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November 22, 2024
 

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Rowan Hooper

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Rowan Hooper
Rowan Hooper has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Sheffield University, UK, and he worked as an insect biologist in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, for five years before spending a two-year period at The Japan Times in Tokyo. He is now news editor for New Scientist magazine, based in London.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 14, 2007
Indian blue peafowl
* Japanese name: Kujaku * Scientific name: Pavo cristatus * Description: Large birds far more often seen on the ground than in the air, peafowl are unmistakable. The male -- the peacock -- has a vibrant royal-blue neck and breast, a white "face" and a gigantic ornamental tail that may be dragged along...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 14, 2007
Brain-scanning gets closer to reading minds
Is the world inherently good or bad? You might believe that people are essentially good. Then again, you might believe that most people just pretend to be good -- and some don't even bother to conceal that they're not. You might complain that it's a stupid question in the first place.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 31, 2007
England's white Africans cast ironic new light on reality TV's racism row
Reality TV shows, genetic research papers, politics, Hollywood and Bollywood rarely get mentioned in the same article. This week, though, in a maneuver akin to an astronomical alignment that only comes around once in a generation, I will attempt to achieve just that.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 10, 2007
New light cast on capital-punishment issues
It's not especially pleasing to write about death in the first column of the New Year, but there's a lot of it about.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 10, 2007
Peregrine falcon
* Japanese name: Hayabusa * Scientific name: Falco peregrinus * Description: Powerful and majestic birds, peregrine falcons are as large as a crow, some 50-cm long with a 1-meter wingspan. They have tapered, blue-gray wings, a short tail, yellow legs, black bars on their backs and pale underbellies....
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 13, 2006
Polonium, peacocks -- and a dead spy
It's one of the biggest stories of the year -- and certainly the most unusual. I'm talking about the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy living in London who was poisoned with a radioactive isotope last month. Nothing like this has been seen for nearly 20 years, back when the Cold War...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 13, 2006
Nuthatch
* Japanese name: Gojukara * Scientific name: Sitta europaea * Description: The nuthatch is a charismatic, plucky little bird, about the size of a great tit, though a little plumper. It is a subtle blue-gray color above and white below. The sides of the bird, and its tail, are chestnut, but it is unmistakable...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 29, 2006
Cell findings point to other animals with 'consciousness'
Elephants looking at themselves in mirrors, a humpback whale washed up on a beach north of New York, and a freak dolphin that was caught off Wakayama Prefecture.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 22, 2006
Three-spined stickleback
* Japanese name: Hario * Scientific name: Gasterosteus aculeatus leiurus * Description: Small, perky fish, as adults sticklebacks are typically between 6- and 10-cm long. They have 30 to 40 lateral armor plates along their sides, and also three long dorsal spines that can be raised. * Where to find...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 8, 2006
Rationality again on rack of 'faith'
How can certain events that took place in 17th-century Italy have much relevance to those of the 21st? I'm thinking of the way one of the greatest men in history, the father of physics, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), was treated by the Roman Catholic Church.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 8, 2006
Chiton
* Japanese name: Hizara-gai * Scientific name: Acanthopleura japonica * Description: Chitons are mollusks, not bivalves like mussels, but single-shelled animals like limpets. To the casual observer, though, these creatures, which grow to about 4-cm long, might not be noticed, as they blend in extremely...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 25, 2006
Wide-abdomen mantid
* Japanese name: Harabiro-kamakiri * Scientific name: Hierodula patellifera * Description: There are several species of praying mantids in Japan, and this is one of the smaller-sized ones. Males grow to between 45-65 mm long, with the females a bit bigger at 52-70 mm. Interestingly, it comes in two...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 11, 2006
Bizarre rodents confound a venerable theory of aging
We've all heard the claims. Drink enough green tea and you'll live to be 100. Eat tofu every day to protect against cancer. Recently, there's even been research suggesting that eating curry helps to boost brain power.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 11, 2006
Spangle
* Japanese name: Kuro-ageha * Scientific name: Papilio protenor * Description: This is a stunning, exotic and beautiful butterfly with black-and-white forewings patterned almost like a zebra, and black hindwings with a delicate white border and deep red eyespots with black centers. The borders of the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 27, 2006
Gigi catfish
* Japanese name: Gigi * Scientific name: Pelteobagrus nudiceps * Description: This is a rather small, 10- to 15-cm-long bottom-dwelling river fish that is remarkable for being one of the few aquatic organisms to have a voice. Fishermen report that when a gigi catfish is landed, it emits a "giiii-giiii"...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 13, 2006
Elephant hawkmoth
* Japanese name: Beni-suzume * Scientific name: Deilephila elpenor lewisii * Description: Large, remarkably handsome insects with a wingspan of 62-72 mm, adult elephant hawkmoths are a velvety, olive-brown in color with a gorgeous pink flush to the wings and the sides of the abdomen. They also have...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 13, 2006
Own goal clouds progress
Tomorrow sees the start of a three-day meeting in the Eternal City that concerns one of the most promising and controversial scientific research areas of our time: stem cells. Embryonic stem cells have the ability to transform into any cell and tissue type in the body, and thus have the potential to...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 30, 2006
Gene finds help to 'unroll' humanity
The English word "evolve" comes from a Latin word, used years before the familiar Darwinian connotation took over, meaning "unroll." As individuals, we don't evolve -- it's genes that evolve -- but as our lives unroll, we can see and feel the influence of natural selection at every stage, from birth...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 23, 2006
Forest green tree frog
* Japanese name: Moriao-gaeru * Scientific name: Rhacophorus arboreus * Description: A cute little, beautiful green frog; males are 4-6 cm long, females are 6-8 cm long. The backs can be mottled with brown speckles, and the number of these speckles varies according to where in the country they live....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 9, 2006
Drone beetle Kanabun
* Scientific name: Rhomborrhina japonica * Description: Large, handsome and sturdy insects, drone beetles have distinctive antennae that end in a club that can be fanned out to form a leafy antenna with a large surface area -- the better to detect odors carried in the air. The beetles are around 4...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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