Jul 22, 2024 | Media & Arts, Right Moves Ohana Media Group promoted Cat Okegawa to Local Sales Manager for the Anchorage/Wasilla Cluster of radio stations Okegawa returned to Ohana Media Group in March 2024 as an Account Executive after dabbling in other sales roles and in a management role she oversees daily sales operations to achieve business goals and maximize profitability of the stations Ohana Media Group operates six stations in Alaska: KBYR 700 AM and KXLW 96.3 FM with formats including talk The company also operates five other stations in Astoria Okegawa was born and raised in Alaska and has a good grip on the market with her finger on the pulse She has more than twenty years of sales experience territory management in the beauty industry She says she is excited to be back in radio helping clients grow businesses through targeted media and digital campaigns and on-air promotions May 1, 2025 | , Shifting from federal government to city government Chad Stovall joins the Anchorage Community Development Authority as Development Director May 1, 2025 | , Molly Gunther joins the Anchorage office of Schwabe as an Associate with experience in Indian Country and Alaska Native corporation law May 1, 2025 | , Bristol Bay Native Corporation promoted six executives and managers at its corporate office in charge of communications From the Digital Edition Spotlights Today's print edition Home Delivery who was murdered by a stalker 25 years ago is determined to continue his efforts to make sure no one else suffers the same fate as his daughter I'll keep on telling Shiori's story," says Kenichi Ino who continues to give lectures across the country with an aim of eradicating stalking.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); was stabbed to death by a stalker in front of a train station in Okegawa 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 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 who was murdered 25 years ago after falling victim to stalking is determined to continue his activities to make sure no one suffers such harassing behavior 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 I’ll keep on taking over Shiori’s thoughts,” says Kenichi who continues to give lectures across the country with an aim to eradicate stalking was stabbed to death in front of a train station in the city of Okegawa A brother of Shiori’s former boyfriend and three other people were arrested on suspicion of murdering her An indefinite prison term was finalized for the boyfriend’s brother while the other three were sentenced to 15 to 18 years in prison The incident led to the enactment in 2000 of a law against stalking Shiori was stalked for more than six months by the former boyfriend and others with hundreds of leaflets slandering her posted at places around her home Shiori filed a criminal complaint with the Ageo police station of the Saitama prefectural police department against the stalkers for alleged defamation But police officers who took charge of the matter altered the investigation document and asked her to withdraw the complaint The murder occurred while the police did almost nothing to help her Over the falsification of the investigation report three former officers at the Ageo police station were given suspended sentences says: “Shiori cared about the family and had many friends So I’m frustrated that I lost my daughter like this.” media coverage about the incident heated up and some inappropriate reports tarnished her reputation Kenichi and Kyoko started activities to eradicate stalking and establish the rights of crime victims Kyoko joined the National Association of Crime Victims and Surviving Families Activities by the group’s members led to the establishment of a basic law for supporting crime victims and the introduction of a system allowing crime victims to take part in criminal trials Now a member of an organization that was set up in 2022 to succeed the association of crime victims and families Kyoko is working to realize the establishment of a government agency serving as a window for consultation support for crime victims “Crime victims would feel relieved if there is a place where they can seek consultation support,” Kyoko says Kenichi started to speak to an audience about damage related to stalking He has so far given such lectures about 120 times in 40 of the country’s 47 prefectures Kenichi began to deliver lectures also at police academies and other police facilities Kenichi says he was surprised when he was first asked by police to give a lecture because he had lodged a lawsuit over negligent investigations into his daughter’s case by the Saitama prefectural police He has spoken about his experience at the police departments of 12 prefectures He often tells police officers and police officer candidates: “You are the last line of defense I want you to do your best to let no one become a victim.” Some who listened to Kenichi’s lectures told him that they aimed to become police officers after learning about the Okegawa incident Kenichi aims to continue delivering lectures with a determination to eradicate stalking and ensure that no one suffers the same fate as that of his daughter Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun In addition, the study showed that RARP patients had a significantly lower positive surgical margin (PSM) rate than LRP patients (20.7% vs 31.2%) a trusted source of medical news and feature content for healthcare providers offers clinicians insight into the latest research to inform clinical practice and improve patient outcomes Copyright © 2025 Haymarket Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorization. Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of Haymarket Media’s Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions. Only subscribers can update their account from this page You’ve viewed {{metering-count}} of {{metering-total}} articles this month. If you wish to read unlimited content, please log in or register below. Registration is free. Don’t miss out on today’s top content on Renal & Urology News. Register for free and gain unlimited access to: Please login or register first to view this content. Biomechanics and Control of Human Movement Volume 5 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1250938 This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Biomechanics and Control of Human Movement: 2022-2023View all 9 articles Repeated and accurate throwing of an object to a target position is a special human motor skill It is particularly important to understand accuracy which has received less attention than speed due to difficulties in measurement Accuracy has been studied in terms of reducing errors against a single target but also in terms of distinguishing appropriate throws for targets in different positions this ability was investigated by evaluating the two-dimensional distributions of the pitch locations of 15 pitches to three target positions in university students with and without baseball experience and percentage of overlapping area of the 95% confidence ellipse were compared between target positions and participants using a two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) The center and area of the ellipse indicate the mean and variability of the error The lengths of the major axes correspond to the variability of the release timing and the minor axes correspond to the variability of the release point in space the ratio of the major and minor axes indicates how the variability of the pitching motion is controlled The slope of the ellipse corresponds to the throwing arm's trajectory and the percentage of overlap area means the ability to distinguish throws at different target positions The result showed a main effect of participants on all indices except the center of the ellipse This indicates that participants can generally distinguish throws by target positions regardless of their baseball experience although participants with baseball experience may naturally reduce variability participants with baseball experience demonstrated a decrease variability in release timing which is a primary contributor to the pitch location variability relative to the spatial variability of the pitching movements This reduction in timing variability may be attributed to advanced motor control mechanisms When quantifying the accuracy of a movement the difference between the actual and target movement outcomes is generally defined as the error The error was further divided into constant and variable errors each quantified as the mean and standard deviation (SD) of the error Because the arrival position at the throw is a