Philippines - Hurdles cleared but disillusionment, homesickness prompt Filipino health workers to exit Japan

MANILA – A number Filipino nurses and caregivers who seized the opportunity to train in Japan to work there have ended up returning to the Philippines, including some who passed the tough licensing exam.

“The journey to becoming a nurse in Japan was indeed a mission impossible. . . . We were very tired physically, mentally and emotionally while studying to pass the board exam and working at the same time. All of us were pushed to study even on our rest day,” a Filipino nurse who quit only a year after his deployment in 2011 said recently.

The 33-year-old nurse, who requested anonymity so he could freely express his views, is among more than 1,200 Filipino nurses and caregivers who were accepted by Japan starting in 2009 under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement.

Under the program, nurses and caregivers from the Philippines first learn the Japanese language and culture, undergo training in Japanese health facilities, and then take the Japanese licensing exam in their respective profession.

Candidates who pass are granted a working visa, allowing them to both work and help graying Japan address its growing shortage of health workers at the same time.

A fresh batch of 60 nurses and 275 caregivers is about to complete a six-month Japanese language and culture course in the Philippines before deployment to Japan in June.

“Learning the language alone is already difficult, and it’s all the more grueling trying to pass the exam,” the Filipino nurse, who has already migrated to another country after returning from Japan, said in an email message.

He complained also of a change in the payment terms in his contract when he started working in the Japanese hospital.

To encourage candidates to complete the program, he said they should be allowed to shadow their Japanese counterparts as they perform their jobs, instead of getting assigned tasks usually performed by orderlies or janitors.

“If I could turn back the clock, I would have not chosen to sacrifice my career as a public nurse back home and my family life,” the Filipino nurse said.

Filipino caregivers Aira Ignacio and Bernadette Villanueva, speaking in a separate interview, also attested to the difficulty of working and studying at the same time when they entered the program in 2011.

“There are times when you really wanna give up, because not all things in Japan are good,” Ignacio, 30, said. “There were times during my first year there that I asked myself if that is really the job that I wanted, because I’m not really used to taking care of old people, and doing it alone.”

Ignacio, who is a licensing d nurse in the Philippines, was assigned to a facility in Okinawa, while Villanueva, 29, went to a facility in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

But unlike the other nurse, Ignacio and Villanueva endured the challenges of their three-year training program and passed the licensing exam for caregivers in 2015.

Both said that while their respective facilities supported them in their studies while they worked, they also had to study in their free time just to make sure they passed the exam.

But passing the exam did not lead to a significant increase in pay, contrary to their initial expectations.

For this reason, coupled with personal ones — recurring back pain and wanting to be reunited with her family (Ignacio), and marriage plans (Villanueva), the two decided to return to the Philippines last year.

Equipped with Japanese skills, the two now have relatively high-paying jobs in Manila as interpreters in hospitals for Japanese patients who cannot speak English.

The two agree that their present circumstances are much better than if they had continued working in Japan as licensed caregivers, because aside from the good pay, they are also living with or close to their respective families. Being able to continue speaking Japanese and working in the medical field are additional benefits.

But amid their difficulties in Japan, Ignacio and Villanueva said there were plenty of positive things they will never forget, foremost of which is the sense of achievement of overcoming the physical, mental and emotional challenges as affirmed by their successful shot at the licensing exam.

“Living in Japan is not like being in heaven. There’s loneliness, homesickness. But when I felt the desire to go home before, I just thought right away of the reason why I went there,” Villanueva said.

“We advise them to have lots of patience, because you really have to study and work at the same time,” Ignacio added.

The two admit to being open to the possibility of returning if the right offer comes, noting also how they miss the clean environment, the politeness of the Japanese, and the efficiency of the public transport system, among other aspects.

According to official data, just over 160 of the nearly 200 Filipino nurses and caregivers who passed the Japanese licensing exam from 2010 up to 2015 are working in Japan.

For this year, 56 Filipino caregivers and nurses passed, but there are no data immediately available as to how many of them are employed in Japan.

The Japan International Corporation for Welfare Services, which directly handles the program on the part of Japan, said the most common reasons cited by those who passed the exam but decided not to work in Japan are personal and family issues, particularly the desire to just be close to and take care of their parents.

By Ronron Calunsod

japantimes

Thailand - Celebrated abroad, Thai universal health coverage faces challenges at home

Chakrabongse Villa in Old Bangkok was the perfect setting recently for the start of a new chapter in the long friendship between Japan and Thailand.

