author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 22, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Rowan Hooper

Meta

Twitter

@rowhoop

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
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 9, 2006
Eying wars in the deep
It was the night of Oct. 6, 1941, in the Straits of Gubal in the southern Red Sea. Like most of the crew of the hybrid steam-sail ship SS Thistlegorm, moored in the safe haven in Egyptian waters off the shallow reef, merchant seaman John McKai was sleeping on the deck. There was no air conditioning,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 26, 2006
Galleyworm
* Japanese name: Baba-yasude * Scientific name: Parafontaria species * Description: Galleyworms are not worms but millipedes: elongated, cylindrical arthropods, with two pairs of legs on each body segment. Millipede means "1,000 legs" but these species have around 20 body segments, so therefore about...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 12, 2006
Guinea pigs hail 'mystical experience'
What was the most spiritually meaningful moment in your life?
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 12, 2006
Jewelwing damselfly
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 28, 2006
Eight-barbel loach
* Japanese name: Hotoke-dojo * Scientific name: Lefua echigonia * Description: Loaches are in the family of ray-finned fish. They have a flattened body, and four pairs of sensory organs, known as barbels, around the mouth, like whiskers. Catfish have similar sensory organs, but belong to a different...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 14, 2006
Cattle egret
* Japanese name: Amasagi * Scientific name: Bubulcus ibis * Description: Cattle egrets are in the heron family, but they are shorter and have stouter necks than their relatives. They have a "hunched" posture, even when they stand up straight. They are medium-sized birds, 46-56 cm long, with a wingspan...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 14, 2006
Where are these life-saving drugs in Japan?
Wataru Tsurumi's book, "The Complete Manual of Suicide," was a best seller in Japan and it's easy to see why. He was writing for a market that is particularly interested in self-destruction.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 31, 2006
Philosopher reignites debate over contraception
When it was reported last month that Hollywood actor Tom Cruise intended to eat his wife's placenta raw, I thought it was one of the stranger stories going round at the time. Another, according to some newspapers, was that Cruise had bought his wife, actress Katie Holmes, an adult-sized pacifier to ensure...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 24, 2006
Schlegel's green tree frog
* Japanese name: Schlegel-aogaeru * Scientific name: Rhacophorus schlegelii * Description: Schlegel's green tree frog is a medium-sized tree frog, which at a few centimeters long still makes it smaller than most other frogs and toads. The back is green, although some frogs have small yellow spots on...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 10, 2006
Blue & white flycatcher
* Japanese name: Ooruri * Scientific name: Cyanoptila cyanomelana * Description: The blue and white flycatcher is a handsome migratory songbird, about 16-cm long, with a vivid, electric-blue cap, back, wings and tail. The breast is white and the face, eyes and bill are brown-black. At least, the males...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 10, 2006
Reappraising the role of damaged DNA
Outside of comic books, when you are exposed to radiation, your DNA is damaged and you get ill. Sometimes very ill: just witness the terrible effects of the radiation released in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 20 years ago.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 26, 2006
Dark sleeper
* Japanese name: Donko * Scientific name: Odontobutis obscura * Description: The enigmatically named Dark sleeper is a perch-like fish in the order Perchiformes. Members of this, the largest order of vertebrates, include 40 percent of all fish. They are typically fat-lipped, grumpy-looking fish and...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 12, 2006
Poor health may be no-laughing matter
Some people complain that Japanese people don't laugh enough, that Japanese society today is too strait-laced.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 12, 2006
Peacock butterfly
* Japanese name: Kujaku-cho * Scientific name: Inachis io geisha * Description: Instantly recognizable, with its chocolate-brown body, striking red wings and eye spots, the peacock is in the Nymphalid family of butterflies. In members of this family, the front pair of legs are reduced and useless for...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 22, 2006
Black-spotted frog
* Japanese name: Tonosama-gaeru * Scientific name: Rana nigromaculata * Description: Males of this handsome frog grow to about 70-mm long, while females are slightly larger at 77 mm. They vary in color, from lime green to gray-brown, but they all have a pattern of black spots down the flanks of their...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 8, 2006
Japanese huchen
* Japanese name: Itou * Scientific name: Hucho perryi * Description: A huge fish, a member of the salmon family, the Japanese huchen grows up to 1 meter long. Also known as the Sakhalin taimen, it is Japan's largest freshwater fish. Its size alone is distinctive enough (folk stories tell of huchens...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 8, 2006
New signals abound of our genetic evolution
Good news this week for believers in common sense, opponents of intelligent design, and, incidentally, for writers of columns about natural selection.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 22, 2006
Signal crayfish
* Japanese name: Uchida zarigani * Scientific name: Pacifastacus leniusculus * Description: Crayfish look like small lobsters. Despite their name, they are not fish, but freshwater crustaceans. They have a segmented body, up to 20-cm long, with 10 legs and a hard exoskeleton that they must molt as they...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 8, 2006
Mud shrimp
* Japanese name: Ana-jako * Scientific name: Upogebia major * Description: Mud shrimps are 10-cm-long decapod crustaceans, which means they have 10 legs and a hard outer shell. They also have two pairs of antennae, of which one pair is very long. The animal is whitish in color, with large dark-brown...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 25, 2006
Great egret
* Japanese name: Daisagi * Scientific name: Egretta alba * Description: The great egret is the largest of the egrets in Japan. It is 80-100 cm tall, with a wingspan of 140-170 cm. The plumage is pure white; the legs, feet and bill are black. In flight, great egrets are languid, with slow and deep wingbeats,...
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER