Olympic flag arrives in Tokyo after Rio Games

Olympic flag arrives in Tokyo after Rio Games



The possibility of using recycled electronics for Olympic medals was first discussed in June, Japanese publication Nikkei reports, with the intention of raising public awareness and promoting a "sustainable future".

Fukushima crisis was a hard lesson but one vital to share, groups say | The Japan Times

Fukushima crisis was a hard lesson but one vital to share, groups say | The Japan Times

SENDAI – When professional boxer and model Tomomi Takano heard that children in Fukushima Prefecture were becoming unfit and overweight because the 2011 nuclear crisis limited the time they could play outside, she decided to use her skills to help.

Last month, the glamorous 27-year-old taught some 200 junior high school students in the village of Otama an indoor workout based on boxing moves.

“They really concentrated on the boxing and tried hard,” she said at a recent U.N. conference hosted in Sendai about disaster risks. The boxer hopes to run more sessions in Fukushima to improve children’s agility and provide an outlet for their emotions.

Takano and social activists in Sendai said they wanted to communicate to the world the human impacts of the crisis sparked when the huge 3/11 earthquake and tsunami caused nuclear reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant to experience three core meltdowns.

The nuclear disaster was a sensitive subject at the U.N. summit, where 187 governments adopted a new 15-year plan to reduce the risk of disasters around the world.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made only passing reference to the nuclear catastrophe in his opening speech at the conference. But groups representing citizens affected by the crisis acknowledged in Sendai that tentative progress was being made.

Masaaki Ohashi, co-chair of JCC2015, a coalition of humanitarian nongovernmental organizations formed ahead of the summit, praised the new Sendai disaster mitigation framework for stating clearly that it applies to man-made and technological hazards, which cover nuclear power, as well as natural hazards.

He and others also noted the importance of an official presentation made at the conference about the lessons learned from the Fukushima crisis.

“The Japanese government, represented by the Cabinet Office, has clearly indicated that they are breaking away from the ‘safety’ myth around nuclear power plants, so we’re seeing a step forward,” said Takeshi Komino, general secretary of the aid agency CWS Japan.

Benefits of parkrun go well beyond physical | The Japan Times

Benefits of parkrun go well beyond physical | The Japan Times

“Parkrun has made exercise enjoyable for people, and that’s something that can make them more likely to stick to it and do it regularly,” said Dr. Clare Stevinson, an expert in exercise and sport psychology at Britain’s Loughborough University who led some preliminary published studies on parkrun. “So they won’t see weight loss overnight and they won’t see changes in blood pressure overnight, but those long-term benefits will come if they are more likely to stick with it. It’s potentially very powerful in that way.”

There is little doubt the runners — some of whom start off as overweight, unfit and having never contemplated covering this distance before — will reap health gains later in life from being fitter and slimmer than people who do no regular exercise.

In Stevinson’s most recent research, published last month in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, participants interviewed about changes in their health after becoming parkrunners said they had seen improvements in a range of conditions from diabetes to asthma to chronic pain.

However, while some of these gains might take time to show through, researchers say the mental health rewards can be almost immediate, as well as long-lasting.

Mike Rogerson, a specialist in exercise and sport psychology at the University of Essex who is also a member of parkrun’s research board, has just conducted a study of around 330 participants to measure the effect the weekly session can have on psychological well-being.

The results showed that even taking part in a single parkrun event significantly improved participants’ self-esteem (by 7.7 percent), overall mood (by 14.2 percent) and the level of psychological stress they reported (by 18.4 percent).

Rogerson notes that while these numbers cannot measure whether, for example, a person clinically diagnosed as depressed might no longer qualify for that diagnosis, “what it does tell us, is that the improvement is significant from how they felt before they did the run.”

And with almost a fifth of adults in Britain suffering from anxiety or depression, those improvements could make an important difference.

“We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ said Rogerson, whose findings on parkrun have been submitted for publication in a scientific journal. “Everything starts at a perceptual level in the brain, and the brain tells the body what to do. So if we can get psychological changes, that cascades down to have physiological effects.”

Rogerson’s study also looked at whether certain specific factors, such as how well or fast a person ran on the day and what the weather was like, could influence the mood and mental well-being improvements, but found they had only a very small impact.

“These results suggest that not only does parkrunning benefit your psychological well-being, but also that just like parkrun itself, the majority of these benefits are available and accessible to everyone — regardless of who you are, how fast you run, or which parkrun event you attend,” he said.

Anecdotally, the scientific data also seem to ring true.

Helen Cleary, a British parkrunner who wrote about her motivations on a National Health Service website aimed at encouraging others to move from “couch to 5 kg,” said looming middle age, kilograms of excess weight and several heart-related deaths in the family prompted her to get her act together.

Since taking up parkrun, she says she has lost 22 kg, dropped three dress sizes, and feels healthier, younger and more confident.

