Juntendo University Research Promotion Center image: Researchers have found that stress decreases the capacity of specialized cells called programmed death ligand 2-positive macrophages to clear out dead cells in lesion sites Credit: Soichiro Yoshikawa from Juntendo University Psychological stress is known to exacerbate skin allergies but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood Recent studies using a mouse model of immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated cutaneous allergic inflammation (IgE-CAI) suggest that stress may disrupt immune functions thereby worsening allergic symptoms by interfering with the body's inflammatory responses IgE-CAI is characterized by swelling and infiltration of eosinophils a type of immune cell involved in allergic inflammation The study revealed that psychological stress reduces the ability of specialized cells called anti-inflammatory programmed death ligand 2 (PD-L2)-positive macrophages thereby exacerbating skin allergy symptoms “This study is the first in the world to demonstrate that stress which normally helps suppress allergic reactions thereby intensifying allergic responses,” explains Dr To investigate the mechanism linking stress to skin allergies where injection of IgE caused persistent ear inflammation The team first identified the neural tissue involved in IgE-CAI and then investigated the immune cells and factors contributing to the condition They discovered that psychological stress was linked to a decrease in gene expression in macrophages responsible for clearing dead cells they found that the accumulation of dead cells in the lesions led to increased infiltration of eosinophils PD-L2-positive macrophages play a key role in maintaining anti-inflammatory functions by removing dead cells the study reveals that psychological stress affects their function by disrupting the activity of the β2-adrenergic receptor (Adrb2) activity Macrophages that mature under this altered Adrb2 signaling show a reduced ability to perform efferocytosis “Our findings suggest that the impact of psychological stress on immune cells is long-lasting and can even affect macrophages that differentiate later referred to as ‘stress memory,’ implies that severe stress leaves a lingering imprint on immune cells influencing their function and contributing to disease development,” notes Dr The study further revealed that the accumulation of dead cells at the lesion site induced the expression of an eosinophil-recruiting protein contributing to the worsening of skin allergies this expression was found to be dependent on caspase-1 enzyme activity The researchers showed that administering a caspase-1 inhibitor reduced ear swelling caused by IgE-CAI and reversed eosinophil infiltration at the lesion site These findings suggest that caspase-1 inhibitors and agents targeting CCL24 gene expression may be promising approaches for reducing skin allergies “Anti-inflammatory macrophages play crucial roles in various diseases This study not only sheds light on the impact of stress on allergic inflammation but also lays the groundwork for exploring how stress exacerbates other diseases involving these macrophages,” explains Dr While avoiding stress altogether would be the ideal solution to prevent immune cell dysfunction understanding the molecular mechanisms behind stress memory could pave the way for therapeutic strategies that alleviate or reverse these effects Such advances could lead to novel treatments for stress-related diseases and have broad implications in clinical research Stress-experienced monocytes/macrophages lose anti-inflammatory function via β2-adrenergic receptor in skin allergic inflammation The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 10.1016/j.jaci.2024.10.038 Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine Institute for Environmental and Gender-Specific Medicine Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) 6Department of Physiology of Visceral Function and Body Fluid Tottori University Graduate School and Faculty of Medicine 8International Platform for Dryland Research and Education About Associate Professor Soichiro Yoshikawa Soichiro Yoshikawa is an Associate Professor at the Juntendo Itch Research Center (JIRC) He has made significant contributions to the fields of immunology with nearly 74 scientific publications to his credit His research explores the mechanisms underlying immune responses and the pathophysiology of allergic conditions offering valuable insights into cellular processes and signaling pathways involved in these areas Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 10.1016/j.jaci.2024.10.038 Stress-experienced monocytes/macrophages lose anti-inflammatory function via β2-adrenergic receptor in skin allergic inflammation The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to declare are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system Copyright © 2025 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) art choice column takes a closer look at artists whose works seem particularly interesting in the market and have a certain quality This week we cast an eye on Swiss-Japanese artist Shizuko Yoshikawa (1934-2019) Yoshikawa is currently being rediscovered in the art market. There is a renewed focus on her after exhibitions at London's Marlborough Gallery in May 2024 and another at the Musee D’Art Moderne Et Contemporain (MAMCO) in Geneva Her works were also evident at Art Basel in June is essentially being rediscovered by a new generation of collectors.  Shizuko Yoshikawa: «Possible Progressions» Yoshikawa left Japan in 1961 for Switzerland finding an inspiring home in such surroundings She developed her design philosophy by blending the traditions of the Zurich Concrete artists and the constructivist discipline of Western art Her works portray a combination of clear geometric forms with a subtle aesthetic that is dominated by light and color It is unusual for a forgotten artist to be rediscovered by renewed interest and exhibitions in the art world and market But Yoshikawa is a clear example that proves the contrary Although she was recognized during her lifetime much of her work was forgotten after her death given the growing international focus on forgotten female voices in art Yoshikawa has again become a factor in the public consciousness Works of hers on display at the Marlborough Gallery in London generated a great deal of interest and served to again establish her name in the firmament of art internationally «The Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation established by the artist in 2016 has spared no effort since 2019 to revive interest in works of hers from the estate and present them to the public That has increasingly awakened the interest of museums and the art world and increased recognition and awareness of Yoshikawas,» emphasizes Gabrielle Schaad the Head of the Foundation and a Lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts Yoshikawa follows in the steps of the generation exemplified by the Swiss painter and leader of the Zurich-based Concrete art movement Verena Loewensberg (1919-1986) breaking with the strict rationality of Concrete art prevalent then by bringing a certain dynamism and three-dimensional depth onto her canvas are still available on the international market at relatively affordable prices Relief prints can be purchased for between 30,000 and 50,000 pounds sterling while drawings and screen prints can be had for under 1,000 pounds Yoshikawa represents an undogmatic variant of Concrete art which was usually seen as rational and calculated helping to increase its attraction to a new and younger generation of devotees Yoshikawa's works are managed by the Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation in Zurich One of its key objectives has been to preserve and disseminate her works Another critical part of the Foundation's works is to award a Shizuko Yoshikawa art prize which is conferred on young female artists every two years helping them to establish themselves in the art world while furthering their careers The award is endowed with 25,000 francs and will be given out for the fourth time this autumn At the end of the year, there will be a comprehensive retrospective «Space Between. Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann» at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka It will start on 21 December 2024 and last until 2 March 2025 highlighting the work of Yoshikawa and that of her husband helping to build stronger bridges between Eastern and Western traditions of art.  Singer Kana Adachi announced on her Instagram account that she married baseball team Tokyo Yomiuri Giants' second baseman Naoki Yoshikawa on December 28 she included a photo of herself with Yoshikawa and a joint message with the baseball star A post shared by 足立佳奈 (@kana1014lm) Adachi and Yoshikawa wrote in their joint message: As of press time, Adachi received over 900 replies, most of which are congratulations from her fans and colleagues, and over 54,000 likes. One of note is from fellow singer Leola Leolo simply congratulated Kido on her marriage saying Adachi has performed theme songs for Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File (“Change!”) and The Seven Deadly Sins: Imperial Wrath of The Gods (“Good day”) anime. She also appeared in the ninth episode of The Seven Deadly Sins: Imperial Wrath of The Gods as Mei. Her website lists her full résumé Yoshikawa was drafted to the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants baseball team in 2016 as the number one draft pick. The Nippon Professional Baseball website lists his full résumé and statistics Sources: Kana Adachi's Instagram account and website, Nippon Professional Baseball's website Nov 01-16・11:00-19:00・Gallery closed on Mondays and Sundays Explore the latest works by artist Hugo Yoshikawa at the newly reopened UltraSuperNew Gallery “Country,” captures the beauty and serenity of nature through lush European landscapes evoking the calm of countryside walks and camping Hugo delves deeper into his nature-themed work These playful pieces convey the essence of nature and remind you of the joy of late summer strolls in the countryside There will be an opening party on November 1 Today's print edition Home Delivery A body believed to be an elderly woman was discovered on Friday inside a metal drum at a recycling company in the city of Yoshikawa The discovery was made after an employee called the police around 3:50 p.m to report what appeared to be a human foot visible in the drum.