing these quantities. Line diagrams are appropriate because constructing a correct visual representation of the lengths not only provides a schematic layout of the problem situation, but also supports identification and working out of missing or unknown lengths (see example problems in Table 1) Predict patterns problems contained information about quantities at multiple times or stages Students were not informed of the rule-based character of the changes Solving these problems required students to infer the rule and predict future quantities Tables are appropriate because their structure makes patterns of changes visible which leads to apprehending the underlying rule Compare trajectories problems contained information about actions from two or more entities (usually people) Solving these problems required students to compare trajectories of the different entities Graphs are appropriate because they enable plotting distances (relative to a point of reference) across time which in turn enables comparing trajectories the 15 problems (5*3) were given to five mathematics teachers (female = 1; mean teaching experience = 9.2 years SD = 2.8 years) to check whether they were comparable and suitable for the intended grade level (14-year-olds at junior high school) Minor adjustments were made based on the teacher feedback The revised problems were administered to 29 students from another school (female = 12; mean age = 13.2 years) Multiple comparisons using paired t-tests of the correct answer rates revealed no significant differences between the five problems of each type they were considered equivalent and randomly used in the five test phases: Pre-test Post-test after each of the three instruction sessions An analysis grid was constructed for scoring the kind of diagram (Table 2) or computations in columns were not considered as diagrams rated all 1,005 answer sheets (5*3*67) in random order blind to both test phase (5 phases) and type of problem (3 types) The teachers first rated 20% of the answer sheets and compared and discussed their ratings with the first author The teachers then independently scored the remaining answer sheets Overall interrater agreement was high (Cohen’s kappa = 0.918) Unprompted diagram use was calculated as the presence of any kind of diagram Problem-appropriate diagram use was calculated as the use of a specific kind of diagram for a specific type of problem (line diagram for Compare quantities and graph for Compare trajectories problems) Correctness in problem solving was scored independently of diagram use two answers were required for 0.5 points each Correctness was scored 1 if both answers were correct and 0 if both were incorrect or answers were missing Cognitive load was measured using a short questionnaire for intrinsic cognitive load (Leppink et al., 2014) translated to Japanese for example “I invested a very high mental effort in the complexity of this activity,” to be answered on a 10-point Likert-type scale (0 = “not at all the case” to 9 = “completely the case”) The reliability of the scale was confirmed on the 15 problems in the preliminary study (Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.67 to 0.93) Following the multiple baseline method, instruction in the use of line diagrams, tables, and graphs was provided in a staggered manner in three sessions, respectively, (see Table 3) The procedures used in administering the tests were identical across the five phases Each test contained the three types of word problems in random order Students were given 8 min to solve each problem Students filled out the cognitive load questionnaire after solving each problem All answer sheets were collected at the end of each session or feedback on the tests were given in between sessions The Greenhouse–Geisser correction was used when the sphericity assumption was not met We performed confirmatory analysis with the non-parametric Friedman test Figure 1 shows diagram use (top row) as a function of problem type and test phase and allows comparing the percentage of answer sheets that included a diagram of any of the four kinds (cumulated shaded parts of the bars) against those that did not include any diagrams at all (white part of the bars) the unprompted use of any diagram seems to increase as a result of the instructions (white portion decreases over time) but only for the Predict patterns and Compare trajectories problems correctness in problem solving and perceived cognitive load (bottom) as a function of problem type and test phase Cognitive load was normalized to range from 0 to 1 The analysis showed no significant phase effect for Compare quantities problems [Cochran’s Q(4) = 7.26 no significant difference was found in diagram use between the tests immediately before and after the line instruction [Pre-test versus Post line McNemar’s χ2(1) = 2.88 p values were multiplied by 10 as a Bonferroni correction] the overall level of unprompted diagram use of any kind of diagram was high for Compare quantities problems (> 70%) from the beginning and stayed at such a high level throughout the five phases a significant phase effect was found (Cochran’s Q(4) = 48.35 no significant difference was found in unprompted use of any diagram between the tests immediately before and after the table instruction [Post line versus Post table McNemar’s χ2(1) = 4.84 A significant increase was observed only after graph instruction [Post line versus Post graph McNemar’s χ2(1) = 22.09 unprompted use of any diagram for Predict patterns problems did not increase nor decrease from the Post graph to the Delayed test [Post graph versus Delayed McNemar’s χ2(1) = 0.11 unprompted use of any diagram increased following table instruction in the corresponding Predict patterns problems a significant phase effect was also found for Compare trajectories problems [Q(4) = 64.55 The significant increase in unprompted use of any diagram followed graph instruction [Post table versus Post graph McNemar’s χ2(1) = 13.44 It seemed to still increase from the Post graph to the Delayed test but this was not significant [Post graph versus Delayed McNemar’s χ2(1) = 3.00 unprompted diagram use of any diagram for the corresponding Compare trajectories problems significantly increased and sustained We expected an increase of problem-appropriate diagrams specifically. In other words, we expected increases in the use of line diagrams for comparing quantities, tables for predicting patterns, and graphs for comparing trajectories. Such problem-appropriate diagram use should occur directly following the corresponding instruction and persist in time even after alternative diagram instruction. Figure 1 does show this expected pattern of results The use of each of the three types of diagrams increases after the corresponding instruction but only for the expected type of problem although some line diagrams were also used for comparing trajectories the use of line diagrams increased for comparing quantities [phase effect in line diagram use Cochran’s Q(4) = 69.30 but not for the other two types of problems the use of tables increased for predicting patterns [phase effect in table use the use of graphs increased for comparing trajectories [phase effect in graph use again not for the other two types of problems appropriate use of line diagrams for Compare quantities problems directly followed line instruction and still increased even after alternative table and graph instructions Similar results were obtained for the Predict patterns problems table use increased significantly for solving these problems [between Pre-test to Post table test p < 0.001] and increased still further from Post table to the Delayed test [χ2(1) = 16.00 appropriate use of tables for Predict pattern problems started directly after instruction graph use increased significantly just after the graph instruction [between Pre-test to Post graph test appropriate diagram use did not further increase in the Delayed test the increase in problem-appropriate diagrams was observed directly after instruction but exclusively for the corresponding type of problem problem-appropriate diagram