This website uses cookies By Emily Bick Inverted Audio Hot on the heels of a new release on Freedom To Spend, we caught up with Japanese artist and composer June Chikuma about ‘Les Archives’ June Chikuma has had a varied career, ranging from pioneering electronic work to recent studies in Middle Eastern music that see her performing with Le Club Bachraf, a classical Arabic music ensemble. A composer for film, TV and video games, her proto-techno and drum and bass work on the Bomberman Series went a long way to defining the soundtracks of the gaming world released by Pete Swanson’s curated RVNG sub-label Freedom To Spend is a soundtrack in a very different sense intricate arrangements and sense of perpetual motion feel like each composition is the accompaniment to a fantasy world Les Archives is all about encouraging the listener to build that world This idea of ‘Les Archives‘ being an absolute music designed to stimulate imaginations rather than dictate a narrative is something that Chikuma is keen to stress It is telling that Freedom To Spend refer to this as a reinvention and not as a reissue the tracks on ‘Les Archives‘ are all from Chikuma’s 1986 album ‘Divertimento’ with three additions from the original sessions in ‘Mujo to Ifukoto’ The label carrying out literally the rebuild Chikuma hoped for ‘Les Archives’ can be almost overwhelming in its vibrant intricacy From opening track ‘Broadcast Profanity Delay’ onward an ecosystem of textures and melodies seems to constantly jostle through abrupt turns euphoric cacophonies and vivid moments of contrast and harmony Even the mellow string quartet of Erik Satie tribute ‘Climb-Down’ delivers a hefty punch purely because of how contrasted it is with the rest of the album And it becomes clear that this music is held together by the artist’s own peculiar groove logic Although built with electronic instruments Chikuma was striving to tap into a very human rhythm one which can be felt echoing throughout eras of music samplers and sequencers at her disposal required a unique and painstaking approach ‘Les Archives’ is out now in digital and as an LP with limited edition 7” via Freedom To Spend. 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Honolulu Magazine | Honolulu Family Earthing is Frolic’s three-part series for Earth Month Each post spotlights a different way to support local food production on O‘ahu—with tips and a list of places to volunteer at the end Casey Chikuma at Ho‘oulu ‘Āina past the pink store and around the bend from Chozen-ji Buddhist temple is a 100-acre nature preserve called Ho‘oulu ‘Āina Originally part of the Kalihiihiolaumiha ahupua‘a this land was turned into a soil-dredging site in 1979 and after that a local dumping ground and refuge for squatters the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources granted Kōkua Kalihi Valley a community-based hub and holistic health center Now there is a garden that produces greens ‘ōlena and herbs; an orchard of kalo māmaki and tī; and the muddy maluawai (mountain valley region) where mountain apple trees drip with fruit in the summertime A typical volunteer day goes something like this: I arrive to find farm manager Casey Chikuma and six volunteers and staffers bent over rows of bok choy and lettuce knocking off excess soil with the other and placing the delicate greens into a large plastic tray The morning’s harvest will be washed dried and delivered to KKV’s Roots Café where it’s packed into produce boxes for kūpuna in Kalihi or goes into meals for café customers About a dozen garden beds around me are laid out in a grid bordered by wisps of California grass and random taro shoots a terrace wrapped in liliko‘i vines and structures that house offices a restroom and a small apothecary filled with medicinal plants and tinctures One of the reasons Chikuma has us working right away is to beat the heat Kalihiihiolaumiha’s various meanings include rain The place name describes not just the land but the people who are resilient to its conditions SEE ALSO: Live Your Best Mango and Locavore Life at Kalihi’s Roots Cafe He welcomes us with a brief history of the ahupua‘a and the aim of the workday: “to connect to the ‘āina generational wisdom and our vitality.” Ho‘oulu ‘Āina means “to grow the land.” This name also refers to people growing because of the land “We engage in growing food and medicine for one another and in the process cultivate our own strength and healing,” Chikuma says He wants that lesson to sink in especially we introduce ourselves to each other and the ‘āina and share a pule I put on garden gloves and get to work weeding which grows along the back of the garden: Pick one long blade rub the sap on a bite and the itchiness and swelling go away I’ve had bites heal before I’ve left the farm we grab rakes and drag them through the garden beds chopping up clumps of soil and making a plateau I chat with a couple volunteers while we work—a twenty-something from San Francisco who came to O‘ahu to explore his Filipino heritage and a mom teaching her little boy the virtue of hard work A staff member dumps a wheelbarrow full of fishbone meal onto the bed and we mix in the fertilizer before reshaping our plateau Chikuma shows us how far apart the seedlings should go—“about the length of a shaka,” he says He demonstrates how to get the tiny plants out of their cups with one firm shake We pack them into the soil and step back to marvel at our work SEE ALSO: Worth the Drive: Kahumana Farm Café in Lualualei Valley 11:45 a.m. Back in our circle, underneath shelter, we share something we are grateful for. Chikuma thanks us; I mahalo him and the other staffers. While we volunteers give our time and labor, leading a volunteer day is labor for the nonprofit workers. They teach us about Hawaiian culture, the ‘āina and how to take care of it on top of their daily farm duties. I remember being up on the mountain at Ho‘oulu ‘Āina in the pouring rain, soaked head to toe. After a morning planting tī, we climbed the mountain apple trees and ate the fruit right off the branches. It was the sweetest, juiciest mountain apple I’ve ever had. Even so, getting to be there and help take care of the ‘āina was and is the greatest reward. I often find myself humming the “mantra” track from Faxanadu side-scrolling action-RPG for the Nintendo Entertainment System Faxanadu resonated because it conveyed a fantasy world that was so different from anything I’d seen before; the World Tree was in decay its corruption palpable every step of the way The sepia-stained visuals and difficult gameplay were perfectly complemented by its moody And that, it turned out, was Chikuma’s work. These days, she is best known for her massive contributions to the Bomberman series almost single-handedly defining that series’ energetic eclectic sound in the late ‘80s and throughout the ‘90s Inspired by my fond childhood memories of her music I reached out to Chikuma to learn more about the history behind Faxanadu and the rest of her impressive musical oeuvre I was very much moved by his novel melodies and harmony and wanted to create something like that as well.” “It was necessary for a professional musician to change constantly according to the producer’s intention,” she told me “so I tried to study various music to learn this kind of responsiveness.” I still remember the first time I played Faxanadu I had moved to Korea from the States for two years as an elementary school student weren’t available: Local stores only had Famicom cartridges meaning I hadn’t gotten a new game in some time a relative traveling from the States brought a gift in Faxanadu At first the bland tan cover and difficult-to-pronounce title aroused my suspicion The game wasn’t just good...it was awesome showing the unnamed protagonist approaching a dying city The depressing state of the villagers was more pronounced by the animated faces (even if they blinked way too much) and the numerous towns featured actually-interesting dialogue The equipment you found and purchased helped the character grow stronger—my favorite were the winged boots that let me fly Faxanadu’s password-entry music felt somber yet somehow hopeful. Hudson Soft / I Am Spider (YouTube) the monsters looked like something out of a Giger nightmare with their insectoid forms and pulsing flesh The backgrounds’ art direction evoked visceral disgust The game was creating dense atmosphere before I even knew what that was labyrinthine journey that had elements of a metroidvania Faxanadu became the entirety of my gaming life until I beat it what the game called its progress-restoring passwords were rewards for some of the game’s more difficult areas Read More: Faxanadu Sounds Equal Parts Dark, Mysterious, And Catchy “Faxanadu is a side-scroller and an RPG at the same time So I tried to express both the rhythmical and vivid mood of an action game as well as the storytelling beats of a RPG,” Chikuma told me “I tried to compose universal music favored by all listeners Faxanadu’s overworld theme showcased the soundtrack’s infectiously upbeat side. Hudson Soft / I Am Spider (YouTube) Chikuma was excited about composing for them But she had to accomplish her compositions working within the narrow confines of the modest Famicom audio hardware That’s where her jazz background became invaluable Since jazz could produce a high variety of chords with a small number of voices she found many of its lessons important in her approach to NES music “The tone generator of the NES had just three channels (two pulse waves and one triangle wave) “So it was necessary to express the music through melodic movements and construction in place of colorful tones The jazz technique was useful to express chord progression in the three main channels.” She was assisted by the sound programmer at Hudson Soft who did his best to help the team implement the darkly eclectic VGM of Faxanadu “They left everything completely up to me: from general directions to sound-making details I was able to work quite freely under these good circumstances.” is as explosive as the bombs being flung around throughout which is game music sequenced for sound-producing microchips “Chiptune is a legacy of the NES,” said Chikuma bleep [techno] had a root from the analog synthesizers Game music picked up on it and gave special meaning to the bleep style.” 1991’s Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) had very different sound hardware than its predecessor a composer typically generated sounds by uploading brief recorded audio “samples” to the audio chip that they could then manipulate and “play” as a custom instrument The main problem was that the system only had a very small amount of memory in which to store those samples So when it came time for Chikuma to compose Bomberman music on the SNES it was a very different process that took the series’ sounds in a fresh new direction “[The] tone generators of the SNES were all [based on samples] So I could apply house music [techniques] and [employ] breakbeats,” she said “The SNES has an 8-voice PCM tone generator There were 32kHz and 16kHz as sampling rates sound quality would be clear but the total sampling time would be short the sound would be ‘thick’ but the time would be doubled As I wanted to use phrase sampling and breakbeats I got a very unique lo-fi sound and I felt it turned out very good.” she usually had a lot of freedom in her approach to the music “they showed me the game while they were in the middle of working on it and I composed it to suit it.” Chikuma’s pick for favorite Bomberman music comes on a surprising system: Nintendo 64 The N64 famously lacked dedicated audio hardware and rarely got much notice for its soundtracks But that didn’t mean a talented composer couldn’t work some magic on it and is still favored by a lot of listeners today.” Bomberman Hero mixed up the series’ established formula augmenting previous games’ straightforward bombing action with platforming elements Hero focused on the single-player experience rather than multiplayer and borrowed generously from the plot of the original Star Wars the low-poly environments and characters show their age While I haven’t been to a nightclub in ages if the tracks from the game started playing The PC Engine’s audio hardware was fairly similar to the NES/Famicom’s, but two extra channels could allow for additional richness. Hudson Soft / Track Station (YouTube) “I have used this melody since the first NES Bomberman and it was one of the main melodies of the Bomberman series,” she replied it was a BGM for battle mode and I later made it a chill-out arrangement according to scenes which made it possible to produce many things Chikuma went on to explain her philosophy behind her music I am a composer who pursues cutting-edge art ‘art suprematism’ which I often call ‘absolute music,’” she said “I don’t like to express other things except music That might not be suitable for a soundtrack composer because it requires a professional compromise the combination and the balance of those elements seem to be interesting for listeners having no connection with the composer’s intent.” I was curious about what she’d said as the concept of making good music independent of the actual scene in the game was fascinating “What I call ‘art suprematism’ or ‘absolute music’ is very simple,” Chikuma replied I don’t express any ‘feelings’ or ‘backgrounds’ in my composition they are totally free to feel some ‘feelings’ or dream