Listening to Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn's opening remarks on a relationship that "reaches back as far as the 17th century", distinguished guests may have nodded as they glanced across the darkening Chao Phraya River at the lit pagoda of the Temple of Dawn, celebrated in Japanese Nobel Laureate Yukio Mishima's eponymous novel.

The occasion was the alfresco signing of a joint project on universal health coverage between Thailand's Public Health Ministry and National Health Security Office and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). At the gathering were key backers of the project, including upper-house lawmaker Keizo Takemi and JICA adviser Kiyoshi Kodera.

The project is the latest in a long line of mutual assistance between Japan and Thailand dating back to the 1950s, JICA vice president Kae Yanagisawa noted. Initially confined to the fields of electric power, health and agriculture, the partnership has now expanded to the social and economic sectors. The donor-recipient nature of old has also been replaced by a collaboration that allows both sides to use their experience to help other countries.

For this latest project, a core objective is to help other nations achieve universal health coverage (UHC), one of the global sustainable development goals (SDGs). Thailand played a significant role in the push to make UHC a global goal, advocating for its inclusion in the list of SDGs at the World Health Assembly and UN General Assembly.

To achieve UHC, countries must improve all components that make up the health system - governance, financing, workforce, service, information and medicines - as well as tackling the non-health sectors that link with those components. The resulting impact of a well-functioning UHC is far-reaching, going beyond improvements to individuals' health, to helping solve unequal distribution of affordable and quality care.

Some critics dismiss UHC as an unrealistic goal that seeks a utopia of equality. More acute observers view it as an astute strategy to eradicate inequity one sector at a time, starting with health.

Thailand is known worldwide for achieving UHC ahead of other low- and middle-income countries. Run by the NHSO, our universal (Gold Card) scheme provides health coverage for almost 75 per cent of citizens who fall outside of other government-funded safety nets.

Praised by the UN and the World Health Organisation, Thai UHC has achieved success on a par with another of our celebrated acronyms, Otop - One Tambon, One Product.

Japan meanwhile has half a

century of UHC experience, with valuable lessons to offer on insurance management and the roles of central and local governments in health provision.

The combined expertise of Thailand and Japan could now be an invaluable tool for those middle-income countries currently considering launching their own universal healthcare.

One point worth noting is that the involvement of both Thai agencies is vital if this latest project is to succeed.

Thailand is facing new challenges such as increasing healthcare costs, different benefit packages, and purchasing mechanisms among the three main schemes, not to mention the impact of a rapidly ageing population on the health system. Sustainability, Adequacy, Fairness and Efficiency - SAFE - are now crucial goals for sustaining Thai UHC.

Finding a sweet spot for civil and deep conversations to reach these goals is important. And finding it will require that both the Health Ministry and the NHSO work together as true partners with a shared philosophy.

In this regard, the UHC partnership project could be an ideal platform for both sides to map out routes to that sweet spot.

As representatives from both Thai agencies ambled back to the Chakrabongse pavilion after the signing, conversation was no doubt already turning to this critical point.

Kanitsorn Sumriddetchkajorn

Kanitsorn Sumriddetchkajorn is director of the Bureau of International Affairs on Universal Health Coverage, National Health Security Office.

nationmultimedia

Cambodia - Infectious disease experts seek pan-Asian cooperation

TOKYO -- Nikkei and Nikkei Business Publications on Friday held the third Nikkei Asian Conference on Communicable Disease in Tokyo. The two-day conference is meant to discuss and propose how Asian countries together tackle infectious diseases that are threatening the region.

The background of this conference is that as more people go beyond borders with economic development, the threat of infectious disease is spreading. For Japan, which will host a summit of the Group of Seven countries in May and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020, preventing such diseases is a key national issue.

In her opening comments, conference co-chair Nahoko Shindo, from the Department of Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases of the World Health Organization, warned that destabilizing factors in global society, "including refugees and urbanization, make the issue more complex, even if the prevention and treatment measures [for infectious diseases] are established."

The conference gathered about 80 experts from various fields -- government, international organizations, academia and business. The participants came not only from Japan, but also from Taiwan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries.

On Friday there were three main panel discussion sessions, covering countermeasures against tuberculosis and Ebola, as well as ways to build an Asian common platform to tackle these issues.

In the discussion on the common platform, Phat So from the Department of the Communicable Diseases Control of Cambodia's Ministry of Health said that a common clinical test center is essential. He said, "In terms of laboratories, Cambodia is limited compared with Thailand and other Asian countries. I want the Asian [common] quality center to assist Cambodia so that we can have quality equal to other Asian countries."