use tended to intensify even despite the instruction on alternative diagrams These results provide full support for the second hypothesis We expected an increase in correctness for each problem type directly following the corresponding diagram instruction and remaining stable over time. Such an improvement in problem solving can indeed be seen in Figure 1 (black bars in bottom bar graphs) Since the diagram-appropriate instruction took place in a staged fashion the number of baseline data points differs for the three problem types We therefore tested the pattern of results with three separate repeated-measurements analysis of variance ANOVA revealed a significant phase effect for Compare quantities problems Comparing adjacent phases showed that only the first contrast correctness for Compare quantities problems significantly increased following line diagram instruction and the higher level of performance in problem solving persisted throughout the four subsequent test phases We also found a significant test phase effect for Predict patterns problems [F(3.34, 220.12) = 40.06, p < 0.001, ηG2 = 0.26]. For this type of problem, Figure 1 shows that correctness increased directly after the appropriate table instruction the contrast for the comparison between Post line and Post table tests was significant correctness for Predict pattern problems augmented after the table instruction and the higher level maintained throughout the subsequent tests Finally, the test phase effect was significant for Compare trajectories problems, F(2.39, 157.56) = 33.03, p < 0.001, ηG2 = 0.26. Figure 1 clearly shows improved problem solving directly after the problem-appropriate graph instruction This expected distinct increase in correctness after graph instruction was significant Improved correctness for Compare trajectories problems sustained at the obtained higher level in the Delayed test Friedman test results provided confirmation of these significant results in the Compare quantities problems [χ2(4) = 34.15 the Predict patterns problems [χ2(4) = 99.04 and the Compare trajectories problems [χ2(4) = 90.93 we examined the relation between the use of problem-appropriate diagrams and correctness in problem solving in the Delayed test Chi-square tests for contingency tables showed that the students who produced an appropriate diagram also obtained higher correctness in problem solving [Compare quantities p < 0.05; Predict patterns p < 0.001; Compare trajectories These results show that the use of problem-appropriate diagrams is indeed concurrent with correctness in problem solving providing full support for the third hypothesis Finally, we expected that diagram instruction would decrease perceived cognitive load. Figure 1 shows that while the perceived cognitive load seems slightly decreasing over time (gray bars in bottom bar chart) the relation to diagram instruction is less marked we ran a separate analysis for each of the three problem types for the same reason given above The ANOVA showed a significant phase effect in the Compare quantities problems [F(3.52 perceived cognitive load actually increased significantly following line diagram instruction [Pre-test versus Post line test a significant decrease took place from the Post line to the Post table test Perceived cognitive load was lowest at Delayed test (significantly lower than at Pre-test line diagram instruction did not immediately lead to cognitive load reduction in solving the Compare quantities problems A significant phase effect was also found for the Predict patterns problems the pattern of perceived cognitive load variations fully supported the fourth hypothesis No change in reported cognitive load was found prior to table instruction [Pre-test versus Post line test but a significant decrease followed table instruction [t(66) = 4.37 as well as a further decrease observed in the next Post graph test Cognitive load did not further decline in the Delayed test evidence was found that table instruction reduced perceived cognitive load in solving the corresponding Predict patterns problems the analysis of perceived cognitive load showed a main effect of test phase for the Compare trajectories problems while there was no change in perceived cognitive load between Pre-test and Post line test there was an unexpected increase at Post table test [i.e. the reported load then significantly decreased [i.e. A further decrease in perceived cognitive load was found at the Delayed test [Post graph test versus Delayed test It is possible to interpret the decline in cognitive load from Post table test through to Delayed test as possibly stemming from practice effects given that no decrease in perceived cognitive load actually occurred until after graph instruction was provided we believe that on the whole these results can be taken as supporting the fourth hypothesis The results of the present study provide support for the hypotheses that we tested Diagram instruction increased unprompted use of diagrams and it increased the use of problem-appropriate diagrams the instruction led to increases in student problem solving performance and to decreases in their perception of cognitive load associated with that problem solving we consider the reasons for and meaning of these results Two previously identified key challenges are that students generally lack spontaneity in diagram use and that, even when they construct diagrams, these are often not appropriate for the problem (Hegarty and Kozhevnikov, 1999; Uesaka and Manalo, 2006; Corter and Zahner, 2007; Uesaka et al., 2007; van Garderen et al., 2012) The findings of the present study demonstrate that with instruction focusing on the correspondence between different types of problems and different kinds of diagrams both of these challenges can be resolved which would not have been helpful toward obtaining the correct solutions a crucial purpose of instruction is to enable students to determine and construct the most appropriate diagram to match the requirements of a problem significant increases in problem-appropriate diagrams were evidenced following instruction In the test phases following each instruction session all three problem types were administered (in a random order) but a significant increase was observed only in the problem type corresponding to the kind of diagram for which instruction had just been provided students are able to distinguish pertinent features of a problem and consequently select the most appropriate kind of diagram for solving it They are able to develop both the necessary conditional and procedural knowledge especially for more complex mathematical word problems are not just visual or topographical representations They are of a more abstract nature that enables drawing inferences or executing necessary operations The execution of such operations is quite specific and systematic requiring the connections between pertinent details in the problem text the choice and construction of the diagram to be explicitly explained – and practiced – in instruction sessions provided so it would be useful in future studies to obtain direct measurements of cognitive load (e.g. there is also evidence from the multiple baseline design that no significant decreases in cognitive load occurred prior to instruction even in the Compare trajectories problems with three baseline points The cultivation of the necessary (and presumably incomplete) procedural knowledge and conditional knowledge was addressed in this study through explicit instruction in problem-appropriate diagram use – which proved effective in improving problem solving behaviours The findings also indicate that an important consequence of such instruction is the reduction of cognitive load specific to the problem type dealt with in the instruction Our results suggest that cognitive load reduction is instrumental not only in promoting spontaneity in diagram use but also in allowing sufficient cognitive resources to bear on the problem and hence to solve it successfully the transformational steps involved in their construction need to be better understood we used the design to