various ‘images,’ of course I think it is natural and the contrast is interesting.” Chikuma has studied many Middle Eastern styles of music which were an influence on her as a composer “I encountered Arabic music when I wanted to build up my ability to improvise Arabic classical music had an immense system of modes and rhythms That spirit of improvisation has translated into a body of work that is both bold and surprising Chikuma’s work and her unusual approach to composing the music made me rethink the nature of game music and how it’s created; her work delights gamers even though it’s made in pursuit of artistry rather than with the notion that it must complement gameplay is how this philosophy actually results in music that seems a perfect match for the games Chikuma is currently busy at work on several personal projects “I am going to release an album which gathers my old pieces,” she said “It is called the Midas Touch and will be out on March 7th 2022 from Star Creature in Chicago And the new album which I will release next is electronic music which I made only with a digital audio workstation I still think about that time in my childhood playing Faxanadu Living in South Korea was difficult since English was my native language and I didn’t have many friends The cultural and linguistic barriers were deeply felt Videogames helped me a lot during that time but a bigger part is what it signified for me; a winged boot to a familiar place that reminds me of one of my favorite memories from childhood the most powerful storm in decades to hit eastern Japan with rivers overflowing into residential areas across a wide area of the country. Here is a collection of photos captured by Kyodo News photographers (Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Oct submerged after the Chikuma River overflowed due to Typhoon Hagibis.) (A railroad bridge over the Chikuma River in Ueda submerged after the Chikuma River overflowed.) (Residents taken to safety by boat in Iwaki (Shinkansen bullet trains submerged at their base in Nagano city (A railroad covered with driftwood in Sano (Canada rugby player Peter Nelson volunteers to clean up mud in a house in Kamaishi (Canada rugby players volunteer to clean up mud on a road in Kamaishi.) (Condominiums submerged in Kawasaki near Tokyo after the Tama River overflowed.) (A residential area is seen submerged in Kawasaki near Tokyo after the Tama River overflowed.) submerged after a nearby river overflowed.) (Cleanup at a hospital in Tokyo's Setagaya ward after the Tama River overflowed.) (A baseball stadium submerged in Kawasaki near Tokyo after the Tama River overflowed.) (A residential area in Tokyo's Ota ward is submerged.) (Houses damaged by strong winds in Ichihara near Tokyo.) (A car overturned by gusting winds in Ichihara.) 5 dead, dozen missing as powerful typhoon rips through Japan 1 dead, 7 missing as Panamanian cargo ship sinks in typhoon-hit Tokyo Bay To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription Please check your inbox for a confirmation email Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible Metrics details has been found to transport hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is involved in nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signalling in keratinocytes and in the pathogenesis of psoriasis IL-23-mediated induction of psoriasis is reduced in AQP3 knockout mice (AQP3−/−) and is accompanied by impaired NF-κB activation and intracellular H2O2 accumulation cellular import of H2O2 produced by membrane NADPH oxidase 2 (Nox2) in response to TNF-α is facilitated by AQP3 and required for NF-κB activation by regulation of protein phosphatase 2A we propose that this interplay constitutes H2O2-mediated signalling in response to TNF-α stimulation these data indicate that AQP3-facilitated H2O2 transport is required for NF-κB activation in keratinocytes in the development of psoriasis the underlying mechanisms of how these pathways produce psoriasis remain unresolved we postulated that AQP3-facilitated intracellular H2O2 might be implicated in a variety of human disease We report here that AQP3 is required for TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation in keratinocytes and the development of psoriasis by a mechanism involving TNF-α-induced generation of extracellular H2O2 followed by its intracellular transport by AQP3 An in vivo mouse model of psoriasis showed remarkably reduced pathology in an AQP3-deficient background in which continuous NF-κB activation and a higher H2O2 level in epidermal keratinocytes were suppressed by AQP3 deficiency (a) Left: representative immunohistochemical staining for AQP3 in the skin from five healthy volunteers and 18 psoriatic patients (b–f) IL-23 (500 ng) or vehicle control (PBS) was intradermally injected daily into the ear skin of WT and AQP3−/− mice for 4 days Skin samples were excised at 24 h after the final IL-23 injection (b) Left: haematoxylin and eosin staining of ears from WT and AQP3−/− mice Right: whole skin and epidermal thickness determined from haematoxylin and eosin staining (s.e. *P<0.01 by t-test).(c) Immunostaining with anti-AQP3 (FITC (d) Left: representative immunohistochemical staining for Ki67 Right: the ratio of Ki67 positive cells in the epidermis (s.e. (e) CD3+ γδTCR+ cell numbers in epidermis and dermis from WT and AQP3−/− mice analysed by flow cytometry (s.e. IL-22 and IL-19 in skin tissues determined by real-time RT–PCR (s.e. These data indicate that the higher AQP3 expression by immunoblotting is due to an increase in proliferative keratinocytes These data indicate the involvement of AQP3 in the development of psoriasis in the IL-23 mouse model (a,b) IL-23-induced psoriatic model using bone marrow (BM) cell-transferred mice Recipient WT and AQP3−/− mice (Rec) received transplants of BM cells from donor WT and AQP3−/− mice (Don) (a) Ear thickness at 24 h after final injections (s.e. (b) Representative haematoxylin and eosin staining The migration efficiency of CD3+ T cells toward the ligands CCL20 (100 ng ml−1) or CXCL9 (100 ng ml−1) was determined using a transwell chamber with 5 μm pores Data are expressed as the percentage of applied cells (s.e. (d) mRNA expression levels of CCR6 in epidermis (left) and CXCR3 in dermis (right) by real-time RT–PCR (s.e. (e) mRNA expression levels of IL-17A and IL-17F by real-time RT–PCR in sorted T cells incubated with IL-23 in the presence of CD3/28 for 3 days (s.e. Data are expressed as the IL-17/GAPDH ratio (f) IL-22 level by ELISA in the culture medium with IL-23 in the presence of anti-IL-4 and anti-IFNγ for 3 days (s.e. These results suggest that the impaired T-cell chemotaxis leads to less accumulation of CCR6+ and CXCR3+ T cells in AQP3−/− skin we propose that AQP3 deficiency results in the impaired T-cell migration into the dermal and epidermal layers which reduces downstream immune response during the development of psoriasis (a,b) Mice were injected with IL-23 into the ear as described in Fig. 1 (a) Immunostaining of phospho-p65 in PBS (control) or IL-23 injected WT and AQP3−/− skin (b) Representative immunoblot analysis using antibodies against phospho-Iκβα Experiments were performed in two other independent experiments with similar results ear thickness (d) and phospho-p65 immunostaining (e) of ears from WT mice treated daily with IL-23 or PBS (control) in the presence of anti-TNF-α blocking monoclonal antibody or isotype control (f) H2DCFDA fluorescence in the skin treated with IL-23 (three continuous applications) with or without anti-TNF-α antibody Anti-TNF-α antibody was injected 1 h before sampling (g) H2DCFDA fluorescence in WT and AQP3−/− skin treated daily with PBS (control) or IL-23 by fluorescence microscopy (h) The mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of H2DCFDA by FACS analysis in epidermal cells (s.e. these findings provide evidence for involvement of AQP3 in H2O2 induction and NF-κB activation in IL-23-induced psoriatic changes in skin (a,b) Primary keratinocytes from WT and AQP3−/− mice were incubated with TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) for 5 min to 1 h (a) Representative immunoblot using antibodies against phospho-IKKβ 5 min) was immunoprecipitated with anti-TNFR1 Experiments in a and b were performed in two other independent experiments with similar results (c) mRNA expression in primary keratinocytes by real-time RT–PCR Cells from WT and AQP3−/− mice were incubated with TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) for 24 h Data are expressed as the ratio to GAPDH (s.e. (d) Primary keratinocytes from WT and AQP3−/− mice were incubated with IL-22 (100 ng ml−1 Representative immunoblot analysis with anti-phospho-Stat3 A second set of experiments gave similar results AQP3 deficiency also attenuated the increase in the response to TNF-α of caspase 3 These results suggest that AQP3 expression in keratinocytes is required for NF-κB activation in response to TNF-α stimulation b) H2O2 uptake into primary cultured keratinocytes Keratinocytes were incubated with H2O2 (10 to 300 μM) and cellular H2O2 was detected using CM-H2DCFDA fluorescence using a plate reader (a) Representative fluorescence intensity of CM-H2DCFDA (b) Increased fluorescence intensity at 15 s after addition of H2O2 (s.e. H2O2 added versus control cells by t-test) (c–d) Intracellular H2O2 was monitored by CM-H2DCFDA fluorescence with TNF-α stimulation (100 ng ml−1) (c) Representative fluorescence intensity in WT and AQP3−/− cells catalase (2,000 U ml−1) or vehicle (PBS) for 30 min and followed by TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) for 30 s (s.e. (e) WT and AQP3−/− cells transfected with HyPer were incubated with TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) or H2O2 (100 μM) for 3 min (f) Cellular H2O2 after stimulation by TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) or H2O2 (100 μM) in primary keratinocytes from WT or Nox2−/− mice using CM-H2DCFDA fluorescence (1 min (g) Left: immunoblot of AQP3 and Nox2 in membrane-rich fraction from WT Right: cell lysates by RIPA were immunoprecipitated with anti-AQP3 or anti-Nox2 showing the interaction between endogenous AQP3 and Nox2 These results indicated that extracellular H2O2 produced by TNF-α stimulation is dependent on Nox2 in mouse keratinocytes On the basis of the rapid increase in intracellular H2O2 in response to TNF-α stimulation, we speculated that AQP3 may associate with Nox2 on the plasma membrane. Immunoprecipitation revealed an association between AQP3 and Nox2 in mouse primary keratinocytes (Fig. 5g) these results support a model in which TNF-α stimulation induces extracellular H2O2 production by Nox2 activation which is rapidly transported intracellularly in keratinocytes through AQP3 (a) Left: representative immunofluorescence of p65 in keratinocytes from WT and AQP3−/− mice Cells were stimulated with TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) for 1 h Some cells were incubated with catalase (2,000 U ml−1) or DPI (5 μM) for 30 min before TNF-α stimulation Right: numbers of p65 positive cells in the nucleus (s.e. (b,c) AQP3−/− primary keratinocytes were incubated with TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) and/or H2O2 (300 μM) (c) Representative immunoblot with phospho-IKKα/β p65 and β-actin stimulated for indicated times (d–f) AQP3−/− primary keratinocytes were transfected with mouse AQP3 cDNA or empty vector (pCMV6) (d) Left: mRNA analysed by quantitative RT–PCR (e) Cellular H2O2 after stimulation with TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) or H2O2 (100 μM; 1 min (f) Immunoblot with phospho-IKKα/β or IKKβ stimulated with TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) for indicated times Experiments in c and f were performed in two independent sets of experiments with similar results We speculate that AQP3-mediated H2O2 accumulation may increase TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation these results suggest that TNF-α-induced NF-κB cell signalling require a threshold concentration of intracellular H2O2 involving AQP3-facilitated membrane transport Some WT mice were injected DPI (2 μg g−1 weight) intravenously 1 h before IL-23 injection (s.e. e and g were performed in two additional sets of independent experiments with similar results DPI administration before IL-23 injection suppressed the decrease in PP2A activity implying an effect of Nox-derived H2O2 on PP2A activity in vivo these data suggest that PP2A is a target of AQP3-mediated H2O2 elevation involved in NF-κB activation NHEK were transfected with AQP3 or non-targeting (Ct) siRNA (a) Left: relative mRNA expression of AQP3/GAPDH (s.e. Right: immunoblot of membrane fraction with anti-AQP3 and anti-Na+/K+-ATPase (b) Cellular H2O2 levels determined by CM-H2DCFDA after TNF-α (100 ng ml−1) or H2O2 (10 μM) stimulation (30 s phospho-p65 and p65 after TNF-α stimulation (d) mRNA expression of IL-17C and IL-6 by real-time RT–PCR Cells were incubated with TNF-α (50 ng ml−1) for 24 h (e) Ppp2ca knockdown in NHEK by siRNA transfection (s.e. (f) Immunoblot with phospho-p65 and p65 after TNF-α stimulation in AQP3 and/or Ppp2ca knockdown cells Experiments in c and f were performed in two additional sets of independent experiments with similar results (g) NHEK cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-AQP3 or anti-Nox2 antibodies These results in human primary keratinocytes support the findings in mouse primary