Tatsuya Kondo, chief executive of Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency and an expert in regulatory science, explained that his organization earlier this month had established an Asia Training Center, to provide training programs for regulation authority staff in Asian countries.

After the presentations, the session moderator concluded that he felt closer partnerships between countries and organizations are vitally important to share know-how about infectious diseases in Asia.

This is the third conference on this issue, following the first and second meetings held on Japan's southern island of Okinawa in 2014 and 2015.

Kentaro Iwamoto

http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/Tech/Infectious-disease-experts-seek-pan-Asian-cooperation

Philippines - Dole wants more healthcare workers hired in Japan

THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) is looking at further improving the capabilities of Filipinos to get hired in Japan, despite already sending eight batches of nurses and caregivers under the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

“I believe we have to align our training and education standards with countries that employ our workers to ensure their readiness to be employed, not only in Japan, but anywhere else,” Dole secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in a statement.

She said she has already proposed to Japanese officials for the sending of a mission to the Philippines to fully understand the training and education standards as well as the curriculum of nursing and care giving courses.

“They can assess what other requirements of these occupations in Japan could be incorporated, upgraded, or improved so that takers of these courses could easily qualify when they apply for such occupations in Japan,” Baldoz said.

In the eighth batch of health care workers deployed to Japan this year, a total of 63 nurses and 277 caregivers have been sent by the Philippines.

The 340 Filipino health care workers is the biggest batch of candidate caregivers and nurses sent by the country under the JPEPA since its inception in 2009.

Aside from Japan, Baldoz said they are also looking at having more countries interested in hiring Filipino healthcare workers.

The labor chief said the recent declaration of the World Health Organization (WHO) that about 40 million new healthcare jobs will be opening in the coming years is an opportunity for the country to be in a position to be declared as the health care worker capital of the world.

“If they decide to source their healthcare workers from the Philippines, there is no reason why we could not position our country as the health care worker capital of the world, similar to our hard-earned reputation as the global maritime manning capital,” Baldoz added.

She said being efficient health care workers is already innate to Filipinos, which gives the latter a major advantage.

“Our healthcare workers’ caring and nurturing heart and their meticulous hygiene and sanitation are factors that put them in a competitive advantage,” she said.

The labor chief said such natural asset should be coupled with the necessary investment in the human resources development (HRD) in healthcare.

“Investing in HRD involving the education and training of healthcare workers using global standards will answer the need for quantity, quality, and sustainability of supply of healthcare workers and also address the required huge investments for universal health coverage. It will definitely lead to the right kind of workers with the right kind of skills in the right workplaces,” she said.

Baldoz said the high demand for healthcare workers and the ability of the Philippines to respond can already be seen in Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

sunstar

Japan - World Bank sets goal for access to health care

TOKYO – Ensuring greater access to affordable health care is a crucial factor in alleviating poverty and promoting economic growth, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said Friday in announcing ambitious targets for preventing and treating chronic illnesses in developing countries.

About 100 million people are impoverished by medical expenses each year. The World Bank and World Health Organization aim by 2020 to reduce that figure by half and by 2030 to eliminate it altogether.

The consensus among many familiar with development and poverty alleviation is that providing universal health coverage is vital for economic development, said officials attending a conference in Tokyo.

Japan, which extended such coverage to its entire population in 1961, benefited enormously from that investment, as strong public health supported the expansion of a highly productive middle class, Kim said.

“The fact is that Japan committed to universal health coverage when its per capita income was not at the highest levels and many people thought it could not afford it,” Kim said.

The World Bank and WHO also intend to double access to affordable basic services such as vaccinations and deliveries to 80 percent of the poor in developing countries by 2020. By 2030 that number should also be able to get treatment for injuries and for such chronic problems as high blood pressure, diabetes and mental illness.

Improved public health also requires investments in education, welfare, transport, water and sanitation.

“Universal health coverage is financially feasible and makes good economic sense,” said WHO director general Margaret Chan. “It is the ultimate expression of fairness. People are not left behind to die,” she said.

Source: AP News

China – Japan – South Korea - Study Identifies Genetic Loci Linked To Colorectal Cancer In East Asians

Researchers have identified three new genetic risk factors linked to colorectal cancer in East Asians.

Scientists have identified three new genetic risk factors linked to colorectal cancer in East Asians, which may reveal new insights into the biology and potential therapeutic targets of the disease.

Despite being one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies in East Asia, the genetics of colorectal cancer has not been well established yet. To date, rare genetic variants linked to this malignancy only account for less than six percent of colorectal cancer cases. In addition, genetic risk factors relevant to the Asian populations are not well studied as previous genetic studies have mainly focused on European populations.