evaluate the effect of instruction on multiple aspects of participant responding (behaviour perception) across variations in types of problems with the aim of demonstrating the need for problem-appropriate diagram instruction we expected resulting changes to be irreversible and thus to maintain in post-instruction test phases But we also expected the effects to be problem type-specific with limited or no transfer across the problem types the multiple baseline design has proven crucial in demonstrating not only the problem type-specific effects of the instructions but also the co-occurrence of pertinent changes in behaviour and perception (increases in appropriate diagram use and correct answer rates we have been able to demonstrate a useful variation of the multiple baseline design that may have potential further applications in classroom educational research The results of the present study indicate that teachers need to explicitly provide instruction on diagram use if their students are to use them effectively in mathematical word problem solving Many students will not likely construct a diagram if they lack adequate knowledge and skills: it may seem too demanding and any effort in constructing a diagram may not pay off Necessary problem-appropriate diagram instruction largely depends on teachers possessing the corresponding knowledge and skills some teachers may be proficient in using diagrams in mathematical word problem solving but may not have considered how to articulate such knowledge to convey it effectively to their students It is therefore important to incorporate training in this area both for pre-service teachers in mathematics education as well as for in-service teachers who may need upskilling through professional development courses we tested our hypotheses on the use of only three kinds of diagrams to solve three kinds of mathematical word problems This is an important limitation to note as there are other kinds of diagrams that can be used to solve other types of problems and it would be imperative to examine those in future research our student participants all came from the same grade level in one school We acknowledge that student capabilities in both mathematical word problem solving and diagram use would vary according to their age and grade level as well as other aspects of their educational experiences Thus it would also be useful to evaluate the effectiveness of problem-appropriate instruction on diagram use on students at other grade levels and from different educational backgrounds The instructions were also provided by the first author and an assisting teacher rather than the students’ real classroom teachers An important step to take in future research would be to develop and evaluate instruction that real classroom teachers could use in cultivating diagram use capabilities in their own students The results of this study indicate that instruction on diagram use enables the construction and use of appropriate diagrams improves ability to correctly solve problems and reduces perception of the cognitive load associated with mathematical word problem solving The instruction needs to be problem-appropriate meaning that students need to learn specific details about the construction and use of different kinds of diagrams relevant to solving specific types of problems As mathematical word problem solving is one crucial means by which understanding of the relevance of mathematics in the real world is cultivated and diagram use is arguably one of the most effective heuristics for solving them the effect of instruction indicated by our findings warrants serious consideration – especially as the extent to which such instruction is currently provided in most classrooms may be too general and thus inadequate The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because the datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available because we did not obtain consent for secondary use from the participants but have a possibility to be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Hiroaki Ayabe, YXlhYmVAYWNhZGVtaW9uLmNvbQ== Japanese multinational electronics and ceramics manufacturer Kyocera Corporation began construction of a new manufacturing facility at its existing Kyoto Ayabe complex in Ayabe City Organic packages for telecommunication devices Kyocera’s third facility at the complex will strategically expand the company’s production capabilities of organic packages for microelectronic devices The new plant will commence operations in April 2017 Kyocera is investing in the new facility to meet the expected growth for its packaging products due to the increasing demand for consumer devices that incorporate multiple internal modules for camera The company also sees an opportunity from the expanding internet of things (IoT) which is expected to provide new applications for its products Microelectronic devices such as wireless and sensor chips are increasingly being used in packaging solutions based on organic material technology The new production facility will have a built area of 13,143m² and 25,420m² of floor space It will be a two-storey building embedded in steel frames The building is designed with environment-friendly features such as wastewater recycling systems for reusing water emissions The new plant will manufacture miniaturised low-profile organic packages used for packing microelectronic devices used inside smartphones tablet PCs and other telecommunications devices The microelectronic packaging products provide higher functionality greater integration and slimmer designs in mobile communications equipment The Kyoto Ayabe complex was constructed in 2005 and manufactures a wide variety of organic packaging products such as flip-chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) substrates for high-end application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) high-end technologies have been added to the complex including high-density wiring and automated production processes to create smaller and lower-profile products the complex was operated by the former Kyocera Circuit Solutions (KCS) specialising in high-density organic wiring boards packages and large-scale printed motherboards for semiconductor devices KCS was merged into Kyocera Corporation on 1 April 2016 resulting in the transfer of the complex’s operating rights to the parent company The merger was a part of business integration strategy to support the development of new products and markets while further expanding business synergies The second facility at the Kyoto Ayabe complex was constructed in mid-2014 flip-chip chip scale packaging (FC-CSP) for use in smartphones and tablet PCs The plant is targeted to eventually reach an annual production of JPY20bn ($282m) Kyocera Corporation was established in 1959 and integrates them with other technologies It also manufactures solar power generating systems cutting tools and components for medical and dental implant systems Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network Who's news: June 3USA TODAY NETWORK-WisconsinMichael Verstegen an independent LPL financial advisor at VandenBoom Verstegen Wealth Management in Kimberly has announced his inclusion in LPL’s Chairman’s Council Club This premier award is presented to less than five of the firm’s approximately 15,000 advisors nationwide Verstegen has been providing financial services to clients in the Fox Valley for 15 years.  Primrose Retirement Community of Appleton has hired Stacy Arendt to be the Memory Care Nursing Director Arendt brings more than 10 years of experience in senior living is expected to be open in the fall of 2018 Kathleen Cowling has been hired as the Director of Nursing. She began her duties in April and brings 34 years in geriatric care.  