keratinocytes on the involvement of AQP3 in TNF-α-dependent H2O2 induction and NF-κB signalling (Fig. 9). TNF-α binds to TNFR1 in keratinocytes and induces the production of H2O2 by Nox2 Extracellular H2O2 is rapidly transported intracellularly through AQP3 regulating IKKβ and/or NF-κB/p65 activation We discovered here a novel role for AQP3 in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, which involved its H2O2 transport function in keratinocytes. The uptake of extracellular H2O2 by keratinocytes generated in response to TNF-α, which was required for NF-κB activation, was dependent on AQP3 as diagrammed in Fig. 9 Keratinocytes made AQP3-deficient by gene knockout or knockdown showed reduced TNF-α-induced increase in intracellular H2O2 and NF-κB activation The reduced intracellular H2O2 suppressed TNF-α-dependent NF-κB activation while either exogenous H2O2 supplementation or expression of AQP3 rescued the impaired NF-κB activation with restored intracellular H2O2 levels in AQP3−/− cells In a mouse model of psoriasis produced by IL-23 application there was continuous NF-κB activation and a higher H2O2 concentration in keratinocytes of WT psoriatic skin AQP3−/− mice showed remarkably impaired development of psoriasis with reduced NF-κB activation and cellular H2O2 these findings support the involvement of AQP3 in the development of psoriasis by a mechanism involving its H2O2 transport function and downstream TNF-α-dependent NF-κB activation in keratinocytes continuous influx of H2O2 may be necessary to elevate intracellular H2O2 levels needed for cell signalling we found that TNF-α-induced production of extracellular H2O2 was mainly dependent on Nox2 in keratinocytes and that a membrane-associated AQP3–Nox2 complex may allow constitution of a localized signalling mechanism following TNF-α stimulation AQP3 may thus be required to achieve a sufficiently high local concentration of H2O2 near the membrane to act as a second messenger we showed that PP2A inactivation by H2O2 exposure or TNF-α stimulation was dependent on AQP3 expression in WT primary keratinocytes Ppp2ca knockdown in AQP3−/− keratinocytes rescued the reduced IKKβ and p65 activation while Ppp2ca knockdown in WT cells abrogated the effect of catalase on TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation Ppp2ca overexpression in WT keratinocytes suppressed IKKβ and p65 activation our data suggest that PP2A is one of the target proteins of AQP3-mediated H2O2 uptake during TNF-α-induced NF-κB cell signalling in which the increased H2O2 may oxidize and inactivate PP2A through the cysteine residue and sequentially activate IKK and p65 Further studies are needed to establish the precise mechanism(s) linking PP2A with the regulation of TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation in keratinocytes AQP3-mediated H2O2 transport may provide an additional or alternative mechanism for the impaired skin tumorigenesis in AQP3−/− mice a critical step for initiation of the immune response in the development of psoriasis Further studies will determine the role of AQP3 in the crosstalk between keratinocytes and T cells in the pathogenesis of psoriasis our data implicate a novel role of AQP3 in the pathogenesis of psoriasis in which AQP3-mediated intracellular H2O2 uptake is required for TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation in epidermal keratinocytes Our findings support AQP3 as a novel determinant in psoriasis and hence a potential new therapeutic target AQP3−/− mice (C57BL/6 genetic background) were generated by targeted gene disruption70 C57BL/6 genetic background) were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor Eight- to 10-week-old female mice were used All animal experiments were approved by the Committee on Animal Research of Kyoto University Mice were killed at 24 h after the final IL-23 injection and skin samples were excised A total of 18 patients with psoriasis and five healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study Informed consent was obtained from all the subjects The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Kyoto University Full-thickness skin samples from 1-day-old mice were incubated in dispase II (5 U ml−1; Boehringer Mannheim) overnight at 4 °C The epidermis was separated from the dermis cut into fragments and incubated in 0.25% trypsin-0.1% EDTA for 10 min Cells were seeded on collagen type I plates (BD Biosciences) and cultured in keratinocyte growth medium (Lonza) at 37 °C under 5% CO2 Japan) were grown in keratinocyte growth medium (Lonza) at 37 °C under 5% CO2 Cellular H2O2 was assayed using the CM-H2DCFDA reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions using flow cytometry (FACS Fortessa system mice were injected with H2DCFDA intravenously (10 nmol g−1 Cellular H2O2 was observed in frozen section by fluorescence microscopy To quantify cellular H2O2 in mouse skin by FACS analysis the excised skin was trypsinized and single epidermal cells were incubated with H2DCFDA PP2A activity was assessed in primary keratinocytes using ProFluor Ser/Thr PPase assay kit (Promega) according to the manufacturer’s instructions Cells were transfected using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) with Ppp2ca- AQP3- or non-targeting-siRNA (ON-TARGET plus SMART pool Evrogen) was also transfected with Lipofectamine 2000 we generally found that 65–80% cells become positive after transfection cells were fixed with 4% formalin and permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 and immunostained with p65 (Cell Signaling 1:100) and anti-rabbit secondary antibody (FITC Paraffin-embedded sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin The psoriasis mouse model was performed 2 months later Total RNA was extracted using TRIZOL (Invitrogen). The cDNA was reverse transcribed from total RNA using the Prime Script RT reagent kit (Takara Bio, Otsu, Japan). Quantitative RT–PCR was performed using SYBR Green I (Takara Bio) and the Light Cycler real-time PCR apparatus (Roche). 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dephosphorylation: a systems biological approach Small-molecule NOX inhibitors: ROS-generating NADPH oxidases as therapeutic targets Multiple functions of peroxiredoxins: peroxidases sensors and regulators of the intracellular messenger H(2)O(2) Hydrogen peroxide as an endogenous mediator and exogenous tool in cardiovascular research: issues and considerations Inactivation of peroxiredoxin I by phosphorylation allows localized H(2)O(2) accumulation for cell signaling NF-kappaB activation by reactive oxygen species: fifteen years later The NOX family of ROS-generating NADPH oxidases: physiology and pathophysiology Hydrogen peroxide: a Jekyll and Hyde signalling molecule Regulation of protein phosphatase 2A by hydrogen peroxide and glutathionylation Activation of protein kinases and the inactivation of protein phosphatase 2A in tumour necrosis factor and interleukin-1 signal-transduction pathways Okadaic acid induces sustained activation of NFkappaB and degradation of the nuclear IkappaBalpha in human neutrophils Nitric oxide levels in plasma and fibroblast cultures of psoriasis vulgaris patients Antioxidant enzymes in psoriatic fibroblasts and erythrocytes Psoriatic keratinocytes prime neutrophils for an overproduction of superoxide anions and heat shock protein 27: potential targets of a streptococcal-induced autoimmune response in psoriasis Proteomic analysis of psoriatic skin tissue for identification of differentially expressed proteins: Up-regulation of GSTP1 Altered redox status in the blood of psoriatic patients: involvement of NADPH oxidase and role of anti-TNF-alpha therapy Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus in mice lacking aquaporin-3 water channels Download references We thank Atsuko Shibayama for mouse breeding Drs Shu Narumiya and Shunsuke Chikuma for helpful discussions This work was supported by grants from Astellas Pharma Inc in the Creation of Innovation Centers for Advanced Inter disciplinary Research Areas Program Center for Innovation in Immunoregulative Technology and Therapeutics The authors declare no competing financial interests Supplementary Figures 1-7 and Supplementary Table 1 (PDF 5568 kb) Download citation Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology (2024) Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. 台灣連鎖火鍋店過江龍「築間幸福鍋物」最近登陸香港，於旺角文華商場開店，不用飛台灣都可以食到台式火鍋！築間幸福鍋物提供 12 款湯底讓食客從中揀選，包括源自台灣石頭火鍋始祖名店「韓香村」的「鎮店招牌石頭湯」、口感順滑的「鮮菇奶香湯」、滋味厚而不膩的「正宗嘉義砂鍋魚湯」等！築間幸福鍋物的套餐包含海陸空食材，當中的「海鮮總匯鍋」有齊 9 種海鮮，包括鯛魚、鮭魚、鱸魚、鮮蚵、蛤蜊、生蠔、白蝦、草蝦等，海鮮控必點！另有「日本 A5 和牛鍋」，選用來自日本山形縣、北海道知床及宮城仙台 A5 和牛最高級的「牛上腰／肋眼」部位，油花分布比例均勻，肉質油潤細緻！另外可於自助吧無限任食野菜、台灣蛋餃、米血、花枝滑等 33 道地道食材！火鍋套餐更附送白飯、飲料及甜品，加上湯底最平只需 HK$155/位起，就可以大飽口福！意猶未盡的話可加購牛筋飯、雪蟹膏鮭魚卵飯及奶茶、鳳梨冰茶等單品，當中的「雪蟹膏鮭魚卵拌飯」滿載濃厚蟹膏與充滿鮮味的鮭魚卵，令人忍不住一口接一口！地址：旺角砵蘭街 240-244 號旺角文華商場 1 樓 C 鋪營業時間：11am-11pm電話：3565 0737 Volume 3 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2021.713300 This article is part of the Research TopicTowards Resilient Cities: Integrated Urban Planning for Sustainable EnvironmentsView all 8 articles irrational urban development has led in reverse The increase in flood risk in urbanized areas is one of the significant problems numerous engineering projects have been carried out to reduce the risk of flooding the question “are we safer than before?” remains underexplored The present work is a case study aimed at providing new evidence of the current state of flood disaster management It analyzed the relationship between the magnitude of flood and resultant flood fatality and property damage in the target area over a long period of time and found that we are safer now than before in terms of life loss but not safer than before in terms of flooding impacts on livelihood it was found that flood risk management in the region continues to be critically dependent on structural measures it highlighted a contrast between having a well-developed emergency information delivery system and its ineffectiveness in mobilizing evacuation Pioneered in Australia, water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) is a land planning and engineering design approach which integrates the urban water cycle, including stormwater, groundwater and wastewater management and water supply, into urban design to create urban environments that allow the water cycle to function as it would naturally (Roy et al., 2008) a similar initiative is named Sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) (The British Geological Survey) Both aim to harmonize modern drainage systems with natural water processes in order to reduce the effects of urban development These studies provided valuable insights into flood risk management in different parts of the world but this information is aggregated at different scales from global the determinants of flood fatalities and economic loss have not been sufficiently analyzed and adequately explained To assess the effectiveness of various countermeasures more post-Odin case studies at the local level are necessary to better understand and propose new measures as a result the present study focused on a flood-prone area in Nagano Prefecture and was intended to provide a diagnosis of how flood impacts in this area have evolved over time Such a diagnosis offers new insights into our safety in relation to flooding This study covers the Chikuma River watershed with a particular focus on the Nagnuma district in Nagano City. Chikuma River is the upper reaches of the Shinano River, the longest river in Japan. As shown in Figure 1 the Chikuma-Shinano river course runs northeast through Nagano and Niigata Prefectures before emptying into the Sea of Japan accounting for 60% of the whole watershed area of the Chikuma-Shinano river course Nagano City has a population of 370,632 in 160,625 households while the Naganuma district has a population of 2,497 in 918 families The total areas of Nagano City and Naganuma district are 834.81 and 6.17 km2 which is defined as the proportion of a society's population that is comprised of persons aged 65 or above is as high as 38.2% in the Naganuma district Chikuma River runs through the city 29.5 km within the Nagano city boundary and the Naganuma district is located on the left bank of the Chikuma River Historical records showed that 26 large-scale flood disasters have occurred in the watershed of Chikuma River from 1742 to 2020 and 11 of them occurred since 1980. The present study collected information and data related to these floods from both central and local governments [MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), Chikuma River Information Room] which allows us to explore the complex situation in the watershed from diverse perspectives and uncover relationships between the intricate layers of multifaceted research questions The mixed methods employed in the present study is to use qualitative approach for the characterization of the local conditions and risk factors and quantitative approach for in-depth relationship analysis to discover contradiction the present study scrutinized the relationship between the magnitude of external force and flood fatality and property damage the attention was placed on the latest flood disaster that occurred in 2019 A focal point is the vulnerability of the elderly and foreign residents By presenting a contrast between having a well-developed emergency information delivery system and its effectiveness in mobilizing residents to take action by elucidating