Here, researchers from China, Japan, and South Korea established the Asia Colorectal Cancer Consortium (ACCC) that looked at novel genetic risk factors for colorectal cancer. This genome-wide association study, published recently in Nature Genetics, reports some of the findings made by the ACCC researchers.

Using genomic data from 2,098 colorectal cancer samples and 5,749 control samples, the team shortlisted 64 potential variants, or single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), linked to colorectal cancer.

After replicating their findings in an independent set of samples they narrowed down the list to four, and three of the four variants were found associated with colorectal cancer in a large European population.

The investigators noted a weaker association with these variants in the European population, which made them believe that the genetic variants driving the disease might be different for the Asian and European ancestry.

Critical genes linked to cancer are found located close to the four risk variants identified by this study, the authors found. One of them is the gene encoding cyclin D2, CCND2, which is important in regulating the cell cycle machinery. Dysregulation of the cell cycle leads to tumor formation, and cyclins have been frequently linked to cancer. As current studies on CCND2 are few, the study suggested the need for more extensive research on the role of cyclins in the development of colorectal cancer.

“These new discoveries are very exciting,” said Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, senior author of the study. “They will certainly lead to future studies regarding the biology of these regions and the translational potential of these findings in cancer prevention and treatment.”

The article can be found at: Jia WH et al. (2012) Genome-wide association analyses in east Asians identify new susceptibility loci for colorectal cancer.

Source: Vanderbilt University Medical Center;

Yuka Suzuki | Health & Medicine

http://www.asianscientist.com

Japan - More Fukushima Cancer Deaths Than Predicted, Study

Scientists warn that the number of cancer deaths resulting from the Fukushima disaster could be closer to 1,000 than the 125 predicted.

Scientists have warned that the number of cancer deaths resulting from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster could be closer to 1,000 than the 125 predicted.

Studies that quantify the health consequences of radiation exposure remain controversial, due in part to the uncertainty of the mathematical models and assumptions used. Here, a team from Princeton University has revealed that long-term effects of the nuclear accident are likely to be worse than a previous prediction by John Ten Hoeve and Mark Jacobson (TH&J) from Stanford University.

By considering the gamma-ray dose from land contaminated with cesium-134 and cesium-137, the Princeton team found that the TH&J projection of 125 future cancer-related deaths globally may be an underestimate. This was because long-term doses from radiocesium in the environment were not considered by TH&J in their analysis. Being the first to quantify the worldwide impacts of the Fukushima radiation, TH&J concluded that there were no significant public health effects.

Radiation-induced cancer usually takes several decades to develop. Ionizing radiation first damages the DNA in our cells, and if these cells do not get repaired by DNA repair machinery, they accumulate further errors leading to a higher risk that cancers such as leukemia may develop.

As radiocesium is absorbed by the soil or deposited into streams, the researchers expect a prolonged presence of radiocesium in the air, water, and food after the Fukushima accident. Radiocesium persists as long as 2.4 to 38 years, according to a previous assessment of the Chernobyl accident. In contrast, TH&J based their analysis on the assumption that radiocesium disappears with a half-life of 14 days.

While there are some uncertainties in their calculations of the long-term radiocesium dose, the researchers believe that the number of future cancer mortality is likely to be closer to 1,000 than to 125.

The article can be found at: Beyea J et al. (2013) Accounting for long-term doses in “Worldwide health effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.

Yuka Suzuki | Health & Medicine

http://www.asianscientist.com

Japan - Japan urges precautions amid noroviruses spreading

With signs of an outbreak of infectious gastroenteritis mainly caused by widespread noroviruses, Japan's health ministry has been urging special precautions among children and elderly people, who are more susceptible to severe symptoms.

The average number of confirmed infectious gastroenteritis cases stood at 19.62 per medical institution for the week from December 3 to 9, marking the season's highest figure, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, which receives reports from about 3,000 hospitals and clinics with paediatric departments nationwide.

The highest figure in the past decade was in 2006.

The virus spreading this winter is a mutant strain of noroviruses that can easily bypass the immune system, the institute said. The same strain is believed to be spreading around the world.

A 84-year-old male patient who was in a hospital in Taketa, Oita Prefecture, as well as two other patients in their 80s and 90s who were in a hospital in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, died of the virus earlier this month. There was also a mass outbreak of food poisoning involving more than 1,000 people in Hiroshima.