two-dimensional quantity in the horizontal and vertical directions the error is also a two-dimensional quantity The mean value of the error has components in both the horizontal and vertical directions SD has components in both the horizontal and vertical directions as well as covariance which is represented by the correlation or direction of the error distribution the concept of accuracy encompasses the capacity to differentiate throws for targets at different positions in addition to the ability to minimize errors for a single target We proposed the concept of “distinguishing the throw” which involves skillfully adjusting the parameters of ball and/or body movement to make the ball reach each target at different spatial position This ability proves essential in various sports tasks that demand accurate throwing of objects at high speeds to reach specific target positions Therefore, this study focused on the ability to appropriately distinguish throws for different target positions. Two-dimensional distributions of the pitch locations of 15 pitches to three target positions in university students with and without baseball experience were evaluated. Because the distribution of pitch locations is affected by throwing arm's trajectory (6) a 95% error distribution ellipse was evaluated to clarify the strategy used to distinguish throws When a right overarm participant aims at a target pitch locations along a right-up-left-down ellipse are distributed around the left-low and right-high areas but are not distributed around the right-low and left-high areas the target positions were set at the center (C) When a right overarm participant throws at target C the pitch locations are distributed around target L but not around target R there can be different strategies to distinguish throws according to target (e.g. If the error distribution ellipses are different for different target positions it can be concluded that the participants have changed their throwing arm's trajectory We hypothesized that there would be a difference in the distribution of pitch locations between the level of the participants and the target positions None of the participants had a current injury and their pitching styles were overhand All experiments were conducted on an outdoor field Participants warmed up by performing light catching and pitching practice before the experiment Each participant threw 15 four-seam fastballs at three target positions (0.2 m wide and long) located on a board positioned 18.44 m from the center of the pitcher's plate The throws were executed in a blocked manner meaning that each participant threw 15 balls to one target before moving on to the next target The order of the targets was counterbalanced among the participants Participants were instructed to aim at the targets and throw them as fast and accurately as possible The center target (C) was located at the center of the pitcher's plate and 1.3 m above the ground, and the left target (L) and right target (R) were aligned 0.15 m to the left and right of target C, respectively and 0.2 m below target C (Figure 1) This setting was based on the fact that the pitch locations were elliptically distributed and its slope corresponded to the throwing arm's trajectory When a right- overarm participant aimed at target C which are along a right-up-left-down ellipse Ball movements were recorded using a high-speed camera placed on the participant's back Three target positions (0.2 m wide and long) were aligned 18.44 m from the center of the pitcher's plate The center target (C) was located at the center of the pitcher's plate and 1.3 m above the ground and the left target (L) and right target (R) were aligned 0.15 m to the left and right of target C respectively and 0.2 m below target C Ball movements were recorded using a high-speed camera (DSC-RX10M4, SONY, Japan; 960 fps) placed on the participant's back (Figure 1) the position coordinates of the center of the ball were determined from the camera images The motion phase for data collection was approximately 1,000 ms from the beginning of the throwing motion to approximately 10 ms after the arrival of the ball The study was approved by the ethics committee of the University of Tokyo and all participants provided written informed consent The position coordinates of the pitch location were obtained using high-speed camera images and numerical analysis software (MATLAB The points on the pitch in the high-speed camera images were obtained by digitizing the center point of the ball at the moment of arrival The moment of arrival was defined as the moment that the ball hit the board since the targets were positioned on the board we calibrated four points in the horizontal direction (at intervals of 2.5 2.5 m) and four points in the vertical direction (at intervals of 0.62 giving a total of 16 calibration points for the transformation of the position coordinates marks on the board digitized and their measured length was used The maximum error was confirmed to be 0.01 m Pitch position coordinates were calculated using a direct linear transformation (DLT) The “timing” means release timing along the direction of the throwing arm's trajectory and “space” means the release point in space not aligned with the throwing arm's trajectory The variability along the major axis is influenced by the variability of the release timing along the direction of the throwing arm's trajectory that along the minor axis is influenced by the variability of the release point in space the ratio of the major and minor axes was used as an index to provide how the variability of the pitching motion is controlled the minor axis was divided by the major axis the more the timing variability is reduced to the spatial variability of the pitching motions resulting in the ellipse resembling a regular circle The slope of the ellipse corresponds to the throwing arm's trajectory (e.g. right-overarm pitchers pitched along a right-up-left-down ellipse) It was defined as the angle of the major axis which could range from 0° to 180° (0° means completely horizontal and 90° means a completely vertical major axis) the distance between the target and the center of the 95% confidence ellipse divided to along each axis was calculated If the center of the ellipse was biased toward the upper right along the major axis this could show difficulty in delaying release timing (holding the ball longer) if the center of the ellipse was biased toward the lower left along the major axis this could show difficulty in advancing release timing (holding the ball shorter) to clarify the ability to distinguish throws at different target positions the percentage of overlap area of the 95% confidence ellipse was evaluated for each target and percentage of overlap area of the 95% confidence ellipse were compared between the three target positions (L and R) and participants (with and without baseball experience) using a two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05 throughout the study Figure 2 shows the distribution of pitch locations with 95% confidence ellipses for each participant the values are shown with the left and right sides inverted Two-dimensional distribution of the pitch locations (A) The distribution of pitch locations with 95% confidence ellipses for each participant with baseball experience The lines show 95% confidence ellipses and the plots show the values of each trial The blue corresponds to the results of target L the green corresponds to those of target C and the red corresponds to those of target R (B) The distribution of the pitch locations with 95% confidence ellipses for each participant without baseball experience Two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the error in the horizontal (target positions: F(2,66) = 2.32 p = 0.11; participant: F(1,66) = 1.49 p = 0.23; target positions × participant interaction: F(2,66) = 0.16 p = 0.86) and vertical (target positions: F(2,66) = 0.56 p = 0.57; participant: F(1,66) = 0.00 p = 0.96; target positions × participant interaction: F(2,66) = 0.51 p = 0.60) showed no main effect of target positions or participants This indicates that there was no significant difference in the mean of error between the target positions or among the participants The center of the 95% confidence ellipse The graphs show the center of the 95% confidence ellipse The bar graphs show the average of all participants and the plots show the value for each participant The error bars show the standard deviations (SD) of all participants and red correspond to the results for targets L The center of the 95% confidence ellipse (mean of error) The graphs show the center of the 