a key factor forming the flood risk in the area it stresses the need for more proactive management Relationship between flow discharge at the Tategahana gauging station and the number of houses inundated above floor level in the watershed of the Chikuma River for 11 major floods since 1958 Figure 2 shows the relationship between flow discharge at the Tategahana gauging station and the number of houses inundated above floor level for 11 major floods since 1958 the available data were divided into three groups Group 1 represents cases that the levee breach occurred along the mainstream of the Chikuma River; Group 2 illustrates a case that the levee breach occurred along tributaries of the Chikuma River; and Group 3 represents cases that flooding was due to overflow and waterlogging levee breach is a crucial determinant of the magnitude of property damage property damage became quite the same high although time has passed with so many efforts made for damage reduction On October 13, 2019, the heavy rainfall due to Typhoon No. 9 caused a levee breach on the left bank of the Chikuma River in the Naganuma district, Nagano City. The Naganuma district has suffered several large flood disasters since the Edo period. Figure 3 shows historical inundation depths marked on the pillar of a temple near the breaching site and the inundation depth at almost the same site in 2019 according to the author's survey Inundation depths at the same site in different flood disasters Figure 4 shows the variation of river channel width along the Chikuma River A factor affecting the water level at the Naganuma site is the back water effect due to the river width sudden contraction at the Tategahana cross-section The bottleneck was formed due to the geology and has been identified as a major concern in the river basin planning for passing large-scale floods engineering countermeasures had not been taken before the disaster for mainly three reasons One is the cost because it is surrounded by mountains The second is the consideration of environmental impacts and the third is the consideration of the downstream reaches more flood waters could be passed to the downstream The 2019 flood disaster served as a turning point the Ministry of Land announced a plan to excavate the channel along the narrower river reach to increase its conveyance Figure 4. The bottleneck in channel conveyance due to sudden contraction in width. (data source: MLIT) As provided in Supplementary Table 2 the flood discharge in 2006 is less than that in 1958 and 1981 the water level is higher than in 1958 and 1981 less than the design flood discharge of 9000 m3/s These data are evidence that the channel aggradation occurred in the narrow reach the government decision of excavation is justified This flooding caused five deaths in the watershed of the Chikuma River Four male and one female and their ages are 81 Two of them died while driving as their cars were washed away One man lost his life in his house near the levee breaching site although he was urged to evacuate This case provided additional evidence that Japan's aging society has caused more older people to become victims of flood disasters Disaster Response Headquarter was set up at 4:20 p.m which consisted of teams such as the evacuation team humanitarian aid team and victim support team The meetings of the headquarter for emergency response were conducted online and connected to branch offices in different districts and evacuation shelters so that information sharing was effective without any delay Disaster Response Headquarter issued the warning of alert level 3 for evacuation preparation and the start of evacuation for the elderly twice alert level 4 as evacuation advisory 3 times alert level 4 as evacuation instruction (emergency) 8 times alert level 5 as disaster occurrence information 10 times Evacuation information was sent out via various means the evacuation information was sent to them by fax (Nagano City) The Nagano City has a well-designed emergency management system and worked effectively during the flood disaster ~200 seniors were stranded in two special care homes by flood waters and rescued by the Ground Self-Defense Force The special nursing care homes received the warning and evacuation information timely but the limited number of staff were unable to move a large number of residents to a safe place the staff moved all seniors to the second floor of the facility and waited for rescue Factors that increase the potential for injury or death due to disasters include physical vulnerabilities and external influences The vulnerability of the elderly to disasters is largely due to their weakened physical ability to move cognitive decline limiting the understanding of risk communication thus hindering appropriate protective responses Visual or hearing disabilities are more serious barriers to emergency response many older adults needing medication in daily life are at risk when medical supplies and equipment to maintain their health become unavailable in a crisis Vulnerability can be formulated conceptually as below: duration and extent to which a system is in contact with Susceptibility can be defined as factors and attributes that make a community or society more or less likely to be negatively affected by perturbation Coping capacity is defined as the ability to cope with It is the product of planned preparation before a disaster emergency response during the disaster and post-disaster reconstruction flood vulnerability reduction depends in large part on structural measures the property damage will remain the same today as before The reason for this is that many houses are still in flood-prone areas the exposure would be the same as the one without the levee or even worse the susceptibility of local communities to disasters has been increased but the copping capacity has not been sufficiently increased to counteract the increase in susceptibility It can be argued that structural flood protection measures Structural measures such as levees or flood-control reservoirs can attract settlements and high-value assets in the areas “protected,” due to a sense of complacency that may dangerously reduce preparedness it is safer today than before in terms of loss of life but not in terms of the impact of floods on livelihoods the effectiveness of flood management in the city still depends heavily on structural measures the problem of the bottleneck in channel conveyance remains intact until now despite its identification the results provide invaluable clues to other cities to improve their flood risk management The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest 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 The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online 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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: Guangwei Huang, aHVhbmdnd3hAc29waGlhLmFjLmpw 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 Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information National Report Twitter users flooded the social media platform with messages urging children to “hit the horn if you're locked inside a car” following the heatstroke death of a 5-year-old boy left inside a locked school bus in Fukuoka Prefecture saying they had "told children right away." One of those who tweeted the message was Dr a Kyoto Prefecture pediatrician who posts about matters families should be careful about regarding young children just as you would make a loud noise to attract rescuers if you were trapped in a collapsed building or buried in debris But many children are told not to get near the driver's seat Rino points out the importance of teaching them to call for help repeatedly in the event of an emergency A manga advocating the same message has also attracted a wide response said her husband told her about beeping the car horn if kids get stuck inside who blogs on the experience of raising her children should be the last resort for staying safe as for a small child just pushing the horn can be difficult to do a nonprofit organization that deals with the prevention of accidents involving children lists several ways to ensure kids are not accidentally left behind in a car Parents or family members supervising children should always put their wallets or bags in the back seat where children usually sit if adults get out of the car in a rush or even for a short period they are more likely to check the back seat lessening the chance of a child being left behind The NPO also calls on people to err on the side of caution and take action if they see any children left alone inside a vehicle Though it is hard to tell from outside a vehicle if the air conditioner is on the NPO advises that people should consider it "a matter of emergency" and call an ambulance or the police (This article was written by Satsuki Tanahashi and Yusuke Ogawa.) REPORTER’S COVID-19 NOTEBOOK: Young children unable to grasp need for forced isolation at home Japan survivors of COVID-19 say they face stigma left alone in school bus for 9 hours dies of heatstroke Woman’s search for grandfather reveals ‘home custody’ system accused of starving 5-year-old boy to death Mother’s remorse lingers after daughter caught up in tsunami Information on the latest cherry blossom conditions Please right click to use your browser’s translation function.) A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II In-house News and Messages No reproduction or republication without written permission Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Metrics details This article has been updated and GEMSAP) were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of gemcitabine plus S-1 (GS) vs gemcitabine alone in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer (PC) the efficacy and safety of GS vs gemcitabine were evaluated Additional follow-up was conducted and survival data were updated in each study A total of 770 patients (gemcitabine 389; GS 381) were included in the pooled analysis The efficacy and safety data were analysed according to disease extent: locally advanced PC (LAPC) or metastatic PC (MPC) There were 738 (95.8%) overall survival events the median survival was 11.83 months for gemcitabine and 16.41 months for GS (hazard ratio (HR)=0.708; 95% confidence intervals (CI) the median survival was 8.02 months for gemcitabine and 9.43 months for GS (HR=0.872; 95% CI The rate of grade 3/4 toxicity (rash and thrombocytopenia in LAPC; rash and neutropaenia in MPC) was significantly higher for GS than for gemcitabine Gemcitabine plus S-1 is a viable treatment alternative to gemcitabine which is one of the standard treatments in patients with LAPC No study has yet reported any survival benefit of GEM combination chemotherapy for LAPC it is necessary to select patients with a good performance status because these regimens are more toxic than GEM alone individual treatment regimens in PC should be carefully chosen it has recently been considered clinically important to evaluate MPC and LAPC separately we followed up patients enroled in the three randomised controlled studies to update their outcomes and analysed individual patient data (IPD) in two patient subsets: one with MPC and one with LAPC As stated above, we comprehensively analysed the results of three trials designed to evaluate GS compared with GEM in patients with MPC and LAPC, respectively (Table 1) Survival was additionally followed up in each trial which was responsible for managing the GEST data obtained IPD from the JACCRO PC-01 and GEMSAP and entered them into a database The consolidated data were provided to the Tokyo University of Science and analysed independently Data on the following variables were collected and evaluated: patient characteristics (sex disease extent (locally advanced vs distant metastasis) Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (PS) and presence or absence of biliary drainage and lung metastasis); laboratory data before starting treatment (white blood cell count blood levels of aspartate aminotransferase and C-reactive protein); tumour marker levels (CEA and cancer antigen 19-9); efficacy data (OS and RR); safety data; presence or absence of subsequent treatment; and type of subsequent treatment a coordinating committee consisting of representatives of the three research groups and the Tokyo University of Science generated statistical hypotheses and decision criteria in advance To avoid the effect of inflated alpha errors (caused by the multiplicity of tests) on subgroup analyses of multiple end points the improvement in OS associated with GS as compared with GEM monotherapy in patients with LAPC was designated as the primary end point improvement in OS in patients with MPC and improvement in OS in the entire study group and other subgroup analyses were performed to comprehensively evaluate the efficacy and safety of GS If the primary end point was met and then efficacy (HR and absolute gains (OS/PFS) and heterogeneity results were totally clinically acceptable the committee would judge GS to be a treatment option for LAPC If the secondary end points were met and then efficacy (HR and absolute gains (OS/PFS) the committee would judge GS to be a possible valuable treatment and a valiant treatment for further evaluation in clinical trials for evaluated population the efficacy and safety analysis populations were the same as those in each study Overall