Deep River Partners, a Milwaukee-based architecture and interior design firm has announced that Trevor Koehler has joined the design team graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning in 2017 Expert Real Estate Partners welcomes six agents to the company to meet the fast-paced demand of the real estate market Finco will join its Northeast Wisconsin Market Advisory Board of Directors Finco is owner and president of Leonard & Finco Public Relations a full-service public relations firm founded in 1992 She is the first and only woman to sit on the Green Bay Packers Board of Directors seven-member Executive Committee She also serves on the Personnel and Compensation Committee the Director Affairs Committee and the Packers Foundation Board of Trustees Mid-Day Women's Alliance awarded its inaugural MDWA/CAP Services Mentoring grant to Amanda Santoro recently launched a baby-food subscription service Santoro will receive $1,500 and a year of business mentoring from CAP Services Business Development Division Six new members were elected to Lawrence University’s Board of Trustees at its May meeting is a retired attorney who spent 25 years as the managing partner of the law firm Ayabe He served as Hawaii’s deputy attorney general from 1970-72 and was elected president of the Hawaii State Bar Association in 1995 He is a 1967 Lawrence graduate and earned a law degree at the University of Iowa. Dean DuMonthier is the managing director and portfolio manager for international equities with Minneapolis-based Winslow Capital Management he is a 1988 Lawrence graduate and earned an MBA from Northwestern University. Dennis Klaeser is executive vice president and chief financial officer of Chemical Financial Corporation and Chemical Bank He also earned a master’s degree in social service and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Northwestern University. Barbara Lawton was the first woman elected lieutenant governor in Wisconsin Lawton has focused on campaign finance reform serving as president and CEO of Americans for Campaign Reform and co-founding Issue One She serves on the Advisory Board for the national Millennial Action Project and for the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service A Green Bay native and 1987 Lawrence graduate she also earned a master’s degree in Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Ambassador Christopher Murray retired in 2016 after a 40-year career in the U.S His most recent assignment was as the political advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander for NATO Forces in Europe after serving as the U.S Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo from 2010-13 He is a 1975 Lawrence graduate and earned a J.D degree from Cornell Law School. Bao Ha is completing his final year in Northrop Grumman’s Future Technical Leaders Program a three-year professional development program which selects top M.S./Ph.D candidates in targeted science and engineering disciplines Ha graduated from Lawrence in 2007 and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D in applied physics at the California Institute of Technology UW-Extension in Calumet County has announced the addition of Agriculture Extension Educator Amber O’Brien This position will focus on issues facing farm management O'Brien previously worked at Holsum’s Elm Dairy and Drumlin Dairy in Calumet County and recently earned her bachelor’s degree from UW-Green Bay Japanese version Japanese version Pali Momi celebrated 25 years of medical service in Aiea July 31 in the hospital’s courtyard VIP community and business leaders joined in the evening’s festivities honoring the landmark anniversary Photos by Anthony Consillio aconsillio@midweek.com Update: As it turns out, this “latest issue” we mention is from June 2013. An oversight on my part. Even so, that doesn’t change the fact that Ayabe is interested in a new Boku no Natsuyasumi for PlayStation 4 Original: Millennium Kitchen boss Kaz Ayabe wants to make a new Boku no Natsuyasumi (My Summer Vacation) game for PlayStation 4, he told the latest issue of Scroll “That’s actually something I want to do in the future,” Ayabe said when asked about the possibility of a new entry for PlayStation 4 I don’t want to do that without practicing so I feel like I want a ‘practice’ title If I could come up with a plan for a good practice title like that The latest entry in the Sony-owned Boku no Natsuyasumi series, which are about a boy on his summer vacation, was Boku no Natsuyasumi 4 for PSP. PlayStation 3 got its own taste of the franchise with Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 Ayabe’s latest game, Attack of the Friday Monsters: A Tokyo Tale for 3DS combines the summer vacation aspect of Boku no Natsuyasumi with the fantasy of kaiju Ayabe said he would also like to further explore the fantasy genre as well as create a girls’ version of a vacation game set in the winter Thanks, NeoGAF Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without acknowledgment of Gematsu is prohibited Use of this site is governed by all applicable laws Website by 44 Bytes photographer Anders Edström talks us through the very personal location he chose for his story in AnOther Magazine A/W09 Anders Edström:These photographs were taken in Ayabe It’s just outside Yoshiko’s  (my wife) grand parents house I was the first westerner they had seen since the end of the Second World War when American troops came through the village They have worked all their lives on the fields Mainly about the weather and how things were growing At the end of his life he couldn’t remember much so I was surprised he remembered my face until just before he died because I had helped him pick yuzu a few years before a feature film he co-directed won a Golden Leopard at Locarno International Film Festival and the Douglas E He lives in Tokyo with his wife and two children Kaz Ayabe's name doesn't quite carry the same weight as Keiji Inafune Goichi Suda or Yasumi Matsuno outside of Japan But like his compatriots in Level 5's Guild series the sequence of short 3DS games to which Ayabe's Attack of the Friday Monsters belongs and one that's responsible for one of the most delightful offshoots in Japanese gaming over the last decade has earned Ayabe and his studio Millenium Kitchen a reputation in Japan for peculiarly gentle adventures though sadly none of the series has ever been translated for the west since its inception in 2000 More's the pity: charting the holiday adventures of Boku a 10-year old with a free spirit and a month's worth of free time to indulge it they're disarmingly delicate recreations of Ayabe's own lost summers Attack of the Friday Monsters isn't an explicit part of Millenium Kitchen's other series a 10-year old transfer student who finds himself wandering the streets of Fuji no hana a small suburb in Tokyo's Setagaya district over the course of a summer afternoon in 1971 So much of the joy in Attack of the Friday Monsters comes in the playful innocence of exploring such a well-realised place and far from the bright lights and searing neon of more traditional depictions dusty high street webs out into several quiet alleys while the outskirts are little hedged warrens with undiscovered corners It's perfectly evocative of the impossibly long summer days of youth filling you with nostalgia for a childhood that likely was never yours There's a tender menace underlying Sohta's adventures first felt in the bickering between your father a dry cleaner struggling to set up business and a mother who feels her partner's underachieving It's there as well in the strangers Sohta meets and slowly becomes acquainted with opening up a series of overlapping quests that can be tackled at will And it's there in the Friday Monsters themselves an embodiment of the Kaiju genre that also informs Ayabe's game Most famously depicted in films such as Godzilla in Sotha's world these mythical beasts live somewhere between his imagination and the smoke stacks that billow from the factories on the horizon and Attack of the Friday Monsters enjoys playing with where that line exactly lies As a charismatic facsimile of a childhood lost in thrall to conspiracy and discovery Sohta's story can be played through in the course of an afternoon the mystery unraveled after two to three hours It's a brave game that doesn't outstay its welcome and as the upbeat but strangely melancholy theme song plays over the credits ("Both