Benefits of parkrun go well beyond physical | The Japan Times

Benefits of parkrun go well beyond physical | The Japan Times

“Parkrun has made exercise enjoyable for people, and that’s something that can make them more likely to stick to it and do it regularly,” said Dr. Clare Stevinson, an expert in exercise and sport psychology at Britain’s Loughborough University who led some preliminary published studies on parkrun. “So they won’t see weight loss overnight and they won’t see changes in blood pressure overnight, but those long-term benefits will come if they are more likely to stick with it. It’s potentially very powerful in that way.”

There is little doubt the runners — some of whom start off as overweight, unfit and having never contemplated covering this distance before — will reap health gains later in life from being fitter and slimmer than people who do no regular exercise.

In Stevinson’s most recent research, published last month in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, participants interviewed about changes in their health after becoming parkrunners said they had seen improvements in a range of conditions from diabetes to asthma to chronic pain.

However, while some of these gains might take time to show through, researchers say the mental health rewards can be almost immediate, as well as long-lasting.

Mike Rogerson, a specialist in exercise and sport psychology at the University of Essex who is also a member of parkrun’s research board, has just conducted a study of around 330 participants to measure the effect the weekly session can have on psychological well-being.

The results showed that even taking part in a single parkrun event significantly improved participants’ self-esteem (by 7.7 percent), overall mood (by 14.2 percent) and the level of psychological stress they reported (by 18.4 percent).

Rogerson notes that while these numbers cannot measure whether, for example, a person clinically diagnosed as depressed might no longer qualify for that diagnosis, “what it does tell us, is that the improvement is significant from how they felt before they did the run.”

And with almost a fifth of adults in Britain suffering from anxiety or depression, those improvements could make an important difference.

“We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ said Rogerson, whose findings on parkrun have been submitted for publication in a scientific journal. “Everything starts at a perceptual level in the brain, and the brain tells the body what to do. So if we can get psychological changes, that cascades down to have physiological effects.”

Rogerson’s study also looked at whether certain specific factors, such as how well or fast a person ran on the day and what the weather was like, could influence the mood and mental well-being improvements, but found they had only a very small impact.

“These results suggest that not only does parkrunning benefit your psychological well-being, but also that just like parkrun itself, the majority of these benefits are available and accessible to everyone — regardless of who you are, how fast you run, or which parkrun event you attend,” he said.

Anecdotally, the scientific data also seem to ring true.

Helen Cleary, a British parkrunner who wrote about her motivations on a National Health Service website aimed at encouraging others to move from “couch to 5 kg,” said looming middle age, kilograms of excess weight and several heart-related deaths in the family prompted her to get her act together.

Since taking up parkrun, she says she has lost 22 kg, dropped three dress sizes, and feels healthier, younger and more confident.

Benefits of parkrun go well beyond physical | The Japan Times

Benefits of parkrun go well beyond physical | The Japan Times

“Parkrun has made exercise enjoyable for people, and that’s something that can make them more likely to stick to it and do it regularly,” said Dr. Clare Stevinson, an expert in exercise and sport psychology at Britain’s Loughborough University who led some preliminary published studies on parkrun. “So they won’t see weight loss overnight and they won’t see changes in blood pressure overnight, but those long-term benefits will come if they are more likely to stick with it. It’s potentially very powerful in that way.”

There is little doubt the runners — some of whom start off as overweight, unfit and having never contemplated covering this distance before — will reap health gains later in life from being fitter and slimmer than people who do no regular exercise.

In Stevinson’s most recent research, published last month in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, participants interviewed about changes in their health after becoming parkrunners said they had seen improvements in a range of conditions from diabetes to asthma to chronic pain.

However, while some of these gains might take time to show through, researchers say the mental health rewards can be almost immediate, as well as long-lasting.

Mike Rogerson, a specialist in exercise and sport psychology at the University of Essex who is also a member of parkrun’s research board, has just conducted a study of around 330 participants to measure the effect the weekly session can have on psychological well-being.

The results showed that even taking part in a single parkrun event significantly improved participants’ self-esteem (by 7.7 percent), overall mood (by 14.2 percent) and the level of psychological stress they reported (by 18.4 percent).

Rogerson notes that while these numbers cannot measure whether, for example, a person clinically diagnosed as depressed might no longer qualify for that diagnosis, “what it does tell us, is that the improvement is significant from how they felt before they did the run.”

And with almost a fifth of adults in Britain suffering from anxiety or depression, those improvements could make an important difference.

“We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ said Rogerson, whose findings on parkrun have been submitted for publication in a scientific journal. “Everything starts at a perceptual level in the brain, and the brain tells the body what to do. So if we can get psychological changes, that cascades down to have physiological effects.”

Rogerson’s study also looked at whether certain specific factors, such as how well or fast a person ran on the day and what the weather was like, could influence the mood and mental well-being improvements, but found they had only a very small impact.

“These results suggest that not only does parkrunning benefit your psychological well-being, but also that just like parkrun itself, the majority of these benefits are