survival was defined as the time from study enrolment to death from any cause Progression-free survival was defined as the time between study enrolment and progression of disease or death from any cause if the patient died without confirmation of disease progression Post-progression survival (PPS) as post hoc analysis was defined as the time from PFS event to death from any cause Patients who have died without confirmed progression have been dealt with censored in day 0 Response was assessed according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) AEs were assessed according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events The efficacy of GS relative to that of GEM alone was analysed using a Cox proportional hazards model stratified by study with a treatment group as the only covariate to estimate HRs with 95% CIs and P-values Heterogeneity among the three studies was also evaluated using the Wald test Survival rate was estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method Progression-free survival was analysed in a similar manner to OS Response rate was calculated on the basis of the rates of CR and PR in patients with measurable lesions The Fisher’s exact test was used to compare the treatment groups and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for ordinal data All statistical analyses were performed using SAS version 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc. Each contributing study received approval from the appropriate institutional review board/ethics committee All participants provided written informed consent The need for ethical approval and individual informed consent for this pooled analysis were judged by each contributing study group according to the Ethical Guidelines for Epidemiological Research by the Japanese Government The median PPS in the GEM group and GS group were The RR was significantly higher in the GS group than in the GEM group for each subgroup (Supplementary Table S2) In this study, AEs were separately tabulated for patients with LAPC and those with MPC (Table 3) the incidences of AEs tended to be higher in the GS group than in the GEM group The incidences of the following grade 3 or higher AEs were significantly higher in the GS group: rash and thrombocytopaenia in patients with LAPC and rash and neutropaenia in patients with MPC (P<0.05) 62.9% (n=61) of the GEM group and 65.6% (n=63) of the GS group and 68.8% (n=201) of the GEM group and 61.1% (n=174) of the GS group received second-line treatment the main second-line treatments in patients with LAPC and those with MPC were GEM-based regimens in 20.6% (n=20) and 11.6% (n=34) S1-based regimens in 34.0% (n=33) and 43.8% (n=128) chemoradiation or radiation in 0.0% (n=0) and 1.0% (n=3) and surgical therapy in 1.0% (n=1) and 1.0% (n=3) reflecting regimens including S-1 as the second-line chemotherapy was 40.2% (n=39) in patients with LAPC and 54.5% (n=159) in patients with MPC GEM-based regimens in 33.3% (n=32) and 22.5% (n=64) S1-based regimens in 12.5% (n=12) and 7.4% (n=21) chemoradiation or radiation in 8.3% (n=8) and 1.8% (n=5) and surgical therapy in 1.0% (n=1) and 0.4% (n=1) we showed that GS has survival benefit compared with GEM in LAPC patients (HR=0.708; P=0.0220) but not in MPC (HR=0.872; P=0.1102) The additional follow-up resulted in more mature OS data for 95.8% of the analysis set Both treatment groups had similar background characteristics a pooled analysis was considered appropriate The combination of GEM plus capecitabine had significantly more survival benefit than GEM alone with HR of 0.86 in meta-analysis of two Phase III studies this benefit was not reported for LAPC and MPC separately with HR of 0.823 in the entire study population Gemcitabine plus S-1 might have the comparable efficacy to GEM plus capecitabine in the entire population It remains unclear why LAPC patients (vs MPC patients) had a better HR for OS The difference in the median PFS between the GS and GEM groups was ∼6 months longer in LAPC patients and ∼2 months longer in MPC patients while the median PPS was only 1 month shorter in the GS group than in the GEM group in both LAPC and MPC patients The proportion of patients who underwent any subsequent treatments was similar between MPC and LAPC patients The proportion of patients receiving subsequent surgery and radiotherapy was very low in both treatment groups in LAPC patients this survival benefit in GS for LAPC patients might largely be attributed to the better PFS of those receiving GS treatment the addition of S-1 to GEM may extend control to new metastatic lesions The higher RR and control of new metastatic lesions might explain why GS increased PFS in LAPC patients These findings suggest that first-line treatment with more potent regimens may be required in MPC therapy Dose reduction of S-1 from the standard dose and the modification of the GEM administration schedule may influence the efficacy of GS in MPC A second reason might be the impact of subsequent treatment the proportion of MPC patients who underwent subsequent treatment differed between those treated with GEM (68.8%) and those treated with GS (61.1%) The total proportion of patients who received GEM-based and S1-based chemotherapy differed between the GEM arm (66.0%) and GS arm (48.1%) When the three studies in this pooled analysis were conducted FOLFIRINOX and nab-paclitaxel were not available and GEM and S-1 (5-FU) were the active second-line chemotherapies for PC in Japan and Taiwan subsequent treatment most likely contributed to the survival benefit in MPC patients treated with GEM GS (compared to GEM) had a less favourable safety profile Although no patient-reported outcomes were collected these non-haematological toxicities might decrease the QOL in the GS arm AEs were separately evaluated in patients with LAPC and those with MPC Although the duration of treatment was longer in patients with LAPC AEs in patients with LAPC were not markedly increased These findings may indicate that toxicity accumulation in each treatment group is low the GS dose and schedule might need to be more carefully adjusted in European patients GS in the entire study population was associated with better OS and PFS given the difference in GS efficacy between LAPC and MPC patients and given the degree of absolute gains of efficacy we concluded that OS and PFS should be separately assessed for LAPC and MPC and might not be a possible valuable treatment in the entire study population GS should be considered a viable treatment alternative to GEM The results of our analysis reconfirmed that outcome depends on whether patients have LAPC or MPC This paper was modified 12 months after initial publication to switch to Creative Commons licence terms Benson AB 3rd (2002) Phase III study of gemcitabine in combination with fluorouracil versus gemcitabine alone in patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Trial E2297 Von Hoff DD (1997) Improvements in survival and clinical benefit with gemcitabine as first-line therapy for patients with advanced pancreas cancer: a randomized trial validated approach to stratify the magnitude of clinical benefit that can be anticipated from anti-cancer therapies: the European Society for Medical Oncology Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) Rosen LS (2011) Comparison of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of S-1 between European and East Asian patients Ducreux M Groupe Tumeurs Digestives of Unicancer; PRODIGE Intergroup (2011) FOLFIRINOX versus gemcitabine for metastatic pancreatic cancer Neoptolemos JP (2009) Phase III randomized comparison of gemcitabine versus gemcitabine plus capecitabine in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer Arnold D ESMO Guidelines Committee (2015) Cancer of the pancreas: ESMO Clinical Practice guidelines for diagnosis Ferlay JSI, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray F GLOBOCAN (2012) v1.0, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11. Available from http://globocan.iarc.fr (accessed on 15 January 2014) Louvet C LAP07 Trial Group (2016) Effect of chemoradiotherapy vs chemotherapy on survival in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer controlled after 4 months of gemcitabine with or without erlotinib: the LAP07 randomized clinical trial Takeuchi M (2008) S-1 plus cisplatin versus S-1 alone for first-line treatment of advanced gastric cancer (SPIRITS trial): a phase III trial de Gramont A GERCOR; GISCAD (2005) Gemcitabine in combination with oxaliplatin compared with gemcitabine alone in locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer: results of a GERCOR and GISCAD phase III trial Parulekar W National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group (2007) Erlotinib plus gemcitabine compared with gemcitabine alone in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: a phase III trial of the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group Koike K (2012) A multicentre randomised phase II trial of gemcitabine alone vs gemcitabine and S-1 combination therapy in advanced pancreatic cancer: GEMSAP study Nakagawa K (2010) Phase III trial comparing oral S-1 plus carboplatin with paclitaxel plus carboplatin in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: results of a west Japan oncology group study Nakajima T (2012) Randomized phase II study of gemcitabine and S-1 combination versus gemcitabine alone in the treatment of unresectable advanced pancreatic cancer (Japan Clinical Cancer Research Organization PC-01 study) Tepper J (2009) Consensus report of the national cancer institute clinical trials planning meeting on pancreas cancer treatment Miller LL (2004) Irinotecan plus gemcitabine results in no survival advantage compared with gemcitabine monotherapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer despite increased tumor response rate Arai K (2007) Adjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer with S-1 Lacy J (2016) Final analysis of a phase II study of modified FOLFIRINOX in locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer Tanaka M (2013) Randomized phase III study of gemcitabine plus S-1 or gemcitabine alone in patients with locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer in Japan and Taiwan: GEST study Ohashi Y JASPAC 01 Study Group (2016) Adjuvant chemotherapy of S-1 versus gemcitabine for resected pancreatic cancer: a phase 3 Renschler MF (2013) Increased survival in pancreatic cancer with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine and oxaliplatin plus bevacizumab versus S-1 and oxaliplatin plus bevacizumab in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (SOFT): an open-label Isayama H (2014) Improved survival with combined gemcitabine and S-1 for locally advanced pancreatic cancer: pooled analysis of three randomized studies Download references Research funds and the data of the GEST trial were provided to the Tokyo University of Science by Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. The funders had no involvement in the design of the study; the analysis and interpretation of the data; the writing of the article; or the decision to submit the article for publication This work is published under the standard license to publish agreement After 12 months the work will become freely available and the license terms will switch to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 Unported License Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Oncology CH has received consultancies from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. TO has received honoraria from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. consultancies and research funding from Eli Lilly Japan KK and Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. H Isayama has received honoraria from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. and research funding from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. JF has received honoraria from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. consultancies from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. has received honoraria from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest Supplementary Information accompanies this paper on British Journal of Cancer website From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Download citation SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2019|The Japan News/ANN PlayLoading... East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) said Sunday that its Shinkansen train depot in Nagano was flooded after a dike of the Chikuma River burst in the Hoyasu district in Nagano.The company said it has heard that train cars of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line were inundated by flood waters in the aftermath of powerful Typhoon No. 19. As an evacuation order has been issued in the district, JR East officials were unable to approach the train depot center. Thus, there is no way to specifically assess the situation. Services on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line were scheduled to resume around noon Sunday, but JR East said it is unknown now when that will take effect. According to a Yomiuri Shimbun tally, as of 1 p.m. on Sunday, Typhoon No. 19 had claimed the lives of 16 people in Tochigi, Gunma, Kanagawa, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Saitama and Chiba prefectures, with 20 people missing. NEPC sets electricity price cap at 3.99 baht per unit until end of 2025 RTAF scrambles F-16s to intercept aircraft near Thai-Myanmar border More troops deployed to deep South following surge in violence, says PM 13 still missing as search continues at collapsed building in Bangkok EVA Air Unveils EVA BizFam: A Global Corporate Travel Rewards Program That’s More Than Just A Membership Today's print edition Home Delivery As Japan strives to preserve and pass down the traditional art of sake brewing with kōji mold the effort has taken on renewed significance following its designation as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage last year sustaining domestic sake consumption remains a challenge amid Japan's declining population.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); To preserve the environment for sake production some breweries are endeavoring to expand their sales channels overseas A public-private partnership is leveraging data science to develop sake products tailored to wine culture markets like Europe and the United States In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent By Asako Ishizaka / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer 8 marks 80 years since the Japanese Imperial Navy made a surprise attack on the U.S Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu (Dec took part in the mission as a navy lieutenant That was Haraguchi’s entry in his diary on Nov he had graduated from the Naval Academy where naval officers were trained Japan was bogged down in the Japan-China War and its economy was battered by sanctions including a crippling oil embargo imposed by the United States which Haraguchi still keeps in a safe place he recorded in detail the tension and passion of the times Haraguchi departed Saiki Bay in Oita Prefecture aboard the heavy cruiser Chikuma and the Chikuma arrived at Hitokappu Bay on Etorofu Island where the Navy’s attack group was forming “All of the crew members listened to the briefing with an extraordinary sense of tension and determination,” Haraguchi wrote in his diary on Nov The ship’s captain had announced the plan for the surprise attack The crew chanted “Tennoheika Banzai!” (Long live the Emperor) three times the final decision to start the war was made at a conference before Emperor Showa issued a coded telegram the next day to the attack group the clouds over the sea north of the islands were glistening in the early morning sun A reconnaissance plane took off with a roar from the Chikuma Attack planes took off from the six assembled aircraft carriers Haraguchi transcribed in his diary what he heard over the radio that day his job was to transmit the radio communications to the captain The attack planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor and launched a devastating bombing attack “I saw with my eyes and heard with my ears something extraordinary recalling a sense of excitement he has never forgotten The military success was celebrated back home in Japan with a festival-like fervor But it did little to cause the United States to lose its will to fight “It strengthened solidarity within the United States,” and he started feeling uneasy Japan suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Midway which changed the course of the war drastically The difference in power between the two nations was overwhelming Haraguchi would later serve on the battleship Musashi among his assignments up to the end of the war on Aug he became a medical practitioner in Nagasaki Prefecture served three four-year terms as mayor of the town of Kita-Arima Haraguchi had regarded war as “a necessary evil for self-defense,” but that changed over time his feeling of needless loss grows heavier Of his 430 or so classmates at the Naval Academy Those who survived were left with deep emotional scars The atomic bombs were dropped on his hometown of Hiroshima and on Nagasaki leaving many people to suffer for a long time Haraguchi has resided in a nursing home in Unzen he maintains interest in issues of world peace He said he hopes his voice will carry from his small corner of Japan to the world: “War embroils ordinary citizens against their will It is something that can never be forgiven Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun has acquired the Yushi Chikumakan resort in Chikuma City and will rebrand the property to ‘Club Wyndham Chikumakan Nagano.’ indoor and outdoor onsen facilities and three banquet spaces with a capacity of up to 130 people in total “ Japan is one of the biggest tourist economies in the world – and its popularity is expected to increase This acquisition expands our presence in Japan and prepares us for future demand.” Club Wyndham Chikumakan Nagano will be the first Wyndham brand in Japan. The world’s leading vacation rental company Wyndham Destination acquired Travel + Leisure and the company was renamed as Travel + Leisure Co. Just before Christmas I donned my Santa Claus suit and fluffy white beard and headed around 20 kilometers south down to Nagano I distributed simple gifts and (hopefully) some good cheer to many children whose kindergartens and homes were damaged or destroyed in floods caused by Typhoon Hagibis that swept through on Oct 13 and 14.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); That was the worst storm in these parts for 60 years and the heavy rains led to the Chikuma River breaching its embankments and inundating huge areas of its floodplain — including a depot where 10 I have lived in the Nagano Prefecture hills since 1980 with the Torii River flowing right past my study on its way to join the 367-kilometer Chikuma whose name changes to the Shinano before it empties into the Sea of Japan at Niigata and I felt guilty that many friends and neighbors had joined in rescue efforts and cleanups while a longtime resident like me was absent So the Santa gig was a tiny little gesture who had helped to rescue people by boat from their homes at least appearing there in my festive getup perhaps lifted a few people's spirits and offered encouragement to the volunteers still shoveling mud and clearing debris the big red apples for which the area is famous were just about ready to be harvested those not washed away were left hanging in the trees looking a bit grubby but seemingly fine to be eaten although that was rightly forbidden because of contaminants in the floodwaters as many of the trees themselves have survived I hope the pollution won't affect them in the future Driving through this farming area where apples were just strewn around or had been gathered in piles I couldn't help noticing that many of the houses had been expensively and even elaborately built A lot of money had clearly been made from ringo Although commercial growing didn't really start until the Meiji Era (1868-1912) this country now produces some of the world's sweetest and most expensive varieties apple-growing here is very different from the way I knew it as a boy in Britain many orchards were surrounded by stone walls and the pickers needed to climb ladders because many of the trees were 6 meters high or more while pigs were often let loose to munch on fallen Forty years ago I wrote the lyrics for "Ringo no Ki ni Kakurenbo" ("Hiding in an Apple Tree") which came second when I performed it in 1979 at the 17th Yamaha Popular Song Contest It was later released by Toshiba EMI on my album "Sail Down The River," and I've sung it at dozens of concerts I have to explain that the apple trees I knew as a boy when we'd hop into an orchard to quickly fill our pockets were big enough to climb and hide in if we heard the farmer coming because Japanese apple trees are really a kind of bonsai trimmed and trained so the fruit can be picked by people whose feet are firmly on the ground although the Chikuma orchards are mostly on the river's floodplain it doesn't seem terribly wise to build homes kindergartens — or bullet train depots — there I've spent more of my life in Japan than anywhere else but at times I miss the part of Britain where I grew up amid a centuries-old culture proud of its cooking apples what the Chikuma valley has is more like an economy focused on a product — apples — and economies can be successful So already I've seen people rebuilding homes in the same places; and bigger hugely costly dykes and embankments will doubtless be constructed to try and protect them That's despite climate change seeming to point to more and bigger floods in the future people the world over have tried to adapt to floods even enlisting them as bringers of fertility I doubt it can ever really withstand the power of flowing water And as for Japan's wasteful and idiotic "Great Sea Wall of Tohoku" that's being built following 2011's awful tsunami — well perhaps it's a good thing I don't have the space to get started on that monstrous bid to tame the Pacific More than one in three temples are expected to close over the next 25 years as religion faces an ‘existential crisis’ The stone steps leading to the entrance of the 300-year-old Zen Buddhist temple take visitors past a lovingly tended landscape of rocks trees and pale gravel raked into swirls to symbolise water Inside, the head priest, Bunkei Shibata, is in a contemplative mood. But it is not the path to enlightenment that occupies his thoughts. Instead, he is pondering the future of his, and tens of thousands of other Buddhist temples across Japan Over the next 25 years, 27,000 of the country’s 77,000 temples are expected to close, in one of the biggest existential crises facing Japanese Buddhism since it was introduced from Korea in the sixth century. Read moreIts decline mirrors that of hundreds of small communities that have traditionally helped finance their local temple the Japan Policy Council warned that if the exodus from rural areas continues at the current rate almost half of Japan’s municipalities will disappear by 2040 along with their places of religious worship With no parishioners left to pay for their upkeep temples will have no choice but to close their doors for good a journalist and depute head priest of Shogakuji temple in Kyoto “The popular image of Buddhist priests as wealthy might still be true in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, but it’s not the case elsewhere,” said Ukai, author of Vanishing Temples: the Loss of Rural Areas and Religion but you need at least 200 to make a living,” added Ukai A row of Jizo statues at the entrance of Kaigenji temple Kaigenji is a 300-year-old Buddhist temple in Chikuma Photograph: Justin McCurry/The GuardianNot even Japan’s busy funeral industry appears able to come to Buddhism’s rescue While almost 1.3 million Japanese died last year few relatives can afford the millions of yen it costs to hold a traditional Buddhist funeral while priests say they feel duty-bound to drastically lower costs to give deceased parishioners a fitting sendoff “Japanese Buddhism has gone on a strange direction,” said Shibata a retired businessman who traces his interest in Zen Buddhism to early-morning meditation sessions as a child “These days most people associate it with funerals Some priests are attempting to reverse the decline and challenge the “funeral Buddhism” image by opening temple cafes, supporting volunteer activities and hosting music and theatre productions. In Tokyo, priests at Vowz Bar dispense spiritual guidance along with alcohol The crisis facing Japanese Buddhism isn’t a simple matter of demographics Japan’s population stood at around 30 million – almost 100 million fewer than today – yet there were 46,000 temples Surveys show that an increasing number of Japanese regard organised religion as inaccessible cheerless and – since the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult – even dangerous new membership recruitment will remain difficult,” said Mark Mullins a professor of Japanese studies at the University of Auckland “There may be some winners in the shrinking religious market but it seems likely that most religious organisations will be struggling to maintain their institutions and activities as the number of active clergy and members continues to decline.” That goes as much for priests as for followers More than 12,000 Japanese temples have no resident priest according to a recent survey by the Asahi Shimbun as the pool of young people interested in the priesthood continues to dwindle who trained with the Rinzai-Myoshinji sect before being sent to Nagano prefecture says Buddhism must start dismantling the wall it has built around itself For Japanese Buddhism to survive another 1,500 years he believes 50 percent of priests should be appointed from outside the traditional family succession route although he concedes that “there is resistance” to the idea among traditionalists Shibata is trying to turn Japan’s skewed demographics to the religion’s advantage by reaching out to retirees who want to fill their twilight years with more than rounds of golf and trips to hot springs “Years ago people reckoned they had about 10 years left after retirement so they would just try to enjoy themselves,” said the 80-year-old who trained as a priest after his retirement in 2006 and they want to do something more meaningful with their time after they retire “Older people have a wealth of life experiences and that makes them ideal material for the priesthood the more you think about your own mortality and the more open you are to religious ideas.” who have completed his course for retirees and seven are now running their own temples but the Buddhist world has missed out on that because its connection with ordinary people is focused on funerals and memorials for the dead,” Shibata said to spread Buddhist teachings to a skeptical public He points to the community role Buddhism played in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake when temples opened their doors to survivors and priest and monks walked the length of the disaster zone offering spiritual advice and comfort When people are going through difficult times in their lives 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 Japanese version 8th March as we pay tribute to the influence of women video game composers like the women from Capcom's Sound Team who quietly impacted a male-dominated industry in the 1980s to contemporary artists like Jun Chikuma and Winifred Phillips continuing their legacy expanding video game composition into sweeping orchestral scores and dance music the special broadcast goes deep on their music Tekken and lots more.