95% confidence ellipse with respect to the targets The error bars show the SD of all participants Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA showed a main effect of participants in major axes (target positions: F(2,66) = 0.38 p = 0.68; participants: F(1,66) = 72.02 p < 0.01; target positions × participant interaction: F(2,66) = 0.13 p = 0.88) and in minor axes (target positions: F(2,66) = 0.49 p = 0.61; participant: F(1,66) = 60.06 p < 0.01; target positions × participant interaction: F(2,66) = 0.07 there was a main effect of participants in the areas of the ellipse (target positions: F(2,66) = 0.33 p = 0.72; participant: F(1,66) = 57.75 p < 0.01; target positions × participant interaction: F(2,66) = 0.06 These results indicate that the variability of error is lower for participants with baseball experience The length of the major and minor axes of the 95% confidence ellipse (variability of error) The graphs show the lengths of the major and minor axes of the 95% confidence ellipses The area of the 95% confidence ellipse (variability of error) The graphs show the areas of the 95% confidence ellipses A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA showed a main effect of participants (target positions: F(2,66) = 0.06 p = 0.94; participants: F(1,66) = 7.40 p < 0.01; target positions × participant interaction: F(2,66) = 0.09 These results indicate that participants with baseball experience possess the ability to control and reduce the timing variability relative to the spatial variability of pitching movements (for more detailed information The ratio of major and minor axes of the 95% confidence ellipse (pitching motion and the control of its variability) The graphs show the ratios of the major and minor axes of 95% confidence ellipse The slope of the 95% confidence ellipse (pitching motion and the control of its variability) The graphs show the slope of the 95% confidence ellipse Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA showed a main effect of target positions in major axes (target positions: F(2,66) = 4.23 p = 0.02; participants: F(1,66) = 0.81 p = 0.37; target positions × participant interaction: F(2,66) = 0.56 p = 0.57) but did not show in minor axes (target positions: F(2,66) = 0.72 p = 0.49; participant: F(1,66) = 0.65 p = 0.42; target positions × participant interaction: F(2,66) = 0.81 The results indicate that the center of the ellipse was biased toward the upper right along the long axis direction in target R but toward the lower left along the long axis direction in target L The center of the 95% confidence ellipse divided to along each axis (bias of release timing) The graphs show the center of the 95% confidence ellipse with respect to the targets divided to along each axis A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA showed a main effect of participants (target positions: F(2,66) = 1.60 p = 0.21; participants: F(1,66) = 10.59 These results indicate that participants with baseball experience had a superior ability to distinguish throws The breakdown of the overlap area of the 95% confidence ellipse (ability to distinguish throws) (A) The breakdown of overlap area of 95% confidence ellipses for each participant with baseball experience The yellow corresponds to the percentage of three conditions’ overlap area the dark yellow corresponds to that of two conditions’ overlap area the green corresponds to that of two conditions’ overlap area and the blue corresponds to that of no overlap area (B) The breakdown of the overlap area of 95% confidence ellipses for each participant without baseball experience The yellow color corresponds to the percentage of overlap area of three conditions the dark yellow color corresponds to the overlap area of two conditions the green color corresponds to the overlap area two conditions and the blue color corresponds to the no overlap area The percentage of the overlap area of the 95% confidence ellipse (ability to distinguish throws) The graphs show the percentage of the overlap area for the three conditions of the 95% confidence ellipse none of these studies explicitly addressed the ability to adequately distinguish throws This study examined the two-dimensional distribution of pitch locations at three target positions in participants with and without baseball experience and percentage of the overlapping area of the 95% confidence ellipse were compared between the target positions and participants using a two-way repeated-measures ANOVA The result was that there was a main effect of participants on all indices except the center of the ellipse this finding suggests that participants with baseball experience are likely to decrease the variability of their pitching movements both in terms of timing and spatial accuracy This indicates that the strategies for achieving accuracy in throwing may differ depending on the specific target plane and/or type of throwing task involved This is relevant to motor control and sports in general This may be related to the slope of the ellipse The slope of the ellipse corresponds to the pitching motion right overarm pitchers pitch along the right-up-left-down ellipse which does not correspond to pitching motions in participants with baseball experience may be attributed to the reduction of timing variability relative to spatial variability in pitching motions and the ellipse to resemble a regular circle concept of major/minor axes and slope no longer exists slope of the major axis is affected by the several outliners and can be of various values when the ellipse resembles a regular circle it remains possible that pitching motions still vary between participants with and without baseball experience This could show difficulty in delaying release timing (holding the ball longer) in target R but advancing timing (holding the ball shorter) in target L The percentage of the overlapping area of the 95% confidence ellipse corresponds to the ability to distinguish pitches to different target positions The percentage of the overlapping area of the three conditions of the ellipse was smaller for participants with baseball experience This indicates that the participants with baseball experience had a better ability to distinguish throws to different target positions and it is difficult to conclude that they were sufficient to distinguish throws there was no main effect of target position on any of the indices The target setting was based on the pitch location distribution the slope of which corresponded to the throwing arm's trajectory are distributed around target L but not around target R The reason why there was no such difference in this study was the difficulty of the task and the level of the participants For the participants in this study (especially those without baseball experience) which was 0.15 m in the horizontal direction and 0.2 m in the vertical direction the percentage of overlapping area of the three conditions of the ellipse was relatively high even for participants with baseball experience It is difficult to conclude that it was sufficient for distinguishing throws further studies with tasks of different difficulty levels and participants of different ability levels are needed to clarify this issue there is no study that provided evidence of a relationship between the axes of the ellipse and the timing or spatial variability of the pitching motion it is possible to create a model of calculating pitch location from the pitching motion and to simulate the changes in pitch location when the timing or spatial variability of the pitching motion vary This study focused on the ability to appropriately distinguish throws for different target positions Two-dimensional distributions of the pitch locations of 15 pitches to three target positions using university students with and without baseball experience were evaluated The result showed a main effect of participants on all indices except for the center of the ellipse participants with baseball experience may control and reduce the timing variability of ball release which is the most significant source of variability to the spatial variability of pitching movements The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author The studies involving humans were approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Tokyo The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study and KK contributed conception and design of the study AK performed the analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript All authors contributed to manuscript revision and read and approved the submitted version All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version This work