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); According to the Saitama Prefectural Police the drum — measuring approximately 90 cm deep and 60 cm in diameter — had been collected by the recycling company the previous day from a storage rental facility in the city of Tokorozawa The drum is reported to have been stored there since at least February The recycling company had received a disposal request from the facility due to unpaid storage fees The body appears to have been dead for some time and was found clothed and wrapped in a blue tarp An autopsy revealed no noticeable external injuries The police are treating the case as abandonment of a corpse and are working to identify the body and cause of death 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 The market for Energy-based Non-invasive Medical Aesthetic Treatment Systems is witnessing substantial growth propelled by the growing inclination towards non-invasive procedures and technological advancements The surge in consumer demand for convenient and effective solutions to improve their appearance is a key driving factor Cynosure specializes in creating and producing a comprehensive array of cutting-edge treatment applications serving as the Country Manager for Japan at Cynosure has played a pivotal role in facilitating the company's ongoing operations in the region His efforts have contributed to a smooth collaboration Tadashi provided insights into the inner workings of the industry detailing the organization's operations and sharing its most recent strategies Can you provide a concise overview of your professional background and experiences My academic journey began with a focus on international law driven by a keen interest in the intricate dynamics between countries University life took me to Canada and Europe where I delved into sales and later embraced the world of marketing Seeking deeper insights into consumer goods marketing marking an 11-year tenure that spanned roles in Japan and Germany The international exposure at Braun's headquarters provided a transformative experience This diverse journey shaped my passion for understanding consumer behaviour and crafting strategic marketing plans where I worked on electric shavers and undertook an expatriate assignment in the Netherlands My responsibilities expanded into the healthcare sector during my time at Philips focusing on consumer products such as coffee machines and oil heaters I took on the role of Country Manager at Hydrafacial I serve as the Country Manager at Cynosure Japan This encapsulates the key highlights of my professional journey thus far Characterize Cynosure as an entity and delineate its standing in the market Cynosure holds a prominent position as a renowned brand in the medical aesthetic laser device industry our standing varies at medium market positions we specialize in manufacturing and selling medical laser devices designed for pigmentation treatment our current focus centres on elevating our brand to the number one position in the Japanese market segments we engage in This encapsulates our current strategic direction Strategic thinking utilizes analytical skills for informed resource allocation prioritizing high-yield areas & deprioritizing others what aspects do you consider to guarantee the seamless functioning of operations My extensive background has primarily involved working in various capacities within global companies This has proven beneficial in my current role given that our company operates internationally across more than 130 countries This experience has equipped me with the skills necessary to thrive in a global setting I bring a wealth of experience in both B2C and B2B sectors and De'Longhi involved consumer product and electric appliances businesses I've delved into the medical industry and healthcare business with Philips This dual perspective is instrumental in my current position where we sell laser devices to clinics and medical professionals the understanding of consumer behaviour gained from my B2C background is crucial also operate clinics that target consumers The synergy of these experiences greatly enhances my effectiveness in my current role How do you ensure you're consistently abreast of industry trends What approaches do you employ for market research and strategy development to stay well-informed I actively monitor consumer reactions and trends consistently collecting marketing information to align with our business focus and understanding consumer trends is integral This approach ensures our B2B strategies are more targeted and meaningful ultimately contributing to the success of our B2B customers in reaching their consumers This consumercentric perspective plays a crucial role in managing and strategizing our business and how do you share your professional expertise to train new team members I prioritize candidates with strong communication skills and strategic thinking abilities Strategic thinking involves deep analytical skills to make informed decisions on resource allocation focusing on areas that yield maximum results while deprioritizing others This mindset is crucial for everyone in the team effective communication is vital for translating strategic plans into actionable steps and engaging team members and customers alike my focus when recruiting fresh candidates centres on strategic thinking and communication skills My future roadmap involves achieving success as a country manager for Cynosure I aim to lead the team to attain the top position in our current market I aspire to foster the growth and development of the next generation of managers and leaders from our existing team in the years to come.  boasts a rich history of over 25 years in sales and marketing management roles at prominent global enterprises in both B2C and B2B sectors Tadashi Yoshikawa has consistently delivered outstanding business results within matrix organizations showcasing his strong leadership and teamwork skills artworks and showings in a recur ring exhibition titled Outside Inside in Tokyo they matched really well with the furniture,” says Yoshikawa The Bruco Mottainai bench from the Metamorfosi collection by the Campana brothers for Paola Lenti The vibrant palettes were cemented as the perfect accompanying artworks for Paola Lenti’s seating and table designs after the duo’s debut showcase at Designart in Tokyo where the artist now works and lives Outside Inside has since evolved and exhibited more widely including a showcase at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel and the brand’s showroom in the city’s residential district Reflecting on his artistic interpretation of the furniture’s characteristic duality you’re not sure whether it belongs indoor or outdoor That’s what I’m trying to do—create a bit of a strange Also read: From Garden to Gallery: Jenjum Gadi’s debut art exhibition is a tribute to nature in brass Also read: Deepti Nair’s ‘More than Sap’ is an immersive exploration of nature Also read: In his new book, botanist S Natesh tells the stories of 75 majestic trees Volume 15 - 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2024.1459451 This article is part of the Research TopicMetabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) in childhood: a new challengeView all 9 articles are intracranial malformations that can cause obesity by disrupting the hypothalamus a condition that often persists even after tumor resection This severe obesity increases the risk of diabetes and fatty liver disease in childhood some individuals with GH deficiency may exhibit a normal growth rate making GH therapy unnecessary for growth purposes GH therapy may still be beneficial in preventing the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis Although weight management is traditionally considered the gold standard for preventing liver cirrhosis its effectiveness can be limited by hypothalamic dysfunction and the difficulty of achieving successful weight control Our case study highlights a patient with normal growth despite GH deficiency who did not receive GH replacement therapy and continued to struggle with hypothalamic obesity the patient developed hepatopulmonary syndrome indicating that relying solely on weight management may not be sufficient to prevent liver complications This case underscores the importance of addressing GH deficiency even when growth is normal Our findings suggest that GH replacement therapy could be beneficial for preventing liver cirrhosis in such cases This case report describes a patient with hypothalamic obesity who subsequently developed severe liver disease his growth rate remained normal; therefore GH replacement therapy was deemed unnecessary successfully managing his body weight and improving his body mass index standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) he still developed liver cirrhosis and poor oxygenation This suggests that body weight reduction alone which is typically the first-line treatment for NAFLD and GH replacement therapy may be necessary he was found to have a palpable liver enlargement of 4 cm which increased to 7 cm below the costal margin by age 13 Growth chart revealed a rapid increase in body weight following craniopharyngioma surgery body weight remained stable due to adherence to strict diet therapy Height growth continued normally without GH replacement suggesting intrapulmonary vascular dilatations that contributed to deoxygenation 99mTc MAA pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy 99mTc MAA pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy showed no lung perfusion defects but revealed a 10.5% increase in lung shunt Abdominal ultrasound revealed increased echogenicity of the liver compared with the kidney and spleen (Figure 3) Magnetic resonance imaging showed liver inflammation Magnetic resonance elastography revealed liver stiffness of 9.2 kPa (normal <2.0 kPa) and a liver biopsy indicated P-P bridging fibrosis and microvesicular fatty change consistent with burnout nonalcoholic steatohepatitis In addition to a 1700 kcal diet therapy home oxygen therapy was provided to alleviate his respiratory symptoms The patient continues to receive treatment with branched-chain amino acids and is regularly monitored during his visits to our hospital Abdominal ultrasound revealed increased echogenicity in the liver compared with that in the kidney and spleen and poor weight control as the primary cause of liver disease progression rather than GH deficiency was not confirmed Our case underscores that GH deficiency could be a potential contributor to NAFLD and HPS For children with hypothalamic obesity and GH deficiency resulting from postoperative brain tumor surgery GH replacement therapy may be necessary to prevent NAFLD and HPS even in the presence of a normal growth curve This case may encourage other clinical researchers to conduct more studies to expand the indications for GH treatment in children with craniopharyngioma and GH deficiency who maintain a normal growth rate but develop hypothalamic obesity The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors The requirement of ethical approval was waived by Chiba University Hospital’s Institutional Review Board for the studies involving humans because they determined that case reports are exempt from requiring ethical approval The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements Written informed consent for participation in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardians/next of kin Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) and minor(s)’ legal guardian/next of kin for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research This work was supported by a donation from Dr Toshiyuki Yasuda for his financial contribution 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/fendo.2024.1459451/full#supplementary-material Supplementary Figure 1 | Pre- and postoperative MRI imaging (A) Preoperative sagittal T1-weighted brain MRI revealed a craniopharyngioma occupying the third ventricle (B) Postoperative sagittal T1-weighted brain MRI revealed hypothalamic injury PubMed Abstract | Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar Clinical outcome in children with craniopharyngioma treated with primary surgery and radiotherapy deferred until relapse hyperlipemia and insulin resistance in children with suprasellar brain tumors Hypothalamic obesity after craniopharyngioma: mechanisms Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (AISF) AISF position paper on liver transplantation and pregnancy: Women in Hepatology Group Hepatopulmonary syndrome caused by hypothalamic obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease after surgery for craniopharyngioma: a case report Effect of growth hormone on fatty liver in panhypopituitarism The role of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-I in the liver PubMed Abstract | Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar Metabolic effects of growth hormone replacement in two pediatric patients with growth without growth hormone PubMed Abstract | Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar The growth without growth hormone syndrome Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar and insulin in 19 growth hormone-deficient children with excessive or decreased longitudinal growth after operation for craniopharyngioma Growth hormone control of hepatic lipid metabolism Association between serum growth hormone levels and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a cross-sectional study Growth hormone reverses nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in a patient with adult growth hormone deficiency Pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: an increasing public health issue PubMed Abstract | Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar GH directly inhibits steatosis and liver injury in a sex-dependent and IGF1-independent manner Fujisawa T and Hamada H (2024) Case report: Pediatric hepatopulmonary syndrome despite strict weight control after craniopharyngioma surgery Received: 04 July 2024; Accepted: 02 October 2024;Published: 30 October 2024 Copyright © 2024 Yoshikawa, Takatani, Takatani, Inui, Fujisawa and Hamada. 