👾10:00 - 11:00am: Lena RaineA contemporary star of video game composition award-winning US/Canadian musician Lena Raine has lent her talents to small-budget productions and blockbuster releases alike to sweeping huge scale projects like Guild Wars 2 and Minecraft 👾11:00 - 12:00am: Yuka KitamuraAs lead composer at FromSoftware the Japanese developer deeply beloved by hardcore gamers across the world Yuka Kitamura has soundtracked the virtual deaths of millions of players which soundtrack the tough-as-nails worlds of Dark Souls is as tense and foreboding as the worlds themselves 👾12:00 - 13:00pm: Winifred PhillipsFilmic orchestral movements and moments of gaming grandeur from US composer Winifred Phillips whose credits include games from the Assassin's Creed and God of War series 👾13:00 - 14:00pm: Capcom Sound TeamOften working on rudimentary and opaquely designed "chiptune" hardware and asked to use pseudonyms to avoid the approaches of rival video game companies composed a multitude of now iconic video game and arcade standards 👾14:00 - 15:00pm: Yoko ShimomuraYoko Shimomura holds a rare accolade having written music for two giants in the video game music cannon: Capcom and Square Starting her career at Capcom as part of their Sound Team Street Fighter II and other titles before moving to Square She might be most well known for her swansong at the company composing for the classic RPG Kingdom Hearts before leaving in 2002 👾15:00 - 16:00pm: June ChikumaA Japanese composer whose work spans across TV most gamers will recognise June Chikuma as the artist behind the effervescent and club-influenced tunes from Hudson Soft and Konami's long-running Bomberman series Up Next0:00:000:00:00Up NextSimilar to what you are listening to Sorry, we couldn't find any episodes.Please try again later... …Personalised RecommendationsSign up or log in to MY NTS and get personalised recommendations Unlock Live TracklistsSupport NTS for timestamps across live channels and the archive Japan is no stranger to the catastrophic power of natural disasters with the Noto earthquake a little over a year ago being one of the latest in a long list of calamities to hit the country The frequent nature of these disasters has led the nation to build an expertise in disaster resilience that has headed off the kind of damage seen in other countries from similar events recent research shows Japan still suffers from some of the highest costs in the world — and that climate change which is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels will likely compound those costs further.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Japan’s bill for climate change-related damages in the decade through 2023 came in at $90.8 billion China and India — all three of which dwarf Japan’s population and land mass — according to a report compiled late last year on behalf of the International Chamber of Commerce the total cost in climate damages through 2050 could amount to ¥952 trillion ($6 trillion) according to a December analysis — far more than the nominal value of the entire economy as calculated by the Cabinet Office last year From the Noto quake last year and Typhoon Hagibis in 2019 to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami Japan has seen its fair share of natural disasters over the past quarter century And warnings last summer of a Nankai Trough megaquake served as yet another reminder that more are always in store that makes Japan one of the most disaster-affected countries in the world The country ranked sixth on the Disaster Risk Index compiled by global telecommunications company Intersec late last year which was based on a per capita comparison of the deaths injuries and economic damage caused by disasters across nearly 160 countries from 2000 to 2024 Japan’s ranking was driven by $2.35 trillion in economic losses and 543 deaths and injuries when adjusted for the country’s estimated population of 124 million which indicate how the same absolute number of casualties can have a deeper impact on small countries underscore Japan’s success in containing the human toll of natural disasters “If the rankings focused solely on economic damage per capita Japan would likely rank higher,” said Charlotte Cardona marketing and communications director at Intersec The March 2011 disaster played a significant role in those costs but geography also has an important bearing on Japan’s risk factor — island nations made up the majority of the top 10 most “disaster impacted” countries Geographic vulnerability caused by longer coastlines a concentration of assets brought on by more densely-packed urban areas as well as resource limitations often caused by smaller populations and land combine to make islands exceedingly vulnerable to catastrophic damage Cardona said the report “underscores the critical need for enhanced preparedness” in high-risk countries “While the study highlights the devastating human and economic tolls it also points to the importance of investing in early warning systems infrastructure resilience and disaster response strategies,” Cardona said “Such investments are essential because they can save lives reduce economic losses and protect vulnerable communities from the growing frequency and intensity of natural disasters.” The importance of investments like these are being stressed by new studies that predict future extreme weather events will increase climate change-related damages a study commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce analyzed nearly 4,000 extreme weather events across the world that occurred from 2014 to 2023 The economic losses to the global economy caused by these events in terms of physical damage and human deaths amounted to $2 trillion The study focused exclusively on what it labeled “acute impacts,” which it classified as typically shorter-term extreme weather events It found these events are occurring more frequently at higher levels of intensity as global temperatures rise and atmospheric and hydrological patterns shift Its impacts are being felt in the here and now,” John Denton If the “chronic impacts” of climate change — such as extreme temperatures sea level rise and changes in precipitation patterns — on ecosystems agricultural productivity and human health were considered in the study the reported losses to the global economy would likely have been higher the $90.8 billion cost the study found for Japan placed it between India at $112.2 billion and Germany at $65.4 billion “There is a real and tangible cost to delaying the action needed to stem climate change,” Denton wrote the urgency of coordinated and collective action to accelerate emissions reductions and build resilience to changing weather patterns cannot be overstated total losses from natural disasters amounted to $320 billion in 2024 said insurer Munich Re in a report Thursday Those were the fifth and third highest losses since 1980 and both were significantly higher than 10- and 30-year averages “Climate change is showing its claws,” the world’s top insurer said If current global climate policy trajectories continue climate change would lead to an almost 10% annual hit to Japan’s gross domestic product according to new economic modeling by the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change published in December which used data from more than 140 central banks The ¥970 trillion in total losses from climate change through 2050 would translate to “hundreds of thousands of yen being lost by Japanese households annually,” the report found The impact on Japan is forecast to be higher than it is for the U.S Japan has the potential to make a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions reductions both domestically and globally given its possible leadership in areas such as batteries and offshore wind The report stated that under a net zero scenario — meaning carbon emissions are reduced to a level that can be absorbed by nature and other removal measures — the economy would see a ¥13.6 trillion boost annually by 2050 Annual savings by that point compared with the scenario under current climate policies would be about ¥40 trillion Japan is also leading Asia in financial support for the United Nations-led Loss and Damages Fund for developing countries similarly vulnerable to climate change-fueled disasters While Japan’s contribution is a mere $10 million and the total fund of approximately $720 million is often criticized for being not nearly enough — particularly given developed countries’ historical responsibility for planet warming emissions — such funding underlines just how wide ranging the costs of climate change are Japanese households are already feeling the impact of climate change through the increased cost of insurance the nation’s four major nonlife insurance companies raised fire insurance premiums for individuals by an average of about 10% nationwide — the fourth increase since 2019 — due to the increased financial burden from natural disasters In an announcement in 2021 that an advisory fire insurance rate would be raised the General Insurance Rating Organization of Japan explicitly tied the move to climate change driving a higher risk of natural disasters the ‬Insure Our Future climate campaign group said in a report at the end of last year that “climate change had accounted for an estimated $600 billion of global insured weather losses”‭ from 2002 to 2022 “Our planetary body is on life support with organ failures on the horizon,” said Risalat Khan author of the report and a senior strategist for Insure Our Future “It is within our power to forge a common mission across willing governments bold industry voices and a powerful civil society and media to cut emissions today and insure tomorrow.” Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information The biggest storm to hit Japan in decades left deaths and destruction in its wake as it battered the central and eastern parts of the country. Typhoon Hagibis was packing winds of up to 252 kilometers (157 miles) per hour and it moved away from Japan by Sunday morning Hundreds of thousands of people were without power and heavy rain destroyed river banks throughout Japan leading to flooded homes and collapsed bridges. In the aftermath of the largest typhoon to hit Japan in decades the nation on Sunday was still assessing the scope of the damage caused by the massive storm tore through Japan's main island of Honshu on Saturday and early Sunday packing winds of up to 144 kph at landfall killing 35 and leaving 17 unaccounted for as of Sunday afternoon NHK reported 166 people were injured.