While the epidemic has been more noticeable in western Japan, mass infection also has been confirmed in some cities in eastern Japan, such as in Shizuoka Prefecture, and Hokkaido.

News Desk

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Japan - Thousands More Radiation-Related Deaths Expected From Fukushima, Study

Thousands of deaths could still be expected from the Fukushima nuclear fallout in the years to come, according to the first estimate of the disaster’s worldwide impact.

Thousands of deaths could still be expected from the Fukushima nuclear fallout in the years to come, according to the first estimate of the disaster’s worldwide impact.

The research, published in the latest edition of the journal Energy & Environmental Science, found that inhalation exposure, external exposure, and ingestion exposure of the public to radioactivity may result in up to 1,300 cancer mortalities and up to 2,500 cancer morbidities worldwide, mostly in Japan.

Stanford University researchers John Ten Hoeve and Mark Jacobson feel that the risk of a meltdown is not small, given that “modest to major radionuclide releases (occurred) in almost 1.5 percent of all reactors ever built.”

However, according to them, deaths relating to Fukushima “may be less than Chernobyl, due to a lower total emission of radioactivity, lower radioactivity deposition rates over land and more precautionary measures taken immediately following the Fukushima accident.”

“The number of projected mortalities, however, is still considerably smaller than the nearly 20,000 mortalities from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and is also smaller than the estimated number of projected mortalities from the Chernobyl nuclear accident.”

Estimates in the paper do not account for the increased radiation risk to the roughly 20,000 workers at the plant in the months following the accident.

Psychological effects such as depression, anxiety, fear, and unexplained physical symptoms which were seen post-Chernobyl, are likely to be repeated in evacuees after Fukushima, they say.

In his response to the paper, also published in Energy & Environmental Science, Nobel Prize winning American physicist Burton Richter said that health effects in Japan would have been “much worse with fossil fuel used to generate the same amount of electricity as was nuclear generated”.

“It seems that clear that considering only the electricity generated by the Fukushima plant, nuclear is much less damaging to health than coal and somewhat better than gas even after including (Fukushima),” Richter added.

The article can be found at: Ten Hoeve et al. (2012) Worldwide health effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.

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Source: RSC.

Rebecca Lim | Health & Medicine

http://www.asianscientist.com/

Singapore - Chugai Pharma Opens $200m Antibody Lab In Singapore

Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has officially opened a new laboratory in Singapore that will conduct research into new antibody drugs.

Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. officially opened on Friday a new laboratory in Singapore that will conduct research into new antibody drugs.

The new Singapore-based Chugai Pharmabody Research Pte. Ltd. (CPR) will screen antibody drug candidates for therapeutic potential using Chugai’s proprietary antibody engineering technologies.

The $1.5 million facility will be located at Singapore’s Biopolis R&D hub and employ approximately 60 researchers. A*STAR Chief Scientist David Lane is the chairman of the board of the venture.

According to a Chugai press statement, CPR aims to generate five or more drug candidates per year for its drug pipeline. It will make use of its proprietary recycling antibody technology, which uses a single antibody molecule to repeatedly block the function of the target antigen and eliminate it from plasma.

CPR will be Chugai’s fourth satellite research institute following its C&C Research Laboratories in South Korea; Pharmalogicals Research Pte. Ltd. in Singapore; and Forerunner Pharma Research Co., Ltd. in Tokyo.

Chugai Pharma’s latest venture follows a number of Japanese companies that are setting up R&D hubs in Singapore.

In April 2012, Toshiba Corporation opened an Aqua Research Center at the WaterHub in Singapore, its first water treatment R&D center located outside of Japan.

In February 2012, petrochemical manufacturer Sumitomo Chemical opened a solution styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) manufacturing plant in Singapore.

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Source: Chugai Pharma

Asian Scientist Newsroom | Tech & Pharma

http://www.asianscientist.com/t

Japan - Japan Restarts Oi Nuclear Plant Amidst Protests

On Sunday evening amidst huge public protests, engineers at the Kansai Electric Company pulled out the control rods in the Oi reactor core number three allowing nuclear fusion to resume.

AsianScientist (Jul. 3, 2012) – On Sunday evening amidst huge public protests, engineers at the Kansai Electric Company pulled out the control rods in the Oi reactor core number three allowing nuclear fusion to resume.

It was a historic moment since it marked the restart of a nuclear plant which had been shut down along with 49 other units post-Fukushima.

The operator hoped to have a sustained nuclear reaction by Monday morning and the first transmission of electricity on Wednesday. Japan depends upon nuclear energy for about one-third of its electric supply.