my Mom and Dad love me/I don't really know why what should I do?" sings Sohta) there's only a slight pang of regret that it's all over so soon The backbone of Sohta's adventure involves simply talking to friends and strangers to move the plot along and it's lightly padded with a card battling mini-game that's trivial enough to hardly be there at all Pocked around Fuji no Hana are glowing glims; collect enough and you'll unlock a new battling card and with a full deck you can battle Sohta's friends in an undisguised variant of rock-paper-scissors and while insignificant it fits perfectly into Attack of the Friday Monsters' world playful and customisable incantation that sees them flopping on the floor at your command much like Attack of the Friday Monsters itself yet it also captures the inquisitive naivety of childhood and of a world where young imaginations blossom to fill the long hours of hot summer afternoons And if you've any interest in seeing how effectively a game can transport you to a different time and place you probably should dedicate an afternoon of your own to Ayabe's curious © 2025 Eurogamer.net a brand of IGN Entertainment No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission Eurogamer is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited Leaf KYOTO Open on November 8 ［Authentic Chinese cuisine at Sanbon Chinese Restaurant Chinese Restaurant SANBON opened on November 8 just a few minutes' walk from Ayabe Station the owner decided to open his own restaurant in order to make authentic Chinese cuisine more accessible to customers The restaurant's recommendation is the marbled tofu which has a complex flavor and is loved by men and women of all ages thanks to the careful attention paid to cooking methods is also attractive in that it takes only a few minutes from ordering to serving Be sure to stop by this remarkable new restaurant that will make you want to go out of your way to try it Yuuji Ayabe is set to appear in this winter’s Movie War the new hero who drives a car despite being called a Rider he will steal the title of “Kamen Rider.” Clad in a fluttering hat and tuxedo he hides behind his white cape and leads Drive around in games as Kamen Rider Lupin Ayabe commented: “If you’re a man then you know how much of a dream it is to be Kamen Rider and just knowing that I get to become one still surprises me I’ve worked hard not to disappoint children or Kamen Rider fans everywhere I hope you enjoy Kamen Rider Lupin.” Kamen Rider Drive x Kamen Rider Gaim: Movie War Full Throttle will be released in Japanese theaters on December 13th Source: Cinema Today This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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Enter your email address to subscribe to the Tokusatsu Network and receive notifications of new posts by email Leaf KYOTO ［2023] Six Fireworks Festivals accessible from Kyoto fireworks festivals are scheduled to be held in various locations revived after the Corona disaster for the first time in four years and becoming more and more powerful From traditional festivals to Shiga's summer traditions we have picked up fireworks displays recommended by our editorial department that can be reached from Kyoto Don't miss out on these exciting summer events The Peace Festival is held every August as an event to commemorate Kameoka City's declaration of "World Federation Peace City Declaration" in 1955 This is the first time in the city's history that a fireworks display of 10,000 shots is held The highlight of the festival is the musical fireworks fused with music all areas of the festival will be completely ticketed so visitors will need to purchase a paid ticket (2,000 yen or more) to view the fireworks and use the food stalls Lake Biwa's summer tradition returns for the first time in four years Many people have been waiting for this event which will be held for the 37th time this year It features an underwater starmine (rapid-fire series) shot from two locations allowing visitors to enjoy fireworks from various angles against the backdrop of the rich natural environment fireworks will be launched under the theme of "Shiga Rhythm of Summer: The Revival of the Lake Biwa Grand Fireworks Festival This event started about 400 years ago as a Bon festival festival to pray for the spirits of the dead and is now one of the three major lantern floating festivals in Japan The event is now one of the three major lantern floating festivals in Japan This summer festival in the ancient capital has a 100-year history which began at the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912) when lanterns were floated down the river as a memorial service for ancestors the lantern floating has been succeeded as "Mantonagashi" to pray for peace and colorful lanterns are floated down the Yura River The festival reaches its climax at 8:00 p.m which are launched right in front of you from the banks of the Yura River featuring musical fireworks set off to music with a dance and brass band performance by local junior high and high school students including performances by public bands and dance teams will offer a chance to win gorgeous prizes and the climax of the festival will be a fireworks display right in front of you The climax of the festival will be a spectacular fireworks display right in front of you This event will be held at the International Conference Center one of Japan's leading modernist architectures and home to a historic Japanese garden where visitors will be able to enjoy a variety of drinks and a boxed lunch while enjoying a powerful fireworks display from the adjacent Takaragaike Pond Held for the first time in four years as a sign of recovery from Corona 2023 (Sun.) 17:00 - 20:30* (rain or shine) Japanese version Copyright THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. At the head of Millennium Kitchen is Mr. Kaz Ayabe, and it was our good fortune to have the chance to speak with him about Shin-Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation and a few other topics. I greatly appreciate Mr. Ayabe taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions about the game and his career. Well, that’s enough preamble. Let’s get to the good stuff, shall we? TouchArcade (TA): Thank you for your time, Mr. Ayabe. Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and what your role is on Shin-Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation – The Endless Seven-Day Journey? And what are your favorite pizza toppings? Kaz Ayabe (KA): Nice to meet you! I’m Kaz Ayabe. I have been developing games for 36 years since entering the industry in 1986. As for my role in “Shin-Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation”, I was in charge of the script, game design and the environmental art for the background. As for pizza toppings, I like prawns and anchovies! TA: How did Shin-Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation come to be? Did the owners of Crayon Shin-Chan approach you, or did you have the idea for a Shin-Chan game first and had to approach them? KA: The idea of combining Shin-Chan’s IP and Summer Vacation came from Mr. Nagashima, a producer from NEOS Corporation. It was part of his idea to have me develop the game. TA: Shin-Chan is extremely well-known in Japan, but perhaps less so in other parts of the world. What do you think is the appeal of this character and his world? What does Shin-Chan bring to this kind of game? KA: Shin-chan is very popular in Japan. The protagonists of the “Boku no Natsuyasumi” (My Summer Vacation) series are often energetic, fun, and curious, and Shin-chan fits the bill perfectly. Although “Shin-Chan: Me and The Professor On Summer Vacation” is not part of the “Boku No Natsuyasumi” series, I think it is not surprising that many people misunderstand it. TA: Western gamers, particularly Nintendo fans, may have played one of your previous works, Attack of the Friday Monsters for the Nintendo 3DS. What are some of similarities and differences between that game and this one? KA: There are indeed, many similarities with “Attack of the Friday Monsters”, too many to count in fact. The difference is that there are features from the “Boku No Natsuyasumi” series in “Shin-Chan: Me and The Professor On Summer Vacation”, such as picture diaries. (Attack of the Friday Monsters, Nintendo 3DS) TA: The Boku no Natsuyasumi series was one of the trailblazers for the “slow life" category of games. As part of the early wave of such games, how do you feel when you see how popular they have become over the years? KA: I am really happy! Perhaps it is not that my games have been ahead but rather, what makes everyone feels comfortable with has remained the same for the past 20 years. TA: What is your personal favorite thing about Shin-Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation? KA: My favorite part of the game is when everyone reads a picture book together at the porch at night. TA: Can you talk about any of the challenges you may have had in preparing this game for the global market? KA: I am actually not really involved in the overseas expansion operations of the game so it might be better for you to ask NEOS Corporation about that. NEOS Corporation: There were two challenges. 