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: Tomozumi Takatani, dC10YWthdGFuaUBjaGliYS11Lmpw 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 Tuesday, November 24, 2020 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM EST Betzler Life Story Funeral Homes Kalamazoo Location 6080 Stadium Drive Kalamazoo, MI 49009 (269) 375-2900 Driving Directions At the family's request memorial contributions are to be made to those listed below Please forward payment directly to the memorial of your choice Lighthouse Memorial Project c/o the Yoshikawa Family Below is the contact information for a florist recommended by the funeral home Ambati 1830 S. Westnedge Kalamazoo, MI 49008 (269) 349-4961 Driving Directions Web Site Taylor's Florist and Gifts 215 E. Michigan Ave. Paw Paw, MI 49079 (269) 657-6256 Driving Directions Web Site This was no ordinary dirt bike: it could fly and it could turn into a jet ski at a touch of a button on his watch Mitchell and his friends would go on very exciting adventures Mitchell would tell them about Jesus so they would become good guys Mitchell had a passion for extreme adventure and tried almost everything a boy would dream of He loved to do everything from reading to spelunking He mountain biked and cycled with his Mama and sometimes his sister love for everyone—even the intimidating characters He would pray for those who were having “a day”—not in a long drawn-out prayer—but a quippy prayer that always ended “Help us have a good day!” His faith was absolutely the purest faith of a child we would get a glimpse of a young man’s prayer he did not need the prayer sheet; he remembered all the requests The Holy Spirit would lead him in earnest supplication there was a beautiful moment of silence as we let the words of truth sink deeper into our souls but I need to give God all the glory.” He was referring to basketball and how he always wanted to make a slam dunk and be the most valuable player he realized the need to surrender to God’s Will and plan and not hearers only.” This was hard for a little boy who never wanted to do homework or even sit down were always together whether they liked it or not Anja and Mitchell gave each other a hard time They were intertwined and had a special understanding of one another that even their Mama and Papa did not quite understand Mitchell would sometimes get Anja to play a game with him The most recent game they would play was Sky-Jo Mitchell would even give grace to Anja so she could win Every neighborhood friend and their siblings came to play: the treehouse one team would use the treehouse as their fort Mitchell and Scott were usually the ones to make surprise attacks from the ground Mitchell was so busy at his endless projects He loved to build things just like his Papa Papa would bring them to Lowe’s for their Build & Grow program Mitchell would follow his Papa around and help him work on the deck and treehouse Mitchell designed and created his own mini golf course and built signs with his birthday present drill when Papa would give Mitchell a “hug kiss” and tickle him Mitchell would tell his secrets about lady friends and manly business They would usually spend half an hour decompressing from the day then he would yell for his Mama for a “hug kiss” and take off his glasses Riding bike came a little late for the kids—Anja was seven and Mitchell was six They were naturals at it because in no time they were riding without training wheels around the neighborhood That started a lifelong quest for more power and speed the single track at Al Sabo proved a bit challenging with the narrow runs and sharp curves Bike Trip 2019 proved to be next in line for challenge and perseverance as he rode with a group of boys on traffic-laden roads He proved his strength by riding two hundred miles on his twenty-four-inch mountain bike It is hard to mention every person who impacted Mitchell’s life Mitchell was very interested in going to heaven so he started asking his Mama about how to have Jesus in his heart Shingledecker explained to him how to invite Jesus in his heart He was so happy; he ran through the church announcing this greatest news If you have not received Christ for yourself We thank the Lord Jesus Christ for so great a salvation and for fourteen glorious years with Mitchell JavaScript is disabled. In order to use all of the features on betzlerlifestory.com, enable JavaScript.Close Libraries  A-Z Index  Directories 2023 — DENTON — When Aya Yoshikawa was 19 she had the quintessential experience of going away to college,  living in a residence hall attending large lectures and enduring late-night study sessions.  had these experiences when she was a study abroad student at Washington State University in Pullman master’s and PhD from multiple schools in the United States and now is an assistant professor at Texas Woman’s teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on health and aging topics in the School of Health Promotion and Kinesiology Her experience as a study abroad student combined with her area of expertise inspired her to develop a study abroad program in Japan.  In July, she was one of nine recipients to receive a two-year Texas International Education Fund (TIEF) study abroad development grant from the The Texas International Education Consortium (TIEC) “This grant is so important to me because it will help my dream come true,” Yoshikawa said “I have always been interested in designing a study abroad course with my home country and  this grant opportunity absolutely helps make my idea a reality.” Yoshikawa’s goal is to create a transformative experience for students The study-abroad program would start in 2025 and offer a unique opportunity for students of various backgrounds and majors to examine aging issues in Japan and reflect on the health aspects of aging through a U.S “As a young student who grew up in a homogeneous society being exposed to unfamiliar environments and people was an eye-opening experience that helped me gain a deeper understanding of diversity in the United States,” Yoshikawa said “I believe that culturally sensitive experiential learning will help students develop ethical inclusive and compassionate leadership skills that will advance the health and well-being of increasingly diverse older adults.” Japan is home to the largest percentage of older adults in the world More than 25% of Japan’s population is older than 65 according to the Population Reference Bureau 2023 about demographic shifts in the world people age 65 and older will make up nearly 40% of the population in some parts of East Asia and Europe.”  president and CEO of Furate Medical and Welfare Corporations Yoshikawa and Nishino met when they worked together on a cross-national project at Texas A&M University when Yoshikawa was a doctoral student in public health They both have a shared vision of promoting healthy aging through cross-national projects in education and research “I am so fortunate to work with a supportive and inspiring collaborator,” Yoshikawa said.  The grant will allow Yoshikawa to make a visit next year to Kitakyushu and to Furate Medical and Welfare Corporations “I plan on meeting with local representatives to discuss potential learning activities and cultural sites that would be incorporated into this study abroad program,” Yoshikawa said “The site visit is a critical component of program development since it allows me not only to identify local cultural resources for student learning but also to obtain local support.” Currently, Yoshikawa is developing course materials and activities aligned with the program’s learning objectives. She will also meet with TWU’s International Affairs department to determine estimated costs and recruitment Funds from the grant will cover a part of the students’ costs.  Prior to traveling to the United States for the first time when she was a teenager Yoshikawa’s only knowledge of American culture came from the news and movies Life in America turned out to be vastly different from what she perceived it to be.  “It made me realize that actually visiting places and meeting people in person are so important for a deeper understanding of culture and aging issues.” Amy Ruggini Digital Content Manager 940-898-3628aruggini@twu.edu WH 202PO Box 425527Denton, TX 76204-5527940.898.2852 phone940.898.2853 faxchs@twu.edu Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga Rui Tsukiyo launched the original novel series on the Shōsetsuka ni Narou website in June 2016, and ended it in March 2018. Overlap published the first print volume with illustrations by fuumi in December 2016 and published the eighth and final novel volume in June 2019 Yoshikawa launched the manga adaptation on Overlap's Comic Gardo website in March 2018 Tsukiyo launched the related Maō-sama no Machizukuri ~Mahō to Kagaku to Mamono ga Tsukuru Risō no Machi~ novel series in August 2018 and ended it in April 2019 On February 26, Yoshikawa also launched the Kokuen no Ō Zelk (Zelk the Lord of Dark Flame) original manga on Square Enix's Manga UP! website on February 26 The manga centers on a cute boy named Natsuki who goes to a technology park with his older neighbor Nanaka their trip is interrupted when the sky splits open and a black ball of flame descends on him and Nanaka now part of a small group fighting for survival Natsuki himself has awakened to a dark power Sources: Comic Gardo, Hideaki Yoshikawa's X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie REITSWEEK Japan REIT Mitsui Fudosan Logistics Park Inc announced on 10 April 2025 that it has decided to acquire a 50% quasi co-ownership interest in iMissions Park Yoshikawa-Minami The asset is a logistics facility located in Yoshikawa-shi Saitama and it will be acquired for JPY3.019 billion Dear members, please login to continue reading this article Rachel Young is a staff writer for REITsWeek and is based in Singapore She focuses on REITs listed in the North American and European markets but occasionally covers REITs in the Asia-Pacific region REITsWeek is a publisher of news and data on REITs We strive to deliver timely and accurate news data and information on REITs and property trusts listed globally While we strive to give the most accurate data and information available the publisher of REITsWeek makes no warranties to anyone who uses this website including free and paying subscribers the publisher of REITsWeek does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy or reliability of the use of the materials on this website Users are advised to check with the respective bourses and listed securities should there be a need need to verify any information This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Haley Lerner: What led you to start writing this book Mako Yoshikawa: My father and I have had a really complicated relationship for much of my life but he was also violent and abusive and bipolar and we were essentially estranged and strained for many decades of my life We had a rehearsal dinner set for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum [in Boston] that was going to be really wonderful I had not invited my father to the wedding And when I was getting ready for that event I got a phone call and found out that my father died It was already such a hugely emotional experience getting married — and I put off getting married for a really long time I knew I needed to start researching and writing about my father Lerner: Your book opens with this rehearsal dinner scene Can you take me through how you wrote that and how it’s a grounding point throughout the memoir and then having your father die and then just feeling so guilty about not having him there so I was going to just write the memoir without acknowledging that my father died the day before my wedding because I just thought that that was just so terrible that I wasn't sure if readers could deal with that But then I was writing first about my father's own romantic relationships without even really kind of interrogating why I went back and wrote about the day I found out he died That was me coming to terms with what led me to this whole journey Lerner: Where did the title “Secrets of the Sun” come from Yoshikawa: My father was a fusion energy researcher what they're trying to do is replicate what the sun does and the way the sun creates energy that was a phrase that my mother used in talking about what what his research involved She said he was trying to discover the secrets of the sun and she saw that as a really noble enterprise there's also a pun and that is something I don't want to reveal I did find out one possible explanation for why my father was so angry and sad in his life and why he had such complicated relationships with people And also the other thing about the sun: they called Japan the land of the sun And that's also a reference to [my father's] background Lerner: You teach other people about writing What would you say you've learned from writing this book that you would share with your students Yoshikawa: In this book I was writing a lot about trauma and violence And I think it ended up kind of pummeling the reader a bit and I wasn't actually managing to get it through that violence is really terrible and traumatic And so it's really important to think about how to pace your writing I like to think that the scenes I do have land harder because there's less of it what are you most proud of with having this book come out Yoshikawa: I'm really proud that I stuck it out because it really was just so hard it would have been much easier to get it published But I think it actually would have been a lesser work But I wanted to do it as nonfiction because I want it to lay claim to the story this is something I did and it feels more honest for me to publish this as nonfiction And so I feel proud of myself that I stuck it out Ken Yoshikawa is a man on a mission but he’s not letting the uncertainty dampen the fervor with which he pursues it For the past few years Yoshikawa has made his mark as a published poet (you can find his book Monster Colored Glasses at Powell’s, but if you’re interested, you can also buy it from him directly) and one of the more singular actors in the Portland theater scene A Yoshikawa interpretation of any given role is going to be unlike anyone else’s you are likely to see a co-production between Corrib Theatre and the Historic Alberta House Yoshikawa’s rise as a playwright seems sudden a lot of life lived and a lot of the right person stepping in at the right time “I started out as an actor,” Yoshikawa says I wrote a play or two in high school but then I stopped writing plays I forgot about playwriting because I didn’t feel it was in my wheelhouse.” Poetry sustained Yoshikawa through his time at Reed College and after he turned to spoken word and Portland’s slam scene “[Slam] was a really good place for me to process a lot of feelings “Then I realized I was trying to win the slam and that wasn’t for me.” and even took a one-man show comprised of his poetry to the Pan Asian Repertory in New York City because at some point I realized I’d written enough about myself at least about ‘my story.’ I wanted to turn my attention to things that were more than just myself.” He began working on a prequel to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and even had it workshopped at Artists Repertory Theatre when the company was developing a lot of new work I ended up cutting a whole lot of it and like five or six characters.” The next destiny-shaping moment for Yoshikawa happened when he took a class with Daniel Kitrosser through the playwright group Linestorm ‘Everybody repeat after me: I am a playwright.’ Given that green light I just started going for it This burst of activity led to Yoshikawa getting noticed by the Historic Alberta House artistic director Alberta House managing director] brought me in to Alberta House,” Yoshikawa said “We did some co-productions of my work They have been really instrumental in lifting me up to a position of being seen.” Rebby Yuer Foster approached Yoshikawa with what he remembers as “a title and a feeling and a vibe and like a loose subject of a nameless looming grief and Chinese and Japanese folktales.” They had been in each other’s orbit for some time at that point “He had sent me a lot of one-act plays and a lot of one-person scenes,” says Foster “We’ve also produced a reading of one of his plays here at Shaking the Tree so I was pretty familiar with his work.” Foster appreciated that Yoshikawa’s work “ is very poetic and lyrical He does a really good job of combining that with naturalistic dialogue Not all playwrights do that as smoothly as Ken does.” “I wanted someone who was half-Asian and half-white,” says Foster There was a lot about my family and my family’s dynamic that I felt like only someone who was part Asian could understand.” Their process was multifaceted and intuitive “at Lake’s (the music composer for We Wrote This with You in Mind) apartment and while Lake was playing the piano I would give Ken prompts on writing a monologue or writing a scene and he would go off and write something and then we would gather again and he would read it out loud and then he would go off again and continue to work on it It was really back and forth.”   “Rebby would send me these playlists,” Yoshikawa recalls stream-of-consciousness poetry to develop language Then Rebby would collage the text together.” Over the next several months they brought in other collaborators including actors Kai Hynes and Kayla Hanson and costume designer Wendi YuLing “We hashed out the characters together,” says Yoshikawa “It was really just my job to decide what they say I took that and just filled the world with their impulses and words and the way they would interact It was a really good learning process for me.” That process was very different from the one that led to his current production “I saw a staged reading of some of Ken’s work,” says Corrib artistic director Holly Griffith “I thought his poetry was so rich and evocative I had this idea of asking a playwright – possibly Irish possibly not – to take some Irish mythology and adapt it in their style in their voice with their own artistic spin on it I was really interested in stretching those myths a little bit pulling at them and seeing how they could apply not only in America but to other cultures and situations I approached Ken with that task and asked if he would be interested in doing that.” Yoshikawa remembers his response being fairly straightforward What Griffith didn’t know initially was that Yoshikawa is “It was cool to begin to connect to that,” says Yoshikawa I was encouraged by Matthew [Kerrigan] to go to Ireland and really experience it and let that inform how I was approaching the script.” a time when he was going through an unnamed grief in his personal life He didn’t write in Ireland so much as he absorbed “unless you’re talking to someone Indigenous you go back a few generations and the roots go somewhere else The connection of the people to the land is different. Ireland is a great place to write and be sad.” He didn’t write a lot on the play concentrating instead on being open to what he was feeling with poetry and short stories.  his journey had indeed informed his writing “Ken’s not afraid of leaving questions in the air,” muses Griffith “He’s also not afraid of mixing older language and more contemporary language That makes it fresh and accessible and shows how folklore and fairytale can really be present in our lives We tend to think of folklore and fairytales as old He’s very interested in making sure that the story is alive today He uses the poetics of now to add nuance.” writing two plays and having them produced it’s remarkable that Yoshikawa still found time to take part in PETE’s Institute for Contemporary performance It increased my confidence and stretched me out in wonderful ways I love that permission and that exposure and that experimentation and collaboration I have found that things I learned there have made me a better playwright and a better actor and they defined my ability to work through my collaborations with Shaking the Tree and with Corrib.” It seems significant to the story of Ken Yoshikawa that each of these two productions has specifically demanded that he look specifically at his cultural identity and share what he’s learned with the audience Living at the crossroads of bloodlines and history can be an emotionally charged experience and exploring that complexity through art to be performed in front of an audience takes a certain kind of sensitivity and courage This is not a limiting factor in Yoshikawa’s life but a liberating one and going to Ireland helped me ground deeper into new aspects of myself and my intuitive connection to process,” he says Tthere are some parts of me that are only accessible through Japanese.” If there’s one other significant factor that influences and informs Yoshikawa’s work it’s that you will find an element of the fantastical in everything he writes That forms a significant portion of his creative bond with Rebby Foster And it’s part of what Griffith saw that made her think he would be the right playwright for her Irish myth project Ken Yoshikawa will never fit neatly into anyone else’s tightly constrained box of who they think he can be (or who they think he should be) as an artist or as a person in the world “I’m curious about other ways of telling stories,” he says “How much can I stretch the audience’s willingness to jump into what they’re seeing I’m really interested in breaking the rules of reality.” Email *Your email address will not be published Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. If you prefer to make a comment privately, fill out our feedback form Grant recipients scramble as promised funding is withdrawn for programs already in motion Dixon continues his series of cultural profiles with portraits of actor & acting teacher Brooke Totman Tarell Alvin McCraney's poetical play at Portland Center Stage embodies memories of prison and mystical characters from the Yoruba traditions of West Africa This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here Not until my husband Rob and I were rolling maki under the sharp eye of my Japanese mother did I crack a mystery that has confounded me for years: why some writing students in the MFA program that I now direct soar while others never seem to progress at all My hunch was that it came down to taking feedback Some students couldn’t seem to apply the recommendations that their classmates and I made in workshop making only minor changes in their revision and repeating the same mistakes in their next piece As someone who gratefully relies on an army of skilled and patient friends and editors to pummel wretched first drafts into shape Maybe a couple of the students were resistant for the usual reasons—impatience Rob and I had mixed the sushi rice; cut and laid the kampyo and avocado in strips; and crisped the