The decision to restart the reactor was taken during a cabinet meeting by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on June 17, 2012. The PM explained that it was necessary to restart the reactor to !void power shortages in the heavily urbanized Kansai region.

But at the same time Noda also said that Japan must think of ways to do away on its dependence on nuclear energy in a phased manner.

The restarting was marked by a series of public protests, and over the weekend more than 200 protestors blocked the road to the plant. Kansai Electric said that it had enough employees to restart the reactor.

But a report in the Monday’s edition of The New York Times stated that a senior vice president from the ministry in charge of nuclear power had to be ferried to the plant by boat.

In Tokyo about 1,0p0 protestors marched on Sunday in the central part of the city, two days after tens of thousands of people chanted anti-nuclear slogans outside the PM’s residence.

Meanwhile in India officials of the Nuclear Power Corporation have indicated that the first unit of the controversial Kudankulam atomic power station in Tamil Nadu could become operational by August 2012 and the second unit by March 2013.

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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine.

Srinivas Laxman | Top News

http://www.asianscientist.com/

Japan - Japan discovers large rare earth deposits

Large and rich rare earth deposits, equaling at least 220 times the country's annual consumption, have been discovered near Minami-Torishima island in the Ogasawara Islands, a research team has said.

This is the first time large rare earth deposits have been discovered in the country's exclusive economic zone. The team led by professor Yasuhiro Kato of the University of Tokyo found the deposits after analyzing samples of seafloor sediment taken from a depth of 5,600 metres near Minami-Torishima.

Mud containing a large deposit of rare earth elements was nearly 10 metres deep, judging from samples taken about 300 kilometres southwest of the island.

The team also confirmed large rare earth deposits in mud about 500 kilometres north and about 500 kilometres southeast of the spot. The southeast location is outside the EEZ.

Rare earths are 17 elements used in the manufacture of high-tech products such as lightbulbs using light-emitting diodes, liquid crystal TVs and smartphones. A small amount of rare earths will enhance the heat resistance of high-tech materials, for instance.

There are few differences in seafloor sediment across wide expanses in ocean areas such as the one near Minami-Tori-shima, meaning it is likely that similar deposits are distributed over a wide area, according to the team.

The rare earth density has been confirmed to average 1,070 parts per million, easily topping rare earth deposits currently available for mining on land.

The deposits are spread over an area of at least 1,000 square kilometres and are estimated to be about 6.8 million tonnes, according to the team.

The mud contains "heavy rare earth elements", which are among the most important of the 17 rare earth elements. For instance, the team estimates the deposits contain dysprosium, which is used in hybrid car motors, equaling more than 400 years of the nation's annual consumption amount.

The entire amount of rare earths in the area is estimated to be more than 220 times Japan's annual consumption of about 30,000 tonnes.

China produces more than 90 per cent of rare earth elements currently consumed in the world. Ongoing supply difficulties have occurred because of export restrictions on the minerals.

Japan, the European Union and the United States filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation in March over China's export controls.

Difficulty in deep-sea mining

Last year, deep-sea mud containing rare earth elements was discovered over a wide area in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean. Now similar sediment has been found near Minami-Torishima island inside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

To date, Japan's deep-sea resource probes have focused on cobalt and other elements contained in manganese nodules. However, because of the latest finding Japan needs to review its deep-sea resource strategy.

The seafloor mud containing rare earth elements contains almost no radioactive substances such as uranium and thorium, which would make retrieval difficult.

In addition, diluted hydrochloric acid can be added to the sediment, making retrieval easier and faster.

Because of this, the government recognises the potential of deep-sea mud as a resource, saying it will be possible to realise lower development costs than regular deep-sea resources. However, the development of the technology is still in its infancy.

Hurdles for achieving retrieval of rare earths from the mud are high. For instance, a method of collecting mud from the ocean floor has to be established.

To secure a stable supply of rare earths, the government must work quickly on grasping the distribution area of the rare earth-rich sediment and identifying what needs to be done toward the practical mining of the deposits.

News Desk
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Japan - The Guessing Game: How We Predict Other’s Decisions

Researchers in Japan have uncovered two brain signals in the human prefrontal cortex involved in how humans predict the decisions of others.

Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI) in Japan have uncovered two brain signals in the human prefrontal cortex involved in how humans predict the decisions of others.

Their results suggest that the two signals, each located in distinct prefrontal circuits, strike a balance between expected and observed rewards and choices, enabling humans to predict the actions of people with different values than their own.

On a daily basis, humans must are faced with situations in which they must predict what decisions other people will make. These predictions are essential to the social interactions that make up our personal and professional lives.