1) We had to ensure that the game supports multiple languages such as English and Spain. 2) We had to simultaneously develop the game for multiple platforms such as PS4 and PC. TA: Your games are extremely effective at evoking a powerful feeling of nostalgia, even for those who may not have personally experienced such locations or eras first-hand. What do you think it is about your games that gives them that power? KA: I was born and raised in Hokkaido, which is one of the coldest regions in Japan with very short summers. Perhaps that is the reason as to why my games have a nostalgia factor. TA: I appreciate you agreeing to this interview, Mr. Ayabe. Before we finish, is there any message you would like to give to our readers? KA: Definitely try out the game if you are interested in it! By the way, while I am able to make games, I can also make pizzas on my own if I have the ingredients (Like flour and other toppings, etc). I’d like to thank Mr. Ayabe and the folks at NEOS Corporation one more time for answering our questions and facilitating this interview. And of course thanks to you, friendly readers, for your patronage. Gesser New Leaders in OIA East By Rod Ohira Writer Bert Ayabe who rushed for 96 yards in Kaimuki's 6-0 win over Kalani last Friday has taken over the OIA Eastern Division's rushing lead with 333 yards while Kaiser's Jim Gesser has moved out in front of Kahuku's Pisa Finai again in receiving with 286 yards replaced Farrington's Mata Tiave as the rushing leader Gesser caught seven passes for 65 yards in overtaking Finai who has held to minus seven yards in four catches against McKinley OTHER EAST leaders are Kaiser's Scot Chan in passing with 442 yards 23 better than scrambling Craig Ogata of Kalani; McKinley's Pat Silva in total offense with 558 yards 128 better than Chan who is second; McKinley's Gary Wong and Castle's Jeff Akamine in scoring with 40 points apiece and Roosevelt's Hank Kapiko in punting with a 39.2 average Waianae's Mike Vierra leads in three categories in the West rushing and total softense with 522 yards and with 36 points Other individual leaders are Aiea's Ken Reyes in passing with 387 yards; Aiea's Lee Balino in re- ILH Stars of the Week Lineman Scott Voeller Scott Voeller consistently in the middle of things for Damien this season came up with key stops again and again last Saturday against Kamehameha to earn ILH lineman of the week honors won out in a narrow race with Harris Matsushima of St who also happens to play the same position Augustine Montiho and Glenn Tamashiro of Damien; Kevin Lopes Greg Chee and Jeffrey Noa of Kam; John Saruwatari and Robert Mesera of the Hummers; Robert Pennybacker of Punahou Damien quarterback who rallied his team to a 28-28 tie with favored Kam in the last four minutes of play is a narrow winner as the ILH back of the week hit Danny Dela Cruz with two touchdown passes and also passed for two two-point conversions--including the tying pea to nose out St Louis' Kini Kini scored on runs of 60 and 77 yards and piled up 283 yards rushing for St Other backs rating high notice were Mosi Tatupu of Punahou Manoa Tied for Honolulu Lead Designated-hitter Roy Takata tripled and scored on a fielder's choice in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie and give Manoa a 3-2 win over previously unbeaten Moiliili in a Honolulu Junior AJA Baseball League game yesterday coupled with Kalihi's 9-1 win over Kaneohe threw the second-round race into a three-way tie for first between Manoa IN THE only other game yesterday at Ala Wai Field Clyde Shijo scattered four hits in going the distance for Manoa which was led by Ivar Fujimori's two hits Moiliili tied the Car Insurance Savings here Alexander Young Bldg Kailua 261-4654 Aikahl Park Center 254-2550 910 Kesaumoku 949-6526 Airport Shopping Plaza 677-8655 In Hilo 730 Kilauea Ave 935-1368 NOW LOW KUDLICH RATES FOR ALL DRIVERS Men SKIP Women KUDLICH all ages helping Hawaii save on general insurance The 0 Ala Moana park to Kapiolani park via Kalakaua MUUMUU Ball On Stage and Screen Events "SEVEN film directed by Kurosawa "CHOLE IN THE French film with English subtitles "The Cowardly Bandits" and "The Monkey Skin Oct "SLAUGHTERHOUSE film based on the novel by Kurt Vonnegut "A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM." Musical Hawaii Performing Arts Manoa Valley Theater "ARTHUR AND THE MAGIC Honolulu Theater for Youth "A DAY IN OLD presented by the Queen Emma Hawaiian Civic club 605 Kapiol ani paintings by William TwiggSmith (1883-1950) "Nature Forms of Polynesia" paintings by MaryLou Williams Hawaii Handweavers' Hui annual exhibit Acrylic paintings and drawings by Edward Stasack PHOTOGRAPHIC Color portraits on canvas by Damien Waring Notices 5 TRYOUTS for Mardi Gras show in Feb non-profit organization devoted to aiding executives to find employment counseling and academic planning for women interested in returning to school In Our Schools 8 CLASS REUNIONS (12)) KOHALA High school Waikiki Aquarium 2777 Kalakaua speaker: Alan D Horizons subcommittee to legitimitize and encourage local culture MoiliiliMcCully library; also subcommittee to invent a widely acceptible future discussion of proposed 650 unit cluster condominium Volunteers Wanted INFORMATION is provided by the Volunteers Service Bureau groups for "Islandwide Facel irt." Obituaries 1973 OCTOBER 1973 MT WT 1 2.3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30.31 The Pulse of Paradise is a convenient free listing of important activities in our community Information must be mailed one week before the event and telephone number of the sender must be included Notices cannot be accepted by telephone and the notices of a purely commercial nature will not be published "Standing" notices (for events that repeat week after week) will not be accepted A separate announcement must be submitted for each one ACTIVITIES assistant for children at a hospital school PERSON interested in research and working with the legislation ONE TO ONE relationship with handicapped children and adults at a swimming meet in Oct VOLUNTEER: Provide limited counseling for persons with alcohol and drug problems VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: to do office work for social service center energetic and concerned volunteers regarding the MIA situation 19: "Contradiction and Conflict in by Jeff Davidson 26: "Culture and Mental health: Another facet of the problems of both lectures 7:30 p.m. INTRODUCTORY lectures on Transcendental Meditation Your Health CARDIAC REHABILITATION program medically supervised exercise program for people recovering from heart attacks Free Clinics by Hawaii Planned Parenthood at Wahiawa Palama Settlement Queen's Medical Center and Kapahulu Health Center Information and help on alternatives to abortion 732-1414; HAWAII PLANNED Parenthood VD clinic 572-8027; KAUAI: 822-4123; MOLOKAI: 533-5271 and HAWAI1: 935-5949 MOBILE CHEST X-Ray unit schedule for the week of Oct 10:30 a.m.12:15 and p.m.; Wed: Oahu