nori over the stove I was reveling in the smells and stolen tastes thinking how stupid I’d been to avoid making maki all these years when Rob and I slathered the nori with rice and made our first rolls pieces stacking like silver dollars as he sliced I touched it with a blade and it fell apart maki innards oozing out like guts in a zombie film Of course his first maki had turned out well despite the fact that he’d been raised in Texas sushi an alien concept until he was in college My mother said I cut the cucumber too thick “Oh—” I wanted to throw the maki—or the mishmash of rice and fillings that should have been a maki—across the room I wanted to keep mucking about with the rice and shiitake and overly sensitive—everything I wondered about with my students—I’d shut down How infuriating that my Texan husband was so much better at making maki when sushi was my birthright as a Japanese American receiving and hearing criticism from my mother was difficult not because she was unfair or mean but because I wanted so badly to win her approval I started feeling the pressure of expectations and whether the goal is a good maki roll or sentence in that old chestnut: how do you get rid of writer’s block The heightened expectations I was feeling changed the experience of shaping the nori Where once it had been fun—mucking about—it became work and implement the feedback while still thinking of the process as play rolling and finally unfurling the mat to behold my creation Secrets of the Sun by Mako Yoshikawa is available now via Mad Creek Books Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature Masthead About Sign Up For Our Newsletters How to Pitch Lit Hub Privacy Policy Support Lit Hub - Become A Member Lit Hub has always brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall you'll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving Jin Yoshikawa chose Vanderbilt Law School both for the collegial culture and the intellectual climate “Vanderbilt produces the kind of lawyer I wanted to be—sharp but not pretentious “I also wanted a solid foundation in the law.” Yoshikawa has appreciated the rigorous academics “Vanderbilt has exceeded my expectations,” he said “I have had classes and developed relationships with professors renowned in their field Not only are they committed to research and legal innovation but they are also committed to education and to brilliant ideas regardless of whether they challenge conventional wisdom.” Yoshikawa is editor-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law “I chose to join the JETLaw staff because the way we deal with new technologies is one of the most pressing issues of our times,” he said “The greatest takeaway and application to future law practice from serving as editor-in-chief is that I learned to be humbler about my own abilities Yoshikawa studied artificial intelligence as an undergraduate at Columbia University and he chose an AI topic for his JETLaw Note “Sharing the Costs of Artificial Intelligence: Universal No-Fault Social Insurance for Personal Injuries,” published in 2019 Written after an Arizona woman was hit and killed by a self-driving car in 2018 his paper examines legal remedies for injuries that artificial intelligence will cause in the future “I propose a public insurance scheme in which everyone shares responsibility for the costs of AI,” he said Yoshikawa volunteered with the Medical Legal Partnership a program supported by the law school’s Public Interest office Guided and mentored by retired attorney Kent Halkett ’81 law students screen and counsel indigent patients at a free medical clinic run by students of Vanderbilt Medical School “We realized that many health issues are directly related to a patient’s housing or employment situation,” Yoshikawa said Law students use a screening tool to identify needs and connect patients with free legal services and self-advocacy tools Yoshikawa was a citizen of both the United States and Japan; his family moved to the United States when he was 2 “My wife and I both stepped out of our comfort zone when we moved to Nashville,” he said The couple liked the city’s cultural offerings and creative vibe so much that they plan to settle here permanently with their young son Yoshikawa will join Butler Snow as an associate in their pharmaceutical litigation group after he graduates in May Vanderbilt University’s Online Privacy Notice Please upgrade to a more modern version to fully experience JapanToday site and for security reasons Osaka prefectural police on Monday appealed to the public for any information that might help them find out what happened to a nine-year-old girl who went missing on May 20 Police and support groups of Yuri Yoshikawa's family handed out about 5,000 flyers at Nankai Electric Railway’s Nanba Station Yoshikawa is believed to have been abducted while she was on her way home from school police have followed up on thousands of leads and there is a 3 million yen reward offered for information concerning Yuri’s fate Police said the only tangible lead they have is that a white Toyota Crown was seen driving away from the area where Yuri is believed to have been abducted with a male driver and a young girl in the front passenger seat Anyone with any information is asked to call the Izumisano police station at 072-464-1234 that kids on their way to school in our city reported a man in a parked car who was "shaking his wiener" seen on the kids' way to school The police just sort of shrugged and said they would increase their patrols The fathers and oyaji-kai were out in force the next morning all along the routes the kids took to school A couple of kids identified the guy in his car again and he was chased down by fathers as he fled banged on his car window and yelled at him that we were watching him and we were out in force to protect our children I remember the car had a Hiroshima number plate The number plate was reported to police but as far as anyone knew the chances of any kind of outcome must be very very remote and the family will likely always carry their grief If you've lived in Osaka for any length of time over the past 20 years you would have seen that poster regarding Yuri multiple times at Kobans Yuri's family and supporters have never given up hope and perhaps it's up to all of us to watch out for the kids in our neighborhoods as @proxy experienced It's just so hard to prevent these kinds of things from happening Her family must still be holding on to hope since we see this same story and poster every year Hope one day they find her and they can have that long sought after reunion Cold cases are solved sometimes and it's worth the bother The US has even devoted whole TV shows on such things Keep trying even if the case happened long ago Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts Join the leading Asian tourist attraction to assist our diverse range of customers A mix of what's trending on our other sites Acura today released a hand-drawn cutaway sketch of the NSX supercar by legendary automotive illustrator Shin Yoshikawa Celebrated around the world for his artwork Yoshikawa has been called one of the greatest living automotive artists and has a special kinship with Acura Yoshikawa reflects the technology and beautiful design of the second-generation supercar Yoshikawa's artistry carefully examines the NSX  "The NSX's innovative power unit was extremely challenging to draw making the second-generation NSX the most difficult vehicle I have sketched," said Shin Yoshikawa If you don't understand the technology that goes into building vehicles The NSX is the perfect subject for Yoshikawa's unique art The only supercar made in America and the only one utilizing electric motors to enhance all aspects of dynamic performance the Acura NSX seamlessly combines our exclusive three-motor Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ with a twin-turbocharged V6 engine About Acura Acura is a leading automotive luxury nameplate that delivers Precision Crafted Performance – a commitment to evocative styling high performance and innovative engineering all built on a foundation of quality and reliability The Acura lineup features six distinctive models – the RLX premium luxury sedan the five-passenger RDX luxury crossover SUV America's all-time best-selling three-row luxury SUV Five of the six models in the Acura lineup are made exclusively in central Ohio including the ILX and TLX luxury sports sedans (Marysville Auto Plant) the RDX and MDX luxury SUVs (East Liberty Auto Plant) and the Acura NSX supercar which is built to order at the Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville Additional media information including pricing, features & specifications and high-resolution photography is available at AcuraNews.com. Consumer information is available at Acura.com. Follow Acura on social media at Acura.us/SocialChannels SAN FRANCISCO – The Diamondbacks are on the verge of signing a Japanese amateur player a move viewed by some as a potentially significant development in the procurement of talent from that country, and by others as nothing more than a savvy decision by a club that was paying attention The team has agreed to a deal with 23-year-old right-hander Shumpei Yoshikawa that includes a $650,000 signing bonus Yoshikawa will become just the second amateur player in the past decade to bypass Japan’s top league major league teams give NPB clubs right of first refusal when it comes to signing Japan’s top talent and while that appears to be the case with the Yoshikawa deal it also is being viewed by some as the latest indication change could be on the horizon Yoshikawa went undrafted by the NPB out of high school and college and was in his second season pitching for a team in Japan’s industrial league a level roughly equivalent to an independent league in the United States the Diamondbacks seem to be viewed by most observers as somewhat in the clear to sign him Yoshikawa was said to have turned himself into a prospect for this October’s NPB draft raising questions about whether the Diamondbacks jumped the gun – and whether they might face repercussions for breaking protocol in a culture that values doing business entirely above-board the decision also was Yoshikawa’s to make and he apparently wanted to leave While only a handful before him have actually done it and some see his signing as the latest indication attitudes are softening in regard to Japanese amateur players departing for the U.S Many point to two high-profile players out of the same Japanese high school as examples Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi was said to be close to signing with a major league club out of high school in 2009 but ultimately decided not to in part because of advice from his high school coach two-way star Shohei Ohtani faced the same decision the same coach was no longer encouraging his player to stay the Kansas City Royals signed 16-year-old right-hander Kaito Yuki to a contract that included a $322,500 bonus a deal that’s believed to be the first instance of a Japanese player bypassing high school to sign with a major league team “The only way this really continues to build into something is if the Japanese players themselves begin to act on it,” said a scout with a National League club “If they just keep doing what these two guys (Yoshikawa and Yuki) did If there are clubs like the Diamondbacks who are going to scout the industrial leagues they just have to keep saying they want to sign “I think the only concern with the Japanese teams is their lack of control over the development and the progress of it but can you see a point where the best three to five guys every year go out That could eventually create problems for that league.” Yoshikawa profiles as a potential back-of-the-rotation major league starter Yoshikawa is said to have a low-90s fastball “He knows what he’s doing on the mound,” said the scout he’s pretty athletic and you can just tell he knows what he’s trying to do with the ball.” Yoshikawa is the first player to be plucked out of Japan’s industrial league by a major league club since the Boston Red Sox signed right-hander Junichi Tazawa in 2008 assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye and special assistant Craig Shipley That deal led the NPB to implement the so-called “Tazawa Rule,” which forces players who bypass the league to sit out two years before returning to play in Japan the Diamondbacks’ director of Pacific Rim operations is said to have spearheaded the Yoshikawa signing likely because the deal is not yet official Several other Diamondbacks executives also would not speak on the record about the deal The agreement also has created controversy due to a more technical violation For an industrial league player to be free to negotiate with a foreign club he must first formally withdraw from the NPB draft Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com « Back Metrics details Improving the photoconversion efficiency of silicon solar cells is crucial to further the deployment of renewable electricity Essential device properties such as lifetime series resistance and optical properties must be improved simultaneously to reduce recombination we use industrially compatible processes to fabricate large-area silicon solar cells combining interdigitated back contacts and an amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon heterojunction The photoconversion efficiency is over 26% with a 180.4 cm2 designated area which is an improvement of 2.7% relative to the previous record efficiency of 25.6% The cell was analysed to characterize lifetime which are essential elements for conversion efficiency a loss analysis pinpoints a path to approach the theoretical conversion efficiency limit of Si solar cells Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout World Energy Outlook 2015 (IEA, 2015); http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/weo2015 2014 Outlook: Let the Second Gold Rush Begin (Deutsche Bank, 2014); https://www.deutschebank.nl/nl/docs/Solar_-_2014_Outlook_Let_the_Second_Gold_Rush_Begin.pdf Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic (ITRPV): 2015 Results Including Maturity Report (VDMA Photovoltaic Equipment, 2016); http://www.itrpv.net/Reports/Downloads High efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells: status and perspectives Best Research-Cell Efficiencies (NREL, 2016); http://www.nrel.gov/pv/assets/images/efficiency-chart.png HIT cells: high efficiency crystalline Si cells with novel structure The interdigitated back contact solar cell: a silicon solar cell for use inconcentrated sunlight Achievement of more than 25% conversion efficiency with crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cell Silicon solar cells with total area efficiency above 25% Impact of carrier recombination on fill factor for large area heterojunction crystalline Si solar cell with 25.1% efficiency Limiting efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells due to Coulomb-enhanced Auger recombination Reassessment of the limiting efficiency for crystalline silicon solar cells 24.7% record efficiency HIT solar cell on thin silicon wafer High efficiency silver-free heterojunction silicon solar cell High efficiency copper electroplated heterojunction solar cells High efficiency copper electroplated heterojunction solar cells and modules—The path towards 25% cell efficiency High efficiency silicon heterojunction solar cells: a review fabrication and characterisation of a 24.4% efficient interdigitated back contact solar cell Status and prospects of Al2O3-based surface passivation schemes for silicon solar cells The Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC): from conception to mass production The path to 25% silicon solar cell efficiency: history of silicon cell evolution 335 watt world record p-type mono-crystalline module with 20.6% efficient PERC solar cells Richter, A. et al. Silicon solar cells with full-area passivated rear contacts: influence of wafer resistivity on device performance on a 25% efficiency level. In 26th PVSEC (2016); http://pvsec-26.com/dr-armin-richter Back contact heterojunction solar cells patterned by laser ablation Influence of the emitter coverage on interdigitated back contact (IBC) silicon hetero-junction (SHJ) solar cells Analysis of a-Si:H/TCO contact resistance for the Si heterojunction back-contact solar cell Backcontacted silicon heterojunction solar cells with efficiency &gt; 21% Efficient interdigitated back-contacted silicon heterojunction solar cells Development of heterojunction back contact Si solar cells Back-contacted silicon heterojunction solar cells: optical-loss analysis and mitigation Surface passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells: a review Optimum design of anti-reflection coating for silicon solar cells The formation mechanism for printed silver-contacts for silicon solar cells Low resistance Ohmic contact to p-type crystalline silicon via nitrogen-doped copper oxide films Description of the local series resistance of real solar cells by separate horizontal and vertical components A quasi-steady-state open-circuit voltage method for solar cell characterization Improved quantitative description of Auger recombination in crystalline silicon Measuring and interpreting the lifetime of silicon wafers Analyzing back contacts of silicon solar cells by Suns-Voc-measurements at high illumination densities A generalized theory explains the anomalous Suns–Voc response of Si heterojunction solar cells Approaching the 29% limit efficiency of silicon solar cells Download references This work was supported in part by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) under the Ministry of Economy Photovoltaic & Thin Film Device Research Laboratories K.Yoshikawa designed the experiments and analysed the data contributed to development of the HJ-IBC cell All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript The authors are employees of Kaneka Corporation Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.32 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article International Journal of Advances in Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics (2025) Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2025) Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science Explore our programs — offering exceptional academic preparation Find everything you need to apply for and finance your graduate education and actionable knowledge — putting HGSE's powerful ideas into practice With deep expertise that connects research Get to know our community — and all the ways to learn Faculty-led programs to deepen your impact and build your effectiveness as an educator and leader Access the premiere education subject library for Harvard University but to remain competitive in the near perfectly competitive educational support industry have continuously sought to improve in order to most efficiently advise clients I wasn’t fully prepared to contend with the multitude of educational challenges as the COVID-related schism to our daily lives unfolded Given the ever-changing COVID-induced disruption overwhelmed administrators worked in a vacuum As they tried to protect the safety of their multifaceted communities they often created additional complications in the process and administrators questioned themselves and their purposes and were hungrier than usual for information as they sought to preserve the continuity of students’ education Although typically in the spring I am recouping from the busiest time of our year — the fall college application season — I was alerted to the COVID health crisis as it began in Wuhan Through a multitude of conversation with staff we deduced that COVID-19 would not be contained and would spread around the globe impacting institutions and individuals in its wake I immediately began to contemplate possible impacts to our clients and ourselves as government officials began recommending lockdowns I became concerned that students would not be able to take SAT’s and ACT’s to fulfill application requirements possibly jeopardizing the college admissions strategy of many I scrambled along with my staff to gain greater clarity about what increasingly would be a more subjective admissions process for fall 2021 We knew the process would be further compounded by the upending of the academic grading system that may be equal to administrators haphazardly implemented a variety of adaptations of the time-tested academic letter grading system which many students had perceived was an effective measure of not only their academic performance but also likelihood of being admitted to college broad policy change was the pass/no pass form of evaluation This only further added to students’ and parents’ stress especially given the difficulty of communicating with teachers and administrators remotely via a variety of communication mediums —  phone video conferencing — listening to parents and students who shared fears about how they would be fairly evaluated during college admissions for a lifetime of work worried if college admissions officers would fairly discern the meaning of the academic work completed over two-thirds of a school year this fall’s admissions evaluations were seeming to be a more subjective process but hadn’t yet been defined by admissions officers who were also facing their own perfect management storm I have been desperately trying to keep up with the non-stop information flow in ways we’ve not had to do in the past in order to communicate with clients and provide guidance that may only be valuable for a very short period of time given the evolving nature of the pandemic and the myriad of educational responses to disruption Currently there are more questions than answers like how to educate students in the 2020–21 school year including how to house college students on campus especially as increasing numbers of COVID cases are reported around the United States or how teachers can transition their pedagogy for online formats as well as listen to the stress of parents and students who are battling an anxiety that is associated with change when we get through this crisis — and we will — is that we will all be better because our need for a shared humanity in times of struggle demands it Jill Yoshikawa is the educational partner at Creative Marbles Consultancy She combines educational theory with experience to counsel families The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Home - Harvard Graduate School of Education Get the latest insights and news from the Harvard Graduate School of Education Subscribe ©2025 President and Fellows of Harvard College Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world 2024 at 4:00 PM ESTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.The Bank of Japan should nimbly end its negative interest rate policy with minimum fuss according to an economics professor and former adviser to an economic panel for the prime minister “Of course it’s time for the BOJ to normalize policy,” Hiroshi Yoshikawa professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo “Measures from the negative rate to yield curve control have all been characterized as ultra-easy policy But we’re not in a situation where we need them anymore.” Metrics details High-harmonic generation in solids is a unique tool to investigate the electron dynamics in strong light fields The systematic study in monolayer materials is required to deepen the insight into the fundamental mechanism of high-harmonic generation Here we demonstrated nonperturbative high harmonics up to 18th order in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides We found the enhancement in the even-order high harmonics which is attributed to the resonance to the band nesting energy The symmetry analysis shows that the valley polarization