Young Japanese families on an outing to Salmon Creek in Juneau, Alaska, 1926.
After failing to win in the last few tournaments, sumo champion Hakuho
swept 14-1 through this Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka, making it his 36th grand tournament win. Hakuho was reprimanded for using a sidestepping move, called henka, to win against fellow Mongolian Harumafuji. The move is deemed unbefitting of high-ranking sumo and Hakuho apologized, regretting having used it to win his final match.
Meanwhile, Ozeki Kisenosato endures a setback in his career towards achieving Yokozuna since he has not yet won a championship. He is identified as being next in line to for nomination, particularly after his 13-2 streak in the Osaka tournament, losing only to Yokozunas Hakuho and Harumafuji. Aside from Hakuho, Kisenosato had the most wins among the rest of the participating sumo.
Working under Professor Hideki Taniguchi at Yokohama City University, a team of biologists has developed miniature livers grown in-lab via iPS, or induced pluripotent stem, cells. Due to its complex structure and limitations due to gravitational effects on Earth, the livers are bound to their tiny size.
However, the team, in conjunction with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Age ncy, i s pl a n n i ng t o b eg i n experimentation with growing liver buds in a dish of culture fluid aboard the International Space Station to see if it will produce sizable livers enough to transplant into lab mice. The zero-gravity ISS is expected to aid in the organ’s growth and thusly open the door further into scientific medical progress.
Japan Seeks Articles 9 Change
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made an announcement stating that he would like to make some alterations to the clause–Article 9–renouncing Japan’s “sovereign right to wage war” within the constitution given by the United States after WWII. The change is said to expand military utility in defense of both Japan and its allies. The main reason, Abe states, stems from security concerns towards China and North Korea.
Around two thousand people protested on Tuesday against these changes that will, it is speculated, alter Japan’s long-standing pacifistic stance in global relations.