was in part supported by Japan Science and Technology Agency and JSPS KAKENHI 20H04571 The authors would like to thank members of Kudo lab and Nakazawa lab at the University of Tokyo for inspiring discussions The authors declare 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 at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1250938/full#supplementary-material The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Baseball pitching accuracy: an examination of various parameters when evaluating pitch locations Pitching error in college baseball pitchers PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar A biomechanical comparison of dominant and non-dominant arm throws for speed and accuracy Pitching form determines probabilistic structure of errors in pitch location CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar An examination of the contextual interference effect and the errorless learning model during motor learning A kinematic analysis of rugby lineout throwing PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Self-Paced and temporally constrained throwing performance by team-handball PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar The effects of target location upon throwing velocity and accuracy in experienced female handball players PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Examining movement variability in the basketball free-throw action at different skill levels Variability in baseball pitching biomechanics among various levels of competition Errors in the control of joint rotations associated with inaccuracies in overarm throws Control of accuracy during movements of high speed: implications from baseball pitching Finger flexion does not contribute to ball speed in overarm throws PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A simple rule for controlling overarm throws to different targets Influence of release parameters on pitch location in skilled baseball pitching Okegawa T and Kudo K (2023) The ability to appropriately distinguish throws for different target positions Received: 30 June 2023; Accepted: 21 August 2023;Published: 6 September 2023 © 2023 Kusafuka, Yamamoto, Okegawa and Kudo. 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: Ayane Kusafuka YXlhbmVrdXNhZnVrYUBnbWFpbC5jb20= †ORCID Kazutoshi Kudo orcid.org/0000-0002-3199-9449 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 Japanese version The Japan-America Society of Houston (JASH) advances mutual interest in American and Japanese peoples.  Regular business hours to resume on Tuesday LEADING U.S.-JAPAN EXCHANGE IN HOUSTON FOR 57 YEARS Okegawa-do Tosei Gusoku (Samurai Chest Armor with Riveted Cuirass) Museum purchase funded by the Friends of Asian Art; Dr Horning Asian Art Accessions Endowment Fund The elite warrior caste’s military code and culture had a profound impact on Japanese art and society Soldiers formalized as clans beginning in the 8th century and samurai culture flourished for nearly 700 years until the formation of the modern Japanese military still symbolize the storied service of noble samurai clans Japanese armor developed between the 10th and 11th centuries This armor continued to reflect the evolution of battle tactics and the role of samurai into the 20th century Presented by Milan-based art dealer Giuseppe Piva this talk explores the rich history of the samurai and their protective armor: material Among the examples highlighted is Samurai Chest Armor with Riveted Cuirass (pictured above) from the MFAH collection Lecture is FREE with admission to the museum Click the button below to visit MFAH’s webpage for more information and parking All content © 2025, Japan-America Society of Houston, Inc., unless otherwise noted. | 2990 Richmond Ave, Suite 670, Houston, TX 77098 | Phone: 713.963.0121 | PRIVACY POLICY it took the murder of a 21-year-old woman in broad daylight just outside a suburban train station to convince society of the need to take stalking seriously after months of harassment and threats from a man she had briefly dated university student Ino Shiori was stabbed to death while walking into JR Okegawa station in Saitama Prefecture Public outrage over the police response triggered an inquiry and disciplinary action against the officers involved The Okegawa incident also led to the enactment of the 2000 Anti-Stalking Act which authorized police to deal with stalking (defined as repeatedly approaching or following a specific individual against his or her wishes) by issuing a warning and by arresting any person who ignores such a warning 33-year-old Miyoshi Rie was stabbed to death in Zushi after complaining of relentless harassment via email (which was not explicitly covered by the 2000 law) was killed by a former boyfriend at her own home not long after seeking police intervention 20-year-old singer Tomita Mayu was stabbed repeatedly by an obsessed fan telling them that the fan’s increasingly hostile and threatening comments on Twitter made her fear for her life “The Anti-Stalking Act is focused on preventing a first offense,” explains Kobayakawa Akiko “A police warning issued under the law can serve as a deterrent to some But once someone has crossed the line and engaged in intimidation or assault they should be taken into custody immediately The question then becomes how to prevent that person from becoming a repeat offender.” This is where the current system falls short Kobayakawa began providing services on behalf of stalking victims in 1999 The direct impetus was not the Okegawa incident but Kobayakawa’s own traumatic experience with a stalker.  Kobayakawa had gone into business as an art importer in 1994 A man she knew had asked to join the management team he began tailing her and phoning her dozens of times each day “At one point he barged into the office and went on a rampage,” recalls Kobayakawa “One of my employees was hurt as a result ‘Come back when he does something serious like setting the office on fire.’ That was when I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands.” Kobayakawa located a private security firm which assigned bodyguards to protect Kobayakawa and her business from the stalker she was able to prevent any further incidents of violence the man continued stalking Kobayakawa for several years thereafter “I’m still in the habit of glancing behind me from time to time,” she says Kobayakawa decided to launch a nonprofit service to assist stalking victims who might lack her resources it was all about protecting the victims,” she says the stalkers were the ‘bad guys.’ But when I started talking to stalkers at their victims’ request Often they had been hurt by a romantic attachment that they couldn’t let go of and were caught in a cycle of self-destructive behavior I quickly realized that stalking was a kind of addiction involving a fixation on a particular person.” Kobayakawa defines a stalker broadly as anyone “who repeatedly initiates unwanted contact with a specific party out of an obsessive interest in or desire for contact with that party.” The “spurned lover” envisioned by the drafters of the Anti-Stalker Act is the most common type and is responsible for the majority of incidents similar interactions can occur between a parent and an adult child Kobayakawa has also dealt with stalkers motivated solely by animosity When a victim of stalking comes to Kobayakawa she begins by using information from the client to assess the perpetrator’s emotional state and determine the danger he or she poses stalkers are generally still seeking attention and understanding from the target grievances and feelings of resentment take over and the perpetrator shifts to complaints and verbal attacks Kobayakawa labels this stage “dangerous.”  