and anisotropic band structure lead to polarization of the high-harmonic radiation The calculation based on the three-step model in solids revealed that the electron–hole polarization driven to the band nesting region should contribute to the high harmonic radiation where the electrons and holes generated at neighboring lattice sites are taken into account Our findings open the way for attosecond science with monolayer materials having widely tunable electronic structures the underlying mechanism is still under debate It will be important to gain an understanding of HHG in single-atomic-layer solids because propagation effects such as the phase matching condition which would otherwise obscure intrinsic features of HHG in bulk crystals do not affect ideal two-dimensional systems also showed that the even orders of HHG are enhanced at much higher energies compared with the lowest exciton or bandgap energy while the odd orders are monotonically suppressed at higher energies The enhancement at higher orders and its relation to the perpendicular polarization of even-order HHG is not yet understood we systematically investigated HHG from four kinds of monolayer TMDs with different bandgap energies (MoSe2 and WS2) to examine the resonance effect and polarization of HHG in monolayer TMDs By comparing the HHG and optical absorption spectra of the monolayer TMDs we found that HHG is enhanced when it is in resonance with the optical transition due to band nesting indicating that the interband polarization mainly contributes to the even-order HHG A simple calculation that is an extension of the three-step model for electron–hole pairs in solids shows that the electron–hole pairs driven to the band nesting region significantly contributes to the resonance enhancement and anisotropic driving of electron–hole polarizations around the K and K’ points determines polarization selection rule of HHG High harmonic generation from monolayer TMDs and d WS2 monolayers at room temperature induced by mid-infrared pulse excitation (photon energy 0.26eV We set the excitation polarization in parallel with the zigzag direction The harmonics from fifth to sixteenth order are labeled Resonant enhancement of even-order high harmonics Intensities of even-order harmonics in a MoSe2 Error bars represent the standard deviations h Corresponding optical absorption spectra of the TMD monolayers The peaks of the A and B excitons are labeled A and B The peaks due to the band nesting effects are labeled C and D l Corresponding intensities of odd-order harmonics electron–hole dynamics of HHG in monolayer TMDs a Top view of the crystal of monolayer TMDs while the yellow dots are chalcogenide atoms The x (y) axis corresponds to the zigzag (armchair) direction b Two-dimensional hexagonal Brillouin zone of monolayer TMDs The electric field with a polarization in the x (y) direction in real space drives carriers in the kx (ky) direction c Schematic diagrams of the real space trajectories of electrons (blue curve) and holes (magenta curve) driven by light field The electron–hole pairs generated by Zener tunneling at t = 0 are accelerated by the electric field and they recombine when they meet again \(\left( {t = t_R} \right)\) d Schematic drawings of electron–hole creation and recombination dynamics under excitation with a polarization along the zigzag direction The electron–hole pairs generated at t = 0 follow different traces depending on whether they were created at the K or K’ point the electron–hole pairs recombine at different times t1 and t2 (blue solid and magenta open circles in the dashed orange oval) The electron–hole pairs generated at t = T/2 follow reversed dynamics to those created at t = 0 (magenta open and blue solid circles in the dashed turquoise oval) under excitation with the polarization along the armchair direction the acceleration and recombination dynamics of the electron–hole pairs do not depend on whether the pairs were created at the K point or at the K’ point we show how the anisotropic and alternating nature of the electron–hole dynamics gives rise to a polarization selection rule for HHG The electric field of HHG is the sum of the left- and right-hand circular polarized light: Semi-classical calculation of electron–hole dynamics in the real and momentum space a Real space dynamics of carriers generated at t = 0 and the K point under excitation with polarization along zigzag direction The turquoise curve shows the trajectory of the hole generated at x/a = 0 and the black dashed curves show the electrons generated at \(x/a = 0,\; - 1,\; - 2,\; - 3,\; - 4\) The possible recombination paths of the hole and electrons are marked as blue solid circles b Same as a but for the carriers generated at the K’ point The possible recombination paths of the hole and electrons are marked as magenta open circles c Recombined electron–hole pairs in momentum space generated at t = 0 The electron–hole pairs created at the K (K’) point are represented as blue solid (magenta open) circles The labels from 1 to 4 correspond to those in a and b The asymmetric features of the electron–hole dynamics in the K and K’ valleys lead to different times and energies of recombination Only the electron–hole pairs generated at the K point reach the band nesting region d Same as c but for electron–hole pairs generated at t = T/2 The dynamics in the K and K’ valleys are reversed from those of t = 0 and show the alternating nature Only electron–hole pairs generated at the K point reach the band nesting region we investigated generation of high harmonics in monolayer TMDs we found resonant enhancement of HHG with the interband optical transition due to band nesting effects We also found that odd and even orders of HHG have parallel and perpendicular polarizations under excitation with polarization along with the zigzag direction This comes from the asymmetric nature of the dynamics in the K and K’ valleys Our findings give the important indication that the nonlinear interband polarization significantly contributes to the high harmonic generation in solids and opens the way for attosecond science with monolayer materials having widely tunable electronic structures and MoS2 and MoSe2 were purchased from 2d Semiconductors The monolayer nature of the TMD samples was confirmed by photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy All experiments were performed at room temperature The optical absorption spectra were measured with a scanning spectrophotometer (UV-3100PC The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request Observation of high-order harmonic generation in a bulk crystal Sub-cycle control of terahertz high-harmonicgeneration by dynamical Bloch oscillations Extreme ultraviolet high-harmonic spectroscopy of solids Linking high harmonics from gases and solids All-optical reconstruction of crystal band structure Real-time observation of interfering crystal electrons in high-harmonic generation Solid-state harmonics beyond the atomic limit Lightwave-driven quasiparticle collisions on a subcycle timescale Anisotropic high-harmonic generation in bulk crystals High harmonic generation from multiple orbitals in N2 High harmonic interferometry of multi-electron dynamics in molecules Diabatic mechanisms of higher-order harmonic generation in solid-state materials under high-intensity electric fields Strong-field perspective on high-harmonic radiation from bulk solids High-harmonic generation from Bloch electrons in solids Theoretical analysis of high-harmonic generation in solids High-harmonic generation in graphene enhanced by elliptically polarized light excitation Nonperturbative harmonic generation in graphene from intense midinfrared pulsed light Extremely efficient terahertz high-harmonic generation in graphene by hot Dirac fermions High-harmonic generation from an atomically thin semiconductor Emerging photoluminescence in monolayer MoS2 Atomically thin MoS2: a new direct-gap semiconductor Electrical tuning of exciton binding energies in monolayer WS2 Coupled spin and valley physics in monolayers of MoS2 and other group-VI dichalcogenides Spin and pseudospins in layered transition metal dichalcogenides The roles of photo-carrier doping and driving wavelength in high harmonic generation from a semiconductor Band nesting and the optical response of two-dimensional semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides Band structures of transition-meal-dichalcogenide layer compounds Photocarrier relaxation pathway in two-dimensional semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides Optical properties of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides probed by spectroscopic ellipsometry Lightwave valleytronics in a monolayer of tungsten diselenide Optical absorption and transmission in a molybdenum disulfide monolayer Damping effects in doped graphene: The relaxation-time approximation Growth and optical properties of high-quality monolayer WS2 on graphite Download references This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (Grant No 26247052) and Scienctific Research (S) (Grant No was supported by a JSPS fellowship (Grant No acknowledges support from JST CREST (Grant No JPMJCR16F3) and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(B) (Grant No JP18H01832) from the Ministry of Education Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS) All the authors contributed to the discussion and interpretation of the results The authors declare no competing interests Peer review information: Nature Communications would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this report 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/s41467-019-11697-6 Yoshikawa briefed journalists in September 2020: How Poverty and COVID Shape Children’s Lives Hirokazu Yoshikawa is the Courtney Sale Ross Professor of Globalization and Education at NYU Steinhardt and a University Professor at NYU, and Co-Director (with J. Lawrence Aber) of the Global TIES for Children center at NYU He is a core faculty member of the Psychology of Social Intervention and Human Development and Social Intervention programs at Steinhardt He is also a faculty affiliate of the Metropolitan Center for Equity and the Transformation of Schools and the Institute of Human Development and Social Change at NYU He is a community and developmental psychologist who studies the effects of public policies and programs related to immigration and poverty reduction on children’s development Yoshikawa conducts research in the United States and in low- and middle-income countries sexuality and youth and young adult development in the contexts of HIV / AIDS risk and prevention and is currently conducting research on GSAs (gender and sexuality alliances) in Massachusetts with Paul Poteat and Nathan Fox); and the Listening Project a Spencer Foundation funded project evaluating a middle-school-based intervention in New York City schools to train students and teachers in transformative curiosity (interviewing and listening) His recent books include Cradle to Kindergarten: A New Plan to Combat Inequality (with Ajay Chaudry Russell Sage) and Immigrants Raising Citizens: Undocumented Parents and Their Young Children (2011 He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Russell Sage Foundation He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Education the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences He has received two awards for mentorship of ethnic minority students from the American Psychological Association He obtained his PhD in clinical psychology from NYU NKyTribune port of Pearl Harbor was bombed by 360 Japanese warplanes The United Stated declared war on Japan the next day the military command began to take measures to secure strategic military facilities harbors and bases as civilians on the West Coast continued to live their daily lives with perhaps a sharpened sense of potential peril Among these West Coast residents