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Cities and towns across the country — including in Nagano Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures — were inundated by flood waters after levees failed in the face of record rainfall,forcing many people to abandon submerged homes The damage could worsen in the coming days as the water levels may rise along flooded rivers UAlberta scholars explore graphic novel's influence on women writers labs and research stations are primarily located on the territory of the Néhiyaw (Cree) Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and Anishinaabe (Ojibway/Saulteaux) lands that are now known as part of Treaties 6 The University of Alberta respects the sovereignty knowledge systems and cultures of all First Nations The show is set in Nagano’s Chikuma City and features five schoolgirls as the main characters featuring the aforementioned five girls on a train platform Handling the character designs is Airi Takegawa (Pandora to Akubi sub-character designer) which is credited with creating the anime alongside Pony Canyon a collaboration booth between Chikuma City and Pony Canyon will be held at Comiket 101 The booth will hand out a limited amount of fans that feature printed character designs and the scent of Chikuma apricots Sources: @Turkey_PJ japan all images courtesy atsushi kitagawara architects image © hiroyuki kurashima ‘inariyama special education school’ by japanese practice atsushi kitagawara architects (AKA) is a 15 000 m2 educational facility composed of multiple building units in chikuma conceived as a ‘town’-like architecture and small vegetable fields in its composition to stimulate activities for both the children and the local community utilizing traditional japanese wood construction technique the school is almost entirely made of lumber from the nagano prefecture the general form and roof shape of the buildings feature large intersecting pitches that can be clearly read from the outside branch-like structures clad in a shade of yellow highlight the construction of the school while lending the buildings a distinct visual identity within the area utilizing neither metallic materials or glued-laminated timber the structural components of the school makes transparent its wooden construction by having it the focal point of the interior space interweaving lumber units provide a rhythmic effect to the ceiling with the majority of the finished surfaces also being done in larch the choice of local materials coupled with the construction technique kept both the energy consumption and CO2 exhaust during the manufacturing process to a minimum. sheltered drop-off zone image © hiroyuki kurashima indoor gymnasium image © hiroyuki kurashima AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style Japan sent tens of thousands of troops and rescue workers to save stranded residents and fight floods caused by one of the worst typhoons to hit the country in recent history which killed 23 people and briefly paralysed Tokyo as Typhoon Hagibis left vast swaths of low-lying land in central and eastern Japan inundated and cut power to almost half a million homes Landing restrictions at Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports were lifted but more than 800 flights were cancelled for the day as were some Shinkansen bullet train services to the worst-hit areas Authorities lifted rain warnings for the Kanto region around a becalmed Tokyo where stores reopened and many train lines resumed operations but they warned there was still the risk of rivers in eastern Japan overflowing and inflicting fresh damage Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened an emergency meeting of relevant ministers and sent the minister in charge of disaster management to the affected areas He offered condolences to the families of those who were killed and said the government was working to save people's lives and property "The government will do everything in its power to cooperate with relevant agencies and operators working to restore services as soon as possible," Mr Abe said The government had also set up a task force to deal with the damage Some 27,000 members of Japan's self-defence forces as well as firefighters police and coast guard members were sent to rescue stranded people in central Japan's Nagano prefecture and elsewhere NHK said the full extent of the widespread damage was only beginning to emerge because many areas remained under water reviving fears of a repeat of the weeks-long power outages suffered after another typhoon hit east of Tokyo last month Tokyo Electric Power Co reported irregular readings from sensors monitoring water in its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant overnight The plant was crippled by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami which means "speed" in the Philippine language Tagalog made landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu on Saturday evening and headed out to sea early on Sunday leaving behind cloudless skies and high temperatures across the country NHK showed fields and vast residential areas in parts of central and eastern Japan covered in brown water with some of the worst damage caused by Chikuma river in Nagano prefecture Military helicopters airlifted stranded people from homes near the river after they were trapped by water reaching the roofs of their houses The first floor of a large aged care home in Nagano city was shown under water Rescuers took residents from another flooded aged care facility by inflatable boats and carried them on their backs to safety They also searched for survivors in homes destroyed in landslides near Tokyo's suburbs and in Fukushima prefecture Authorities at one point issued evacuation advisories and orders for more than 6 million people across Japan as the storm unleashed the heaviest rain and winds in years Close to 150 injuries have been reported so far which the government said could be the strongest to hit Tokyo since 1958 brought record-breaking rainfall in many areas including the popular resort town of Hakone which was hit with 939.5mm of rain over 24 hours The Japan Meteorological Agency had issued the highest alert level for 12 prefectures warning of the potential for once-in-decades rain totals destroyed or damaged 30,000 houses in Chiba The Rugby World Cup match between Namibia and Canada in Kamaishi on Sunday was cancelled although the crucial Japan-Scotland match was set to go ahead Formula One Grand Prix organisers had also cancelled all practice and qualifying sessions scheduled for Saturday One man has died and more a million in Japan are being advised to evacuate as a powerful typhoon is set to make landfall bringing with it the heaviest rain and winds in 60 years forcing the cancellation of two rugby World Cup matches and some transport is expected pass close to an area hit hard by Typhoon Faxai a month ago The All Blacks final Rugby World Cup pool match against Italy - and the England v France game - have been called off due to Super Typhoon Hagibis Scotland considering legal action to prevent World Cup organisers cancelling their game against Japan on Sunday - a measure that would almost certainly eliminate the Scots Chikuma has a very high level of seismic activity Based on data from the past 55 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900 there are about 2,800 quakes on average per year in or near Chikuma Chikuma has had at least 3 quakes above magnitude 6 since 2000 which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently probably on average approximately every 5 to 10 years The quake had a very shallow depth of 7 km (4.3 mi) and was too small to be felt by people Chikuma has had 18 small quakes up to magnitude 1.7 The quake had a very shallow depth of 8.4 km (5.2 mi) and was too small to be felt by people 4 km SAKURA Embankment at Chikuma River Bank in Nagano Prefecture This breathtaking view can be captured at Sakurazutsumi along the Chikuma River in Obuse Town Obuse Town is located 20km north east of Nagano City a small yet cultural town known as a home to the famous Japanese ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai in his later life The cherry blossoms at Chikuma River Bank (Chikumagawa Teibo Sakurazutumi 千曲川堤防の桜堤) is one of top spots for cherry blossom viewing in Japan and invites a large number of visitors during the season There are approx 700 cherry trees in two rows stretching along the Chikuma River Bank for about 4km When the cherry blossoms are in full bloom they create a spectacular view of a pink tunnel Visitors enjoy walking under the cherry blossom tunnel and watching the pleasant scenery of cherry blossoms by the river other spring flowers can be enjoyed during spring including vivid yellow canola flower that covered the ground The type of cherry trees at Chikuma River Bank is called Yaezakura (八重桜) which usually start blooming later than the most common cherry tree in Japan (Somei Yoshino) The best viewing time for cherry blossoms at Chikuma River Bank is usually mid to late April depending on the weather condition If you miss the best viewing time in other parts of Japan this is one of the best places to enjoy late blooming cherry blossoms in Japan Don’t miss a chance to pass through the superb embankment of spring -Chikuma River Teibo Sakurazutsumi Cherry Blossoms (千曲川堤防の桜堤) Map: https://bit.ly/3mzetE6 Best time to visit: late April to early May Here are some more amazing cherry blossom viewing spots in Nagano Prefecture ▶ Best Cherry Blossom Spots in the Japanese Alps, Nagano Nagano is one of the most attractive prefectures in Japan offering a wide variety of tourist attractions including onsen historical sites and world-famous ski resorts Here are some recommended articles introducing the best things about Nagano Prefecture ▶ Best Things to Do in Nagano ▶ Best Ski Resorts in Nagano For more info about cherry blossoms in Japan "The world is my oyster." As a dedicated globetrotter and hammock enthusiast and discovering the world’s most incredible destinations I’ve always had a deep connection to my roots but my love for adventure has led me to spend over a decade exploring countries across the globe—from culture-rich cities to remote hideaways Travel isn't just a hobby for me; it's a lifestyle I'm constantly searching for new ways to fuel my wanderlust I’ve developed a wealth of knowledge and a treasure trove of tips that make traveling more enjoyable I've come to appreciate not only the beauty of travel but also the importance of understanding diverse cultures and I’m excited to share those lessons with others and firsthand stories that help travelers navigate their journeys to Japan or setting off on a global adventure From hidden gems in Japan to travel hacks that make any trip smoother I hope my insights inspire you to embark on your own adventures and make the most of every moment You can also find my stories here ▶ https://medium.com/@nahobm With World of Tanks proving a phenomenal success it was only a matter of time before we saw the mighty World of Warships join the console fold too we won’t find Wargaming’s next big thing setting sail in all its full glory and instead it will rise through development via the Xbox Game Preview program with frequent updates and support given until release… and hopefully long after too In its current ‘console’ state World of Warships is probably the barest fans will see it I was only able to jump in and enjoy versus matches against A.I But in the several matches I was able to enjoy – and enjoy is a shocking yet accurate statement – World of Warships has proved that the experience we should expect to be a part of in the coming months is one that has been built from the ground up with care and the utmost attention to detail my time with the beta was limited purely to A.I but at present World of Warships does have three unique ships to choose from to take into battle; the American USS Albany Now unfortunately my personal knowledge of warships isn’t the best you’ll find however each ship does come with a few differences to note and much like that found in World of Tanks the visual appearance won’t be the only difference you need to pay attention to should you hope to be competitive in battle This medium sized cruiser proved to be surprisingly poor when it comes to protection with armour easily penetrated by distant shots however the addition of powerful artillery does ensure you can remain competitive The Albany on the other hand is perfect for quick manoeuvrability and what it lacks in its firing range it certainly makes up for with up-close power As for the Japanese Chikuma and it seems that this is a ship that is more focused on speed than anything else the firing range is fairly decent and it’s armour isn’t terrible but should you want to get out of a situation that’s gone south quickly then the crazy speeds of this one are the way forward At least that allowed for taking down several battles during my time with the game At present there is only one ‘map’ if you like however being the open seas it’s hard to argue that you’d need a different arena as besides the rocky landmasses that prove to be capable cover there isn’t really much else you could really change The water effects are fabulous with rippling waves only building in velocity as you push forward at an incredible rate of knots feels and sounds absolutely perfect… at least for what you’d expect in a warship One thing that certainly did standout however which could potentially be attributed to playing the A.I. was just how repetitive things in World of Warships felt the general gist of things is the same – find cover Or at least until there are enough ships free of enemy tracking to launch a full-frontal assault on any enemies that remain Of course, it’s only early stages with World of Warships: Legends on Xbox One at present and a simple look over with envious eyes towards the PC version will soon show you what this game should become when it finally catches up with its opposite number If that level of realism is maintained then us console owners should be in for a fantastic ride There is one final thing to note that cannot go without a mention and there is an incredible attention to detail on show here in World of Warships and whilst the environments and water mechanics behave and look exactly as you’d expect the intricate design of each ship deserves a commendation too From every flag to every fixing and even the rivets and bolts that hold things together there is visually little difference between any of the ships included in the game over their real-life counterparts and whilst we’ve seen titles achieve near life-like realism with vehicles before this is certainly something that will be enjoyed by the masses when it launches fully on Xbox One; slowly circling the camera around the beast you are powering through the waves is rather awe inspiring Let’s just hope this promising sea-faring adventure continues ‘making waves’ Massive thanks go out to Wargaming for giving access to the recent Closed Beta on Xbox One keep an eye out for the launch of World of Warships: Legends on Xbox One as an early access product from 16th April 2019 Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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