If the situation continues to escalate it reaches the “poisonous” stage is to stop the stalking before it reaches the third stage Kobayakawa has had considerable success with Gestalt therapy “It’s a school of therapy that emphasizes healthy boundaries between the self and others,” she explains “Certainly a warning from police under the Anti-Stalking Act can be very helpful,” she says police intervention can actually exacerbate the problem That’s why I think that law enforcement needs to coordinate with mental health providers Any individual who receives a warning should also meet with a psychiatric social worker or qualified counselor it would be even better if they had an opportunity to get counseling before the police got actively involved.” Kobayakawa believes that many serious incidents could be averted if stalkers had access to such support was arrested for sending her threatening emails Kobayakawa offered to meet directly with Kozutsumi The stalker was indicted and convicted on charges of intimidation but received a suspended sentence Miyoshi went to the police and begged them to re-arrest Kozutsumi Kobayakawa still wonders if she could have prevented the murder had she succeeded in getting Miyoshi’s permission to meet with Kozutsumi “It’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life,” she says Although Kobayakawa claims considerable success with the stalkers who agree to be counseled by her about 10% of them are simply unable to turn over a new leaf But there is hope for hard-core stalking addicts Hirai Shinji of the National Hospital Organization Shimofusa Psychiatric Medical Center uses the “conditioned reflex control technique” (CRCT) to treat a wide range of compulsive behaviors CRCT is essentially a 13-week course of brain training to control their impulses and stop undesirable behaviors he told her unequivocally that he could “cure” stalkers using the same technique but she was dealing with an intractable case and decided it was worth a try was desperate and had begun to voice suicidal thoughts the woman checked into Hirai’s addiction treatment program Kobayakawa says she has since referred more than 20 “dangerous” or “poisonous” stalkers to the program and almost all of them have been rehabilitated In one case of successful cooperation with the criminal justice system the attorney for a man indicted for intimidation acted on Kobayakawa’s advice and successfully applied for bail on the condition that his client check into the Shimofusa Psychiatric Medical Center A police officer escorted the man to the medical center who was convicted but given a suspended sentence “The healthcare community as a whole has yet to embrace the idea of stalking as a mental illness—specifically an impulse-control disorder—that requires medical treatment,” says Kobayakawa It’s still widely regarded as something that can be managed through counseling alone Stalkers rarely view their behavior as a disease I think we need to foster a shared understanding of stalking as a psychiatric disorder I’m hoping we’ll see some changes in the criminal justice system The rise of social media has made it easier than ever before to act out on stalking impulses. In 2018, the number of confirmed stalking cases surpassed 20,000 for the sixth straight year Kobayakawa sees a growing number of victims—many of them junior high school and high school students—who have never once met their stalkers face to face “I also get the feeling that social media has the effect of speeding up the escalation to ‘poisonous’ stalking,” she says Kobayakawa feels that schools need to start educating young people about cyberstalking “Teachers should be prepared to respond quickly and appropriately when a stalking incident occurs,” she says She envisions school instruction incorporating simulated situations to help young people resist stalking impulses and steer clear of risky interactions with social media providing ever-growing opportunities for stalkers Kobayakawa is convinced of the need for widespread application of therapy centered on CRCT “This is a truly groundbreaking treatment and I’d like to see it become the gold standard everywhere.” (Originally published in Japanese based on an interview by Itakura Kimie of Nippon.com Metrics details We evaluated pathophysiological characteristics of the lower urinary tract dysfunction in a streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat model STZ (60 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally into male Wistar rats and simultaneous recordings of bladder pressure + urethral perfusion pressure (BP + UPP) with or without intravenous administration of L-arginine (300 mg/kg) or tadalafil (0.03 mg/kg) were performed at several time points In vitro muscle strip experiments demonstrated that diabetic rats had significantly higher contractile responses to carbachol at 4–16 weeks and a tendency for higher contractile responses to electrical field stimulation at 4–12 weeks Diabetic rats had significant increases in voided volume and amplitude and frequency of non-voiding contractions at 16 weeks Tadalafil decreased the residual volume in diabetic rats Diabetic rats had significantly higher UPP nadir and mean UPP during high-frequency oscillation at 16 weeks which were reversed by tadalafil or L-arginine administration The present results suggest that urethral relaxation failure probably related to impairment of the NO/cGMP signalling pathway rather than bladder contractile dysfunction may be a prominent cause for voiding dysfunction in STZ-induced chronic diabetic rats the majority of previous studies using in vivo cystometric measurements found that increases in bladder capacity and PVR in animal models of diabetes are not accompanied by impaired bladder contractility in cystometric or organ bath studies occur mostly in the absence of detrusor underactivity while the increase in PVR in diabetic patients is considered to reflect detrusor underactivity It is not fully clear why increased PVR in patients appears due to detrusor underactivity whereas such underactivity is typically not observed in animals with increased PVR These findings led us a hypothesis that the major cause of voiding dysfunction observed even in a later phase of STZ-induced DM rats should be urethral relaxation failure but not simply detrusor underactivity (decreased bladder contractility) research on diabetic dysfunctions of the bladder and urethra are still limited and controversial; therefore precise evaluations of the time-dependent changes of bladder-and urethral-functions in DM progression in order to verify the hypothesis described above first we assessed time-dependent changes in bladder contractile functions in STZ-induced DM rats we investigated whether urethral relaxant dysfunction was also present in chronic DM rats and examined the potential involvement of the NO/cGMP signalling pathway in this urethral dysfunction with administration of L-arginine or tadalafil DM rats had significantly higher serum glucose levels and bladder weight, and lower body weight compared with Sham rats at all time points (Table 1) Contractile responses to CCh at 4–16 weeks. Values are expressed as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05: Sham vs DM rats (f-test of nonlinear regression). Contractile responses to EFS at 4–16 weeks No significant differences were found between Sham and DM rats at all frequencies of EFS at all time-points (Mann-Whitney U-test) Representative microscopic images with Masson-trichrome staining of the bladder in Sham (A,B) and DM (C,D) rats (A and C: low power field Each square in panels A and C corresponds to panels B and D Thickness of the muscle layer in the bladder wall (E) Muscle-collagen ratio in the smooth muscle layer (F) *P < 0.05: significant differences between Sham rats (Mann-Whitney U-test) Representative traces of a single CMG recording (A) Representative traces of a single CMG recording in Sham and DM rats at 16 weeks after the induction of DM by STZ (B) Representative traces of a single CMG recording before and after tadalafil administration in a rat 16 weeks after DM induction by STZ DM rats had significantly higher UPP nadir and mean UPP during high-frequency oscillation (HFO) compared with Sham rats (Fig. 5A, Table 3A). Similar effects of these two drugs were observed in Sham rats but they did not reach statistical significance (data not shown) and further suggest that decompensation may occur at 16 weeks we conducted further in vivo functional investigations at 16 weeks after the induction of DM the development of NVCs in DM rats in the current study may be related to bladder remodelling but this point needs to be investigated in future studies Our results suggest that long-term diabetes caused NO/cGMP deficiency resulting in urethral relaxant dysfunction Tadalafil-administration in the CMG experiments improved the larger residual volume and the lower voiding efficiency in DM rats which may be indirectly affected by the activation of NO/cGMP on urethral dysfunction These neuronal and structural changes of the urethra might contribute to the urethral relaxant dysfunction demonstrated in the present study It’s most conceivable that urethral relaxation failure during voiding may be the prominent mechanism involved in voiding dysfunction observed in a chronic diabetic rat model induced by STZ we did not characterize DM rats induced by STZ after 16 weeks we did not perform direct analyses of the NO/cGMP signalling pathway in the present study such as the quantitative analyses of mRNA and protein expressions of