Sugar Waipahu collected history of Hawaii's past and artifacts of early Polynesians on display operated by the Bishop Museum; Museum open daily historical church founded by early Missionaries Tomb of King Lunalilo located on the grounds guides and diving instructors in snorkeling 18 HONOLULU TIDES HIGH LOW SUN- SUNDAY TIME HT RISE SET 15 6:29 am 2.3 1:56 pm 0.5 6:27 6:07 6:03 pm 0.8 11:35 pm 0.1 16 7:27 am 2.2 3:20 pm 0.5 6:28 6:07 7:20 pm 0.7 17 8:32 am 2.2 12:30 am 0.2 6:28 6:06 9:04 pm 0.7 18 9:40 am 2.1 1:39 pm 0.4 6:28 6:05 10:56 pm 0.8 5:36 pm 0.3 TWILIGHT: Morning and Evening twilight last 22 minutes TIDES ELSEWHERE High Low Time Haleiwa 04 2 08 earlier Hanalei 30 1 50 earlier Hanauma Bay 1 01 0 earlier Hilo 1 01 0 56 earlier Honuapo 28 0 19 earlier Kailua-Kona 28 0 25 earlier Kaneohe later Kealakekua earlier Laie Bay -000000000 earlier Lahaina 37 earlier 03 0 25 earlier Mahukona 20 earlier Nawiliwili 0 28 0 20 earlier Waianae Wakes will be held Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m Masonic services will be held Wednesday at 8 p.m and funeral services will be held Thursday at 9:30 a.m Burial will follow at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific He was a teacher at Puuhale Elementary School for about 20 years Aloha Temple AAONMS and the See Dai Doo Society Walter Ching Thomas Takeuchi Thomas Taketoshi Takeuchi of 4970 Waa died Saturday in Queen's Medical Center He was a claims adjuster supervisor at Pacific Insurance Co He was a member of the Waialae-Iki Community Association Buzzard Golf Club and He is survived by his widow He was born in Puunene and was a County employe Funeral services were scheduled at 6:30 p.m June Kaukau of Honolulu and Gerri Yamashiro of Haiku; and nine grandchildren Funeral services over his cremated remains were held yesterday at Nakamura Mortuary Services were held yesterday at Hilo Meishoin four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren Fowler former Hawaii Visitors Bureau official were held Saturday when his ashes were scattered at sea Obituaries will be published at a later date John Driver Dies; Former Pine Official Gesser score at 2-2 in the sixth inning on Wayne Oshiro's two-run single to right which brought in Howard Nakata and Ross Higa Carl Furutani and Kerry Kiyabu combined for a as Manager Dick Kitamura's Kalihi team won its third game in four decisions Craig Nakagawa had three hits and four RBIs for the winners while Mel Yamase drove in two more runs Kalihi scored four runs in the first inning to give Furutani all he needed to post the victory Nakagawa doubled in Donn Wakamatsu and Merl Miyashiro for the first two runs before scoring on an error Yamase tripled home Henry Furutani with the final run in the first Karl Kaneshiro and Eric Hayashikawa paired hits for Waialae in its win over Palama while Warren Gima had two hits for the losers Palama 100 010 000-2 Waialae 202 130 00x-8 11 1 Willie Fukumitsu and Milton Shinshiro Kalihi 400 400 010-9 12 2 010 000 000-1 3 6 Carl Furutani 002 000-2 4 Manoa 110 001 00x-3 7 2 Brian Asato Dean Omiya (7) and Ross Higa; Clyde Shiio and Stillman Isobe 43 better than Nanakuli's Mark Akau and Radford's Fasia Salausa in punting with a 41-yard average Balino Kahuku is tops in team offense with a 241.3 average per game in the East while Farrington is ahead in team defense with a 119.7 average Leilehua is the top defense team in the West with an 86-yard average while Waianae heads team offense with a 315.0 average PF 539 426 241.3 58 Farrington 4 512 396 227.0 88 McKinley 5 741 330 214.2 123 Castle 408 359 191.8 50 Roosevelt 4 515 172 171.8 36 5 593 259 170.4 50 Kaiser 5 194 495 137.8 38 5 190 419 121.8 27 TEAM DEFENSE YR YP AVG PA Farrington 4 158 321 119.7 25 5 356 349 141.0 54 Roosevelt 372 198 142.5 62 344 278 155.5 54 McKinley 5 518 355 174.6 53 Kahuku 451 260 177.8 43 Castle 548 266 203.5 57 Kalani Ayabe (Kaim) 333 4.1 Tiave (Farr) ..52 319 6.2 Akamine .45 311 6.9 Johnson (Kail) .63 297 4.7 Pickard (Kah) .50 292 5.8 Robello (Cast) 36 228 6.3 Wong (McK) 49 215 4.4 PASSING PA PC I YDS TO S Chan 126 38 442 1 Ogata (Kal) 81 37 2 419 Haynes 67 25 4 382 5 Anae (Kah) 57 29 3 365 2 Kaiwi 88 32 10 351 5 Silva (McK) 51 18 2 330 3 RECEIVING YDS TD Gesser (Kais) 22 286 Finai 15 231 Yamamoto (Kal) 14 151 0 Souza (Farr) 148 3 Huihui (Far 129 0 Peters (Roos) 6 108 2 TOTAL OFFENSE YR YP NET Silva (McK) ...228 330 558 S Chan (Kais) -12 442 430 Haynes (Farr) 14 382 396 Ayabe (Kaim) .333 44 377 Anae (Kah) 2 365 367 Akamine 311 35 -22 351 329 SCORING TD PAT PTS Wong (McK) 40 Akamine (Cast 40' Johnson (Kail) 30 Silva (McK) 20 Taitu NNO 26 PUNTING YDS AVG 14 507 36.2 Pearson (Kail) 15 540 36.0 Huihui 12 411 34.3 Canete (Kaim) 17 581 34.2 Chong 32 1055 33.0 DIA WEST TEAM OFFENSE YR YP AVG 980 280 315.0 99 Waipahu 993 177 292.5 63 Radford 596 414 252.5 70 533 243 194.0 Nanakuli 413 286 174.8 65 Pearl City 409 228 159.3 67 Campbell 325 166 122.8 34 Moanalua 145 189 86.0 26 Waipahu 246 159 101.3 25 305 171 119.0 13 Radford 230 367 149.3 Nanakuli 475 309 196.0 40 588 307 223.8 54 Pearl City 746 176 230.5 76 Waialua 875 199 268.5 111 Campbell 909 327 309.0 116 Moanalua 977 341 329.5 153 RUSHING YDS AVG Vierra (Waian) 87 522 6.0 Miyamoto (Waip) ..57 313 5.5 Smith (Rad) ....55 309 5.6 Kaai (PC) 307 5.7 Lau (Aiea) .48 293 6.1 Kahoonei (Waian) 70 283 4.0 Salausa (Rad) 280 8.2 PASSING PA PC I YDS TD Reyes (Aiea) 71 25 4 387 4 Napoleon (Nana) .53 17 6 286 Humalon (Waian) ..34 18 265 Dombroski (Lei) 17 3 232 Kaina (Waial) 56 16 5 220 1 Fredrickson (Moa) .68 13 6 195 RECEIVING YDS TD Balino (Aiea Coloma (Waial) 9 155 Yeager (Waian) 118 0 Stokes (Moan) 98 Soares (Nana) 94 0 TOTAL OFFENSE YR YP NET Vierra (Waian) 522 0 522 Reyes (Aiea) 33 387 420 Mauricio ..244 150 394 Miyamoto (Waip) 309 0 309 (PC) 307 0 309 Kaai 307 0 307 Dombroski (Lei) 69 232 301 SCORING TD PAT Kaai (PC) Smith (Rad) Vierra (Waian) 0 Fullum (Rad) Kahoonei (Waian) 822880 PUNTING YDS AVG 5 195 39.0 Arakaki 308 38.5 Nuuanu (Nana) ...21 795 37.9 Reyes (Aiea) 14 509 36.4 Yeager (Waian) 214 35.7 Dombroski (Lei) 14 494 35.3 Castillo (Lei) 6 211 35.2 Freitas Honored LOS ANGELES (UPI) San Diego State quarterback Jesse Freitas was named Pacific Coast Athletic Association offensive player of the week yesterday Before he received a hip pointer and had to leave the game in the third quarter in a 27-0 win over New Mexico State at San Diego Saturday night Freitas completed 18 of 28 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown manager of the Del Monte Hawaiian division for more than 20 years Driver came to Hawaii in 1930 to work for the California Packing Corp (which became Del Monte in 1967) as an assistant section superintendent on Molokai He served as division industrial relations manager from 1939 to 1945 when he was named director of pineapple production coordination at company headquarters in San Francisco He retired from the company a year ago after more than 42 years' service DRIVER was president of the Pineapple Research Institute (1953 of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii (1962) and of the Hawaii Medical Service Association (1965) the American Red Cross and other community groups Driver participated in all pineapple industry labor negotiations from the first ILWU contract until 1967 retired public relations officer for the industry "JACK HALL often said that Jack Driver's word was always as good as his bond," Roberts said former chairman of the pineapple industry's negotiating committee and now board chairman of Alexander Baldwin Driver "was a great stabilizing influence in the days when Harriet Bittenbender Mrs Funeral services were to be held today in Los Angeles and Robert Bittenbender all of California; four brothers died Thursday in Straub Clinic and Hospital Saturday at Hawaiian Memorial Park Mortuary Burial will follow in Hawaiian Memorial Park Mortuary Many Chances to See Skylab in Week Ahead Skylab will make 10 passes over the Hawaiian Islands in the next week and several of them are high enough for good viewing if the sky is cloudless The best passes for the spaceship which sometimes appears as a bright orange object