The neural mechanism governing how humans learn to predict the decisions of another person using mental simulation of their mind, however, has long remained a mystery.

Learning another person’s values and mental processes is often assumed to require simulation of the other’s mind: using one’s own familiar mental processes to simulate unfamiliar processes in the mind of the other. While simple and intuitive, this explanation is hard to prove due to the difficulty in disentangling one’s own brain signals from those of the simulated other.

In a new paper published recently in Neuron, researchers used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study the behavior of subjects as they played a game by making predictions about the other’s behavior based on the knowledge of others and their decisions. They then generated a computer model of the simulation process to examine the brain signals underlying the prediction of the other’s behavior.

The authors found that humans simulate the decisions of other people using two brain signals encoded in the prefrontal cortex, an area responsible for higher cognition.

One signal involves the estimated value of the reward to the other person, and is called the reward signal, referring to the difference between the other’s values, simulated in one’s mind, and the reward benefit that the other actually received.

The other signal is called the action signal, relating to the other’s expected action predicted by the simulation process in one’s mind, and what the other person actually did, which may or may not be different.

They found that the reward signal is processed in a part of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. The action signal, on the other hand, was found in a separate brain area called the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex.

“Every day, we interact with a variety of other individuals,” said lead author Shinsuke Suzuki. “Some may share similar values with us and for those interactions simulation using the reward signal alone may suffice. However, other people with different values may be quite different and then the action signal may become quite important.”

Senior author Hiroyuki Nakahara believes that their approach, using mathematical models based on human behavior with brain imaging, will be useful to answer a wide range of questions about the social functions employed by the brain.

“Perhaps we may one day better understand how and why humans have the ability to predict others’ behavior, even those with different characteristics. Ultimately, this knowledge could help improving political, educational, and social systems in human societies,” Nakahara said.

The article can be found at: Suzuki S et al. (2012) Learning to Simulate Others’ Decisions.

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Source: RIKEN

Anusuya Das | Featured Research

http://www.asianscientist.com/

Japan - In Search Of A New Climate Change Paradigm

Mutsuyoshi Nishimura, former chief climate change negotiator for Japan, writes that a new paradigm is needed to achieve real climate endpoints like the 2 degrees Celsius target.

The woes of the current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties approach to climate change are due to its age-old ‘reduction paradigm’ of national emissions, where governments are legally held accountable for reducing the emissions of their private enterprises.

Yet, they are given latitude to pledge their reduction commitments according to their ambitions, which are intrinsically arbitrary. At best, the whole system is a ‘do your best’ game, and at worst it is tragically disconnected from science. No wonder this ever-quarreling approach is incapable of achieving any real climate targets like the 2 degrees Celsius (2°C) target.

In order to achieve the 2°C target, we should not let governments simply do their best and pray for success. Rather, we should put a firm scientific lid on global emissions by creating a carbon budget, and make sure all CO2-emitting enterprises don’t collectively go beyond this budget. Game change is indispensable, and the carbon budget approach must take center stage.

Once the new carbon budget approach is adopted, the theatre will look different. The new game will necessarily be science-driven, as a carbon budget will be scientifically calibrated depending on what climate target governments aim to achieve. It will be market-driven, as a carbon budget will be acceded to by all those who need it. Polluters, being beneficiaries of using the budget, will have to pay the cost of externalities. The market-driven approach will provoke all needed investments for achieving the climate target without manipulating the carbon price, maximize value-added production globally and realize the transition to a low-carbon globe at the lowest cost. Finally, the new game will be equity-driven, as sales from the carbon budget will create new, large and self-sustaining revenue streams that could pull poorer countries out of energy poverty.

If governments would only look up from their ‘reduction paradigm,’ which has so far failed to deliver, and institute a new, global market approach, they could achieve climate targets such as the 2°C on time, help poorer countries and integrate these states into the global march toward low-carbon sustainable growth.

The new market approach should cap global emissions to ensure they do not exceed the carbon budget, put collective property rights on such a budget, establish an upstream global carbon market and sell by auction the limited carbon budget as allowances. Additionally, all fossil fuel combustion should be done with allowances, sending the revenue from these sales to developing countries as a new form of climate finance. Finally, the new market approach should establish a system of compliance to eliminate fraud.

This proposed system is nimble, effective and market-driven, and there is no supra-national authority to govern it. The new system does not need to ‘sustain’ a carbon price to provoke investment. With its single common carbon price, it eliminates concerns about competitiveness. As it abolishes national borders, it also eliminates disputes on consumption-based emissions. And it provides large, built-in, self-sustaining climate finance without burdening the tax coffers of any country.