NO synthase isoforms assessed by quantitative PCR we did not investigate a possible contribution of diuresis itself to the pathophysiology of STZ-induced diabetic rats A further study is needed to investigate these points To verify the role of the NO/cGMP signalling pathway in causing urethral relaxation failure demonstrated in STZ-induced DM rats additional experiments with a long-term treatment with tadalafil starting at STZ-injection for preventing the development of the urethral relaxation failure would be valuable the current results suggest that urethral relaxation failure rather than bladder contractile dysfunction during voiding is a prominent mechanism involved in voiding dysfunction observed in a chronic diabetic rat model induced by STZ A total of 110 adult (9 weeks old) male Wistar rats (Japan SLC The rats were maintained under standard laboratory conditions with a 12/12 h light/dark cycle and free access to food and water Experimental protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Tokyo and were in line with NIH guidelines for the care and use of experimental animals 60 mg/kg STZ dissolved in 0.05 M citrate buffer (pH 4.5) was intraperitoneally injected Blood samples were collected from the tail vein after 48 h and rats with a serum glucose level of 300 mg/dl or higher were used Control rats received vehicle (0.05 M citrate buffer)-injection instead of STZ approximately 30% DM rats were excluded due to either unsuccessful induction of diabetes or death after induction of diabetes DM rats did not receive any insulin injections full-thickness detrusor strips (about 5 × 1 mm) were transferred to 5 ml organ baths filled with oxygenated Krebs solution The strip was first exposed to a high K+-containing (62 mM KCl) Krebs solution the following stimuli were examined: CCh cumulative administration (10−8–10−3 M) contractions were evoked by EFS with cumulative administrations of 10−5 M mATP (five times at 2 min intervals) USA) with a cuff was implanted into the bladder through the bladder dome and secured by a purse-string suture with a 5-0 prolene thread another PE-50 catheter was placed in the left jugular vein for the tadalafil drug administration trial Each rat was restrained in a Bollman cage (Type III KN-326; Natsume Co. Japan) and allowed to adapt for 2 h prior to performing CMG Saline was continuously instilled into the bladder at a rate of 6 ml/h tadalafil (0.03 mg/kg) was intravenously administered and CMG measurements were repeated at 10 min after drug-administration The following CMG parameters were analysed: voided volume threshold pressure for inducing micturition defined as bladder contractions with an amplitude greater than 2 cm H2O observed during the filling phase were analysed to calculate their amplitude (cm H2O) and frequency (times/min) a PE-50 catheter with a cuff was implanted into the bladder side wall and secured by a purse-string suture with a 5-0 prolene thread to monitor intravesical pressure another fabricated double-lumen catheter (PE-160 and PE-50) was implanted into the bladder top by a purse-string suture with a 5-0 prolene thread while pressing the tip into close contact with the bladder neck To prevent backflow filling with urine from the bladder to the ureters during the experiment Another catheter (PE-50) was placed in the blood vessel for drug administration The urethra was perfused with saline via the outer cannula of the double lumen catheter at 0.075 ml/min using an infusion pump under open urethra conditions The bladder was filled with saline (6.0 ml/h) until an isovolumetric rhythmic bladder contraction occurred tadalafil (0.03 mg/kg) or L-arginine (300 mg/kg) was intravenously administered and measurements were repeated at 10 min after drug-administration The following bladder pressure and UPP parameters were analysed: baseline UPP, UPP relaxation, UPP nadir, urethral relaxation duration, mean UPP during HFO, HFO amplitude, HFO duration, HFO rate, intravesical pressure threshold for inducing urethral relaxation, and max reflex bladder contraction amplitude (Fig. 5D) atropine and TTX were purchased from Wako Pure Chemical Industries L-Arginine was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich St and then saline was added to adjust to an appropriate concentration All data are expressed as the mean ± standard error of mean (SEM) Dose responses for CCh were analysed by f-test of nonlinear regression Other results were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U-test or paired Student’s t-test P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant Chapple, C. R. et al. The underactive bladder: a new clinical concept? European urology 68, 351–353, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2015.02.030 (2015) Daneshgari, F., Leiter, E. H., Liu, G. & Reeder, J. Animal models of diabetic uropathy. The Journal of urology 182, S8–13, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2009.07.084 (2009) Daneshgari, F., Liu, G. & Imrey, P. B. Time dependent changes in diabetic cystopathy in rats include compensated and decompensated bladder function. The Journal of urology 176, 380–386, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-5347(06)00582-9 (2006) Ellenbroek, J. H., Arioglu Inan, E. & Michel, M. C. A systematic review of urinary bladder hypertrophy in experimental diabetes: Part 2. Comparison of animal models and functional consequences. Neurourology and urodynamics 37, 2346–2360, https://doi.org/10.1002/nau.23786 (2018) Neural control of urethral outlet activity in vivo: role of nitric oxide Torimoto, K. et al. Urethral dysfunction in diabetic rats. The Journal of urology 171, 1959–1964, https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ju.0000121283.92963.05 (2004) Gotoh, D. et al. Tadalafil, a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, restores urethra and detrusor function in the initial phase of diabetes in rats. Lower urinary tract symptoms 11, 241–247, https://doi.org/10.1111/luts.12272 (2019) Yoshizawa, T. et al. Concomitant alteration in number and affinity of P2X and muscarinic receptors are associated with bladder dysfunction in early stage of diabetic rats. International urology and nephrology 50, 451–458, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-018-1800-6 (2018) Liang, C. C., Shaw, S. S., Huang, Y. H., Lin, Y. H. & Lee, T. H. Improvement in bladder dysfunction after bladder transplantation of amniotic fluid stem cells in diabetic rats. Scientific reports 8, 2105, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20512-z (2018) Time-dependent urinary bladder remodeling in the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat model Liu, G. & Daneshgari, F. Temporal diabetes- and diuresis-induced remodeling of the urinary bladder in the rat. American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology 291, R837–843, https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00917.2005 (2006) Sugiyama, R. et al. Synergic Suppressive Effect of Silodosin and Imidafenacin on Non-Voiding Bladder Contractions in Male Rats with Subacute Bladder Outlet Obstruction. Lower urinary tract symptoms 9, 94–101, https://doi.org/10.1111/luts.12109 (2017) Andersson, K. E. et al. Tadalafil for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia: pathophysiology and mechanism(s) of action. Neurourology and urodynamics 30, 292–301, https://doi.org/10.1002/nau.20999 (2011) Masuda, H. et al. Involvement of accumulated endogenous NOS inhibitors and decreased NOS activity in the impaired neurogenic relaxation of the rabbit proximal urethra with ischaemia. British journal of pharmacology 133, 97–106, https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjp.0704050 (2001) Kadekawa, K. et al. Effects of an alpha1A/D-adrenoceptor antagonist, naftopidil, and a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, tadalafil, on urinary bladder remodeling in rats with spinal cord injury. Neurourology and urodynamics 36, 1488–1495, https://doi.org/10.1002/nau.23158 (2017) Gotoh, D. et al. Tadalafil, a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, improves bladder blood supply and restores the initial phase of lower urinary tract dysfunction in diabetic rats. Neurourology and urodynamics 37, 666–672, https://doi.org/10.1002/nau.23372 (2018) Nakagawa, T. et al. Responsiveness of lumbosacral superficial dorsal horn neurons during the voiding reflex and functional loss of spinal urethral-responsive neurons in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Neurourology and urodynamics, https://doi.org/10.1002/nau.24198 (2019) Marini, G. et al. Effects of short-term severe and long-term mild STZ-induced diabetes