were several hundred thousand residents of Japanese descent others farmers and still others owners of a variety of businesses up and down the coast life continued as for other Americans: busy but with a wary ear to news of possible Japanese military activity In the spring of 1942 under the authorization of Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin Roosevelt and the War Relocation Authority more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent some 80,000 of whom were natural born US citizens were relocated to remote internment camps built by the U.S military in scattered locations around the country many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards Yoshikawa and his family were first sent to an internment camp at Tule Lake Japanese-American “evacuees” from the West Coast could return to their homes Gordon and his family resettled in Cincinnati in May 1945 attend college and went on to spend 37 years as a chemist in the printing ink and varnish industry in Cincinnati After the war investigations by government committees found that no Japanese Americans had offered aid to the enemy or committed any crimes Many of those of military age joined the armed forces fighting in Europe in the 442nd one of the most decorated units in the Army Others were instrumental in the Military Intelligence Service serving as battlefield interpreters and translators that recounts the experiences of Japanese Americans during the time of their incarceration by the U.S *Note: A large crowd is expected for Yoshikawa’s talk Extra parking is available at the Boone County Extension Office (6028 Camp Ernst Rd A shuttle service to and from the Main Library will be available from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m STOCKTON - After being interned with other Japanese-Americans in an Arkansas camp during World War II Richard Shizuo Yoshikawa returned to his native Stockton where he raised a family and led a long career as both a photographer and a politician becoming the first Asian to sit on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors Those who served in government with him remembered Yoshikawa as an understated representative but somebody who served his constituents well while staying well-versed in the details of the issues he instilled the values of a disciplined work ethic and a commitment to give to the community Richard Yoshikawa was born in Stockton in 1920 He graduated from Stockton High School in 1938 went to Delta College (then called Stockton Junior College) and continued studying photography in Los Angeles which was where he was when the United States entered World War II He went back to Stockton to be with his family when the government limited travel to the ethnic Japanese he was interned at the Stockton Assembly Center and then the Rohwer Relocation Camp in Arkansas he spent a brief stint as an X-ray technician in New York City before returning to Stockton Signs were up with slogans such as "Japs go home." Still he put his name on the business for all to see "He could have named it Modern Photo or something," she said "He wanted people to know he was Japanese." He joined the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees in 1964 where he was the first Japanese-American on that government body Ronald Reagan to replace a member of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors who was elected to state office Yoshikawa was elected to the board in 1976 and again in 1980 He was dedicated to representing the people of his district whose time on the board overlapped with Yoshikawa's Norman Shumway joined the board around the same time as Yoshikawa They would sometimes converse in Japanese in county offices Yoshikawa understood more Japanese than he could speak who learned the language on a church mission but we still got along well," said Shumway who went on to the House of Representatives "Richard was a kind and soft-spoken man," Shumway said "He was always quite thorough with his research." There were few board members who would read up on issues coming before the board more than Yoshikawa who joined the board in 1979 and is now the chief executive of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce And when he did question somebody at a meeting he didn't use it as an opportunity to posture "Richard always treated people with respect." Yoshikawa is the second former county supervisor to die this year the board passed a resolution Yoshikawa introduced that urged a presidential commission to consider awarding financial compensation to those of Japanese descent who were interned by the government during the war telling of his experience of spending a year in the Rohwer Relocation Camp the United States issues a formal apology to all surviving internees and each of the 60,000 former internees received payments of $20,000 He had his camera with him at the relocation camp The photos he took have been kept in a special collection at University of the Pacific and are sometimes put on display by the Japanese American Citizens League Yoshikawa suffered from Alzheimer's disease His final moments were spent at his home surrounded by family six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren His memorial service will be held at 4 p.m Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@recordnet.com Visit his blog at recordnet.com/johnsonblog We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. If you continue to browse, you accept the use of cookies on our site. See our cookies policy for more information Park Ranger Kie Yoshikawa liaises with the local community to safeguard the abundance and diversity of life within the subtropical forests of Yambaru * This article was written based on an interview conducted with the park ranger in September “The Yambaru region is one of the most biodiverse parts of Japan,” she says “Nearly half of all the bird species identified in the country and a quarter of all the frog species inhabit Yambaru’s subtropical forests For a region that doesn’t even account for 0.1% of the total area of Japan Yoshikawa goes on to explain that it is the biodiversity of the Yambaru region that makes Yamabaru National Park so special “Yambaru’s forests are home to so many endemic species and many of them like the Okinawa rail and the Yanbaru long-armed scarab beetle are extremely rare and cannot be found anywhere else in the world.” Yoshikawa has been involved in the study and conservation of the biodiversity of Japan’s national parks She started her career as a park ranger at the Biodiversity Center of Japan “It was a wonderful place to be located—it felt very special to see Mount Fuji everyday on my way to work or out of the window at home.”  Yoshikawa explains that she was involved in numerous nationwide ecological monitoring projects “One of the projects I worked on involved collating environmental data gathered from 1000 different monitoring posts,” she says “The project is ongoing and data will be collected for 100 years The aim is to create a comprehensive data set with which we can monitor biodiversity against the backdrop of climate change and other environmental factors.” Yoshikawa moved to Okinawa to take up a post at Yambaru National Park and when I arrived in Yambaru for the first time and the mist-shrouded forests were unlike any I had seen on Japan’s four main islands.” Yoshikawa says she loves working in the park and especially enjoys the work she does with the local community from raising awareness of the park’s ecological importance to offering support and guidance on community-driven environmental initiatives “I meet so many more people in this role than in my previous role Meeting and talking to the people that live in the towns and villages of Yambaru is definitely a highlight It is inspiring that so many local residents are committed to protecting the nature of the region.” Yambaru National Park encompasses vast subtropical forests The diversity of habitats is one of the contributing factors for the rich variety of plant and animal species in the region and changing sea levels have perhaps had the most important role to play “Among the many animal and plant species in the park the Ryukyu Islands were part of the Eurasian continent but over millions of years they became an archipelago Certain species in Yambaru have remained essentially unchanged from earlier times while their close relatives on the continent are extinct and other species have evolved differently to their relatives across the water.” Yoshikawa talks about some of the different animal species starting with the Yanbaru long-armed scarab beetle This large beetle with a metallic sheen can grow to 9 centimeters long fluffy looking rodent with a long white-tipped tail Newly evolved endemic species include the Okinawa spiny rat Yoshikawa attributes invasive species as one of the biggest threats to the biodiversity of the park “The small Indian mongoose is a talented hunter It was introduced to Okinawa in the early 20th century to reduce the local population of venomous pit vipers and the species has become a major threat to the wildlife of Yambaru.” “An important part of being a park ranger is wildlife conservation,” says Yoshikawa “I work with the local community to combat invasive species like the mongoose Initiatives to eradicate the species have been underway since 2000 we have been successful in reducing population density and limiting population distribution.” it is not only invasive species that threaten the endemic wildlife Road construction impacts wildlife populations and road accidents are a common cause of death of Okinawa rails around 30 rails are killed or injured by road vehicles each year but it is not just vehicles that are a problem sometimes rails fall into the ditches at the sides of roads and injure themselves or get stuck Yoshikawa is involved in countermeasures to protect endangered species such as the Okinawa rail and reduce road kill She liaises with the community and works with a local NPO to rescue injured rails and investigate road deaths She also champions community-level population monitoring activities “We have put up signs along the roads warning drivers to drive slowly and with care and we have a 24-hour hotline for reporting injured or dead rails and Ryukyu long-tailed rats There are times when I have been called out to rescue injured animals in the middle of the night.” Yoshikawa’s advice for enjoying the park is to stay in the Yambaru area “The sounds of the forest are amazing at any time of day or night but to really get a sense of the region’s rich biodiversity The sounds of daytime and nighttime animals overlap and the distinctive sounds of cicada and other animals Several local tour operators also offer night tours which are a fun and safe way to experience the lively nocturnal environment.” WA — KLEW-TV features every Thursday a local high school senior who shines in and out of the classroom This Pullman High School senior’s love of math is set setting his sights on an ivy league school after graduating from Pullman High School “I love math that's been my favorite subject since elementary school,” Kellan said which entails meeting with the school superintendent and other student ambassadors once a month to talk about issues and finding solutions Kellan credits that being a part of the Boy Scouts has helped him develop as a leader I'm the Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 460,” he said “So that's a good experience it's really taught me a lot of leadership skills that I can use later on in life.” Kellan said it’s always been his dream to go to Stanford or MIT “Ultimately I just want to become a mechanical engineer and hopefully help people through technology and the STEM field,” said Kellan you’re this week’s CCI Speer Academic All-Star Kellan’s love for mechanical engineering also has him involved in STEM programs building robots as well as inventing new things.