moving slowly across the sky are: Wednesday at 5:42 a.m moving north to east at 22 degrees elevation above the horizon moving northwest to southeast at 58 degrees moving northwest to southeast at 69 degrees moving southwest to northeast at 51 degrees moving southwest to northeast at 81 degrees Low passes that may not be good watching include: John A Driver this was very much needed in local labor relations." THOMAS TRASK said: "The ILWU's respect for Jack Driver's word as a man and a negotiator played an important part in many difficult pineapple negotiations particularly those in the early years of unionization." John J executive vice president of the Pineapple Growers Association Jack Driver was in a leadership role in all of the pineapple industry's cooperative activities in public affairs Dixie Hughes and grand-daughters Ann and Kerry Hughes of Honolulu; a brother Services will be Thursday at Hull's Walnut Creek Chapel former president and chief executive of Mail Delivery Services in San Francisco Army in 1968 and became controller of MDS Companies He rose to president and chief executive officer of the firm the following year at the company's headquarters in San Francisco He retired in 1972 because of failing health tomorrow at Mililani Memorial Park Mortuary Private family viewing will be held from 8 to 8:30 a.m Burial will follow in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific Veteran Air Publicist Dies SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Thomas W director of public relations for American Airlines here for 19 years died today of a massive heart attack at Presbyterian Medical Center Barbour retired from the Air Force Reserve as a colonel was commander of the San Francisco Air Force Association Squadron and organized the Air Force Reserve Information Flight in San Francisco. “The Violence Action,” leans towards the comedic sub-genre of action films Despite the connections that the plot develops which almost become confusing after a point of time the film doesn’t pay much heed to clarify them but settles it all by bringing the two strongest characters face to face “The Violence Action” sets up its story pretty well but fails to deliver a proper ending in trying to deliver its action-genre promise A young guy named Terano (played by Yosuke Sugino) helps a sweet girl by paying for her bus fare Sandaime declares that he intends to choose his successor as he is about to go to prison Kinoshita’s right-hand man is Ayabe (Shunsuke Daitoh) who is the CEO of the clan’s business front who carries out all the dirty work for him The board also includes Kunitsu (Daiki Hyōdō) Michitaka (Yu Shirota) is the most dangerous assassin at Sandaime’s table including the transactions of Ayabe Finance who was admitted to the hospital after being shot a month earlier Kinoshita and Kunitsu are both fighting for the throne of the Denma-Gumi clan Terano finds alterations in the financial accounts He tells Kura that he will destroy all those who go against his family that the funds requested by their clan for stock trades are excessive and the extra money has been siphoned into a different account Kunitsu lost a lot of money after listening to Ayabe’s insider information he wants the money back by any means necessary Inside the case (that has the money) is a camera that is watching them Kei Kikuno and her team are waiting for the right moment to strike Kunitsu’s men Kei Kikuno (Kanna Hashimoto) is a student by day and a contract killer by night she is impressed by a guy who pays for her bus fare She works at the Supple and Natural Girls Delivery Service which is run by a woman addressed as “boss” (Fumika Baba) The organization uses a ramen shop as its front a middle-aged second-hand man; newly recruited Daria (Yûri Ota) who is a sniper; and Watanabe (Oji Suzuka) they receive a contract to kill a member of the Denma-Gumi clan They are supposed to kill Kunitsu when he is at a meeting with the person who hired them and Kunitsu is ultimately killed by Daria’s bullet This doesn’t go down well with Sandaime Kinoshita sends Kaneko to kill Kei and Daria This is because if Sandaime gets his hands on the girls he will find out about Kinoshita and that he was the one who got Kunitsu killed Kei manages to pull off a distraction and escape with Daria She is admitted to the same hospital where Terano’s brother Kura is admitted too Terano and Kei come face-to-face for the second time The very day on which Terano meets Kei at the hospital Terano blames the clan for his brother’s death and escapes with all the money including the amount he found inside Ayabe’s safe Kei’s services are required again by Kinoshita but this time it won’t be easy for her to kill the target Michitaka and Kaneko are still looking for Kei and Daria and will stop at nothing to kill them a person she has taken a liking to after a long time Will Kaneko or Michitaka kill Kei and Daria they will involve a lot of “violent action.” Daria observes Kaneko through her sniper scope and is shocked her parents were killed by members of the Yakuza Daria has been carrying the burden of this suffering for as long as she can remember and it is through his death that Daria finally frees herself of the burden Kunitsu and Kinoshita both die horrible deaths as a result of immoral sinister intent to be the leader of the Denma-Gumi clan What’s surprising is that both die at the hands of their brother (considering they all belong to the same clan He took pride in himself and the fact that his targets never survived He does manage to hurt Daria and Kei but ultimately suffers defeat at the hands of Kei who miraculously heals after seemingly having a dream This happened after Michitaka fired nails into her stomach Kei believes that everyone should have a dream But does this belief root in her inability to dream for herself We do not know anything about her dream or what she even wants Kei never found love as such but always dreamed of it We could understand her affection for Terano and it was evident that Terano loved her too She has been so involved in killing people that she has deliberately kept her feelings at bay so that they don’t interfere with her work we hear a female voice reminding her to dream the first person that anyone starts to love in their life The voice renews Kei’s faith in dreaming Maybe she dreams of being with Terano or at least of staying in contact with him we see how quickly she becomes her older self It is only at the end of the film that she receives a message from Terano The message contains pictures of New York and a cheesecake Both of these are what Terano told Kei he dreamed of With his two main board members (Kinoshita and Kunitsu) as well as one son (Kura) dead and the other (Terano) missing There is no one left to challenge his seat when he is serving his sentence Terano survived his fall and made it to New York He even has the three coins that Kei threw into the dam after his fall Kei threw the coins to clear her debt to him (the money Terano paid for her bus fare) in the picture with the cheesecake that Kei receives from Terano This means that Terano still remembers and thinks about Kei he has made it out alive despite being heavily wounded by Kei He found his way to Kei’s ramen shop and had a bowl of ramen This means that “The Violence Action” will have a sequel that will bring Michitaka face-to-face with Kei once again It will be more brutal as both of them will have had more experience in their art of killing so he might find a way to track him down and use him as bait to get hold of Kei Ayabe will probably serve as the leader of the Denma-Gumi clan while Sandaime is away We have to wait to see how Ayabe makes use of the position he might just have Sandaime killed and become the new head of the clan This is something that Michitaka wouldn’t like as he respects Sandaime a lot and addresses him as “Father.” Kei might also decide to go to New York and meet Terano All this proves that the potential sequel will raise the stakes of “violence action” quite a lot “The Violence Action” is a 2022 Drama Action film directed by Tôichirô Rutô