in urethral tissue of female rats. Neurourology and urodynamics 36, 574–579, https://doi.org/10.1002/nau.22974 (2017) Ito, H. et al. Long-term caloric restriction in rats may prevent age related impairment of in vitro bladder function. The Journal of urology 193, 2123–2130, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2014.11.005 (2015) Aizawa, N. et al. Characteristics of the mechanosensitive bladder afferent activities in relation with microcontractions in male rats with bladder outlet obstruction. Scientific reports 7, 7646, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07898-y (2017) Jung, S. Y. et al. Urethral afferent nerve activity affects the micturition reflex; implication for the relationship between stress incontinence and detrusor instability. The Journal of urology 162, 204–212, https://doi.org/10.1097/00005392-199907000-00069 (1999) Torimoto, K. et al. alpha1-Adrenergic mechanism in diabetic urethral dysfunction in rats. The Journal of urology 173, 1027–1032, https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ju.0000146268.45662.36 (2005) Download references This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number JP17K11174 to N.A.). We thank Edanz Group (www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine Dokkyo Medical University School of Medicine designed and performed the majority of the experiments supervised the study and edited this manuscript The authors declare no competing interests Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61106-y Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology (2022) Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information National Report SAITAMA--A notorious bicycle rider caught on video repeatedly veering toward oncoming vehicles became the first cyclist arrested over reckless riding under the revised Road Traffic Law Saitama prefectural police arrested Akihiko Narushima 26 on suspicion of violating provisions added to the law in June against interfering with other drivers Narushima is accused of obstructing oncoming traffic by abruptly jutting into the opposite lane when he was cycling on a road in Okegawa on Oct The entire scene was captured by a dashboard camera in a car that was trailing Narushima The 67-year-old driver of that car said Narushima zigzagged around the centerline of the road for about two minutes the bike rider crossed into the opposite lane four times when cars approached Narushima was arrested for allegedly grabbing the car driver’s relative who cautioned him about his reckless riding by the collar and committing other assaults He is currently on probation after he was found guilty in February of violating the Road Traffic Law and other charges He had been indicted over a similar dangerous riding incident in Ageo Narushima has frequently been seen suddenly crossing into the oncoming lane while cycling in the area Local residents have referred to him as “hyokkori otoko,” which means a man who suddenly pops out Bicycles are classified as “light vehicles” under the Road Traffic Law interfering with other drivers can also apply to bicycle riders The revision added reckless riding to 14 other types of actions defined as dangerous behavior by cyclists such as riding under the influence of alcohol and ignoring a red light In addition to moving into the oncoming traffic lane repeatedly ringing the bicycle bell and other actions are categorized under reckless riding Any bicycle rider aged 14 or older found guilty of violating the law twice over a three-year period will have to pay for and sit through three-hour lectures by a prefectural public safety commission about safe riding Those who do not comply with the order will face a fine of up to 50,000 yen ($477) (This article was written by Keita Yamaguchi and Ryohei Miyawaki.) Road rage driver gets suspended sentence for Ibaraki assault Tokyo woman wrongly tied to road rage case wins libel lawsuit Hefty fines and longer prison terms for reckless driving 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 Japanese version Japanese version Japanese version AD Leave a rating/comment#Nihonga / Ukiyoe#Craft / FolkcraftBack to ArticlesSHARE A Japanese website reimagining world flags as handsome young men is making a splash in the runup to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo the site introduces the origins of the flags and the cultures of the different countries they represent The site depicts Japan’s flag as a strapping young samurai As the obvious aim is to get people around the world interested in Japanese culture any number of widely recognized cultural icons would do as Japan’s national teams for baseball and other sports are nicknamed “samurai” for their fighting spirit It is interesting that the creators chose to personify flags as good-looking men considering the common reliance on images of beautiful young girls that appeal to male fans or even androgynous mascots Japan’s knack for personifying objects as attractive people has gained recognition in East Asia but I am curious how the rest of the world will receive the flag project I am also fascinated to see whether it will catch on with men and older people From left: The personified flags of Japan Personification is everywhere in Japan today It is part of branding campaigns for such disparate entities as railway stations It is also a fundamental aspect of the mascots and other characters that are ubiquitous across Japanese culture Creators have learned to be resourceful and experiment with different motifs when making new characters This can be seen particularly with Japan’s growing army of regional mascot Designers will commonly start with a basic outline and then blend references to regional features like local dishes next door to where I live in Saitama Prefecture on its head and wears the garb of a traveler from the Edo period (1603–1868) to invoke the town’s history as a post station on the old Nakasendō highway the various characteristics mascots convey are not always so concrete Characters representing political or corporate entities are known to communicate abstract concepts like “peace” or “the future.” Oke-chan The character for Tennōzu Isle Station on the Tokyo Monorail provides another example The area combines the traditional Japanese place name “Tennōzu” with the English word “isle,” and the station’s mascot is imagined as someone with mixed Japanese and Western roots Personification emerged as a form of metaphor and has been applied for educational and satirical purposes since time out of mind it remains popular in children’s education in Japan it has come to be used in an increasingly wide range of fields groups of mostly female fans at events like Comic Market have cast their favorite characters from popular works in completely new situations creating original content with fresh scenarios self-published magazines reimagined characters from well-known children series like Anpanman and Doraemon as handsome protagonists in “boys’ love” stories manga that depict romantic relationships between male characters Such works established anime parody as a subgenre and can be traced back further to the late 1970s when readers submitted stylized versions of famous characters to fan club publications and anime and manga magazines The arrival of the Internet and the spread of computers and smartphones have hugely changed the reach Derivative material posted on personal websites and social media now reach a wide audience unlike with the small fan communities of earlier decades Anyone wanting to create a character with broad appeal is wise to avoid obscure elements that play to only a small slice of society but instead pick a motif that people can easily relate to this approach lead to a host of characters based on mundane items—blackboards just to name a few—public bodies like prefectures As the personification phenomenon picked up steam the initial emphasis was on creating characters that were truly original—cockroaches reimagined as beautiful girls and the personification of Japan’s war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution won a lot of interest personification has mushroomed to the point that nowadays almost anything can become reimagined as a character and quality has come to be more in demand than novelty Since the early 1990s, a seemingly endless parade of fluffy promotional mascots, known colloquially as yuru-kyara representing a staggering array of bodies and organizations like local governments These mascots have generally taken inspiration from children’s entertainment being cute and cuddly so as to ensure broad appeal some have mimicked the scantily clad female