Today there is a strong consensus that imposing a price on CO2 emissions is the most cost-effective way to motivate all players to use less fossil fuels and move to low-carbon or non-carbon economic systems. An increasing number of nations (and regions) are putting a price on carbon within the context of their national reduction commitments, with countries like China and the Republic of Korea also joining the league.

All this is good news in view of the world’s darkening economic and fiscal horizons. We have to overcome the climate challenge at the lowest cost, and the market is the answer.

But the question remains: what kind of carbon market is needed? While national carbon markets are effective for provoking investment and reducing costs, they are all based on arbitrarily pledged national emission reduction commitments which together cannot achieve any climate targets. Then what is the use of launching a carbon market if it does not achieve any real targets? Do we wish to reduce costs only to lose the climate battle? The carbon market must not remain national. It must be extended to be global for its potential to be delivered in its full measure.

Those and other questions are expected to be debated intensively, possibly leading to a new global paradigm for international climate cooperation for the next 50 years and helping to achieve climate targets at the lowest cost, a triumph the world deserves to obtain.

Mutsuyoshi Nishimura is the former chief climate change negotiator for Japan.

For more on a new climate framework and the global carbon market, see Mutsuyoshi Nishimura and Akinobu Yasumoto’s working paper, ‘In search of a new effective international climate framework for post-2020: A proposal for an upstream global carbon market’, available here.

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Source: East Asia Forum

Mutsuyoshi Nishimura | Editorials

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USA - Tsunami Debris From Japan Carries Biological Species To California

The spread of invasive biological species may be the next item on the list of potential global threats caused by the Japanese tsunami of March 2011.

The spread of invasive biological species may be the next item on the list of potential global threats caused by the Japanese tsunami of March 2011.

Prior to this report, the after-effects of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster on March 16, 2011 had already stirred up anxiety within the global community over the detrimental effects of radiation and chemical contamination.

A September 2011 report in PLoS ONE showed that the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactor accident fallout extended as far as the San Francisco Bay area in California, although the levels of radioactive material were very low and posed no health risk to the public.

Now, it seems that part of the debris from the disaster has arrived at the shores of the West Coast of the United States with new visitors – invasive species.

When a floating dock was found washed ashore in Newport two weeks ago, marine biologists traced it back to the Japanese disaster and unexpectedly found a thriving and dense community of non-native species on the float.

The team at Oregon State University’s (OSU) Hatfield Marine Science Center were surprised to discover a dense fouling community on the flat, averaging about 13 pounds of organisms per square foot.

They collected samples of 4-6 species including barnacles, starfish, urchins, limpets, algae, amphipods, and mussels. In total, they estimate that dozens of species have amassed on the float.

What was puzzling to the scientists was how the species managed to survive on their journey across the Pacific Ocean without food for months. Possible reasons include species adaptability and milder conditions at sea than expected.

“Drifting boats lack such dense fouling communities, and few of these species are already on this coast. Nearly all of the species we’ve looked at were established on the float before the tsunami; few came after it was at sea,” said John Chapman, an OSU marine invasive species specialist.

One species that stood out was brown algae (Undaria pinnatifida), commonly referred aswakame, which is a popular type of seaweed consumed by the Japanese. The cement dock was predominantly covered by the brown algae, which raised alarm bells for the scientists. Prior to the discovery of algae on the float, the species had not been reported in the north of Monterey, California.

Marine ecologists regard invasive marine species – commonly introduced via ballast water from ships – as a bane to the ecosystem on West Coast. Not only do these species threaten the ecosystem by outcompeting native marine communities for survival, they also pose a threat to the economy that thrives on these native marine species, which might disappear as a result.

“We have no evidence so far that anything from this float has established on our shores,” said Chapman. “That will take time. However, we are vulnerable. One new introduced species is discovered in Yaquina Bay, only two miles away, every year. We hope that none of these species we are finding on this float will be among the new discoveries in years to come.”

According to the team, it is not easy to assess how much of a threat the species may present. Additional species might be introduced in the future as more debris wash up ashore.

Interestingly, they noted that the dock might represent submerged debris in Japan, and therefore contain a uniquely, well-established subtidal community.

According to Chapman, floating objects from near Sendai could have drifted from the coast into the Kuroshio current before entering the eastern Pacific. The team hopes to sample similar floats found in Japan and compare their findings with those found on the cement dock.

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Source: OSU

Yuka Suzuki | Featured Research

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