characters most frequently associated with otaku culture—although often at the risk of becoming the focus of public ire for objectifying women Japan’s Self-Defense Forces has readily adopted such subculture elements to create a vast cast of characters representing everything from the different SDF branches to regional bases the SDF has viewed the approach as a potentially effective means of recruiting the regional headquarters in Yamaguchi Prefecture uses three female characters—air and sea forces—clad in outfits more resembling the mobile suits of the Gundam anime series than a modern armed force It is arguable whether this is personification or not The three mechanized characters represent the three branches of the Self-Defense Forces Personification in Japan has been around since the middle ages, as can be seen notably in the famous anthropomorphic creatures of Chōjū giga, a set of ancient scrolls depicting different frolicking animals, and the fanciful portrayals of the various chapters of The Tale of Genji produced over the centuries there remains a strong element of playfulness helping personification become accepted by people of all ages This traditional expression has found new manifestation in subculture events like Comiket and has developed even further through shared spaces on the Internet I will be watching with interest to see where it goes next (Originally published in Japanese on November 5 Banner image: Handsome samurai representing the flags of (from left) Japan By Ryosuke Kobashiri / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer As branded tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are selling well in domestic supermarkets and convenience stores expansion into overseas markets is being eyed exports of fresh vegetables in general have been sluggish Forestry and Fisheries Ministry will strengthen its support for overseas sales setting a target of exporting ¥5 trillion of agricultural forestry and fishery product a year by 2030 Takaaki Teshima harvested reddish tomatoes on his farm in Okegawa The variety named Otokogi Tomato by Teshima has been sold nationwide quit his job at a food company in 2010 to become a farmer He wanted to “grow vegetables that would taste different depending on who grows them,” and chose tomatoes He tried the so-called Sparta cultivation method of not watering them — or giving them environmental stress — so that the tomatoes taste sweeter He adjusted the amount of water in each plant mound to find the best quantity and produced tomatoes with a perfect balance of sweetness and sourness Otokogi Tomato has quickly become popular for its “nostalgic taste.” It has spread through word of mouth and the brand has 45,000 followers on social media Teshima began selling them out the front of his farm Every day he would put out 100 bags of four to six tomatoes and they would sell out in two hours He also began cultivating several varieties of cherry tomatoes and plans to organize tomato picking this spring “I want to keep making delicious tomatoes that are second to none,” Teshima said “I want customers overseas to enjoy Otokogi Tomatoes someday.” Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family and are native to the Andes in South America They were introduced to Japan in the early Edo period (1603-1867) they were called “togaki,” which literary means Chinese persimmon The vegetable was the motif of renowned painter Kano Tanyu in that period They began to be eaten in the Meiji era (1868-1912) colorful and sweet cherry tomatoes have been selling well They are sold in plastic cups in supermarkets and convenience stores Cherry tomatoes have a sugar content of about twice that of ordinary tomatoes and some have a Brix reading of more than 10 tomato production in 2020 totaled ¥224 billion about 10% of the total figure of all kinds of vegetables at ¥2.25 trillion The main production areas are Kumamoto Prefecture and Hokkaido and many new farmers and corporations are said to have started growing tomatoes because they can easily differentiate the taste based on differences in cultivation methods on top of the vegetable having a large market Some production areas such as Gunma Prefecture export their products to Singapore and elsewhere but exports of tomatoes are virtually untouched Tomato exports from January to November 2021 totaled ¥74.47 million Although this figure is up from ¥3.17 million in 2012 it accounts for only a small portion of total exports This is because it requires a lot of effort to preserve vegetables’ freshness and package them many producers are reluctant to export vegetables as they are not profitable forestry and fishery products from January to November last year exceeded ¥1 trillion for the first time The ministry has set export targets of ¥2 trillion by 2025 and ¥5 trillion by 2030 In addition to popular items such as wagyu beef the ministry hopes to strengthen support for exports of vegetables such as tomatoes and onions The ministry plans to establish a system to certify organizations that develop and research overseas markets facilitate export procedures and support capital investment “We will encourage vegetable farmers to expand their focus from current domestic distribution to export and increase exports as a whole,” a senior ministry official said Tsujimura began researching the biochemistry of green tea alongside Dr Umetaro Suzuki a doctor of agriculture who discovered vitamin B1 Hyderabad: Google Doodle on Friday honoured Michiyo Tsujimura a Japanese chemist who did in-depth research on green tea on the occasion of her 133rd birth anniversary She was known for her in-depth study on the chemical components of green tea and its nutritional benefits and a flask were used to form the letters of ‘Google’ Michiyo Tsujimura was born on September 17 Tsujimura was inspired to pursue a career in scientific research she became Japan’s first woman doctor of agriculture in 1932 Michiyo Tsujimura and her colleague discovered green tea to contain significant amounts of vitamin C It was also one of the first components discovered she was able to isolate more of its chemical composition like catechin – a bitter ingredient of tea and tannin – an even bitter compound Tsujimura published her doctoral thesis titled ‘On the Chemical Components of Green Tea’ that included these findings and more She also went on to patent a method of extracting crystallised Vitamin C from plants in 1935 Dr Tsujimura also made history as an educator when she became the first Dean of the Faculty of Home Economics at Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School in 1950 She was also awarded the Japan Prize of Agricultural Science in 1956 for her research on green tea she was awarded the Order of the Precious Crown of the Fourth Class Recommended Foreigner-Friendly Apartments in Saitama Saitama is one of the places where many foreigners also like to live Many large factories and manufacturing businesses are located in Saitama where many foreigners work It is also a prefecture situated right next to Tokyo Finding a place to live in a rural area like Saitama is quite difficult unlike in the cities where a lot of agencies and people that you can ask for we will introduce the best apartments in Saitama we can help you find a place for you to live and provide you with the information you need *Please note that this article contains affiliate links let me give you some information about the Saitama area Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県, Saitama-ken) is a part of the Greater Tokyo area and a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu And Saitama city is the capital and the most famous city of Saitama Prefecture of Japan also being one of the biggest cities in Japan Popular as the heart of bonsai along with the long history of Japanese ningyo doll making there are a lot of places where you can go to feel the history and tradition of Japan: we will introduce our 10 picks for the best apartments in Saitama for foreigners I hope this article has helped you have an idea of what kind of apartments you can find in the Saitama area For more related articles please visit and check the articles below Greetings to all mommies I am a supermom from Philippines I worked and lived in Dubai for seven years I am happily settled here with my Japanese husband and our 7 months old baby I could only describe my almost 6 years of living here as a roller coaster ride more so I was able to witness firsthand the pros and cons of living in the country Those years were enough to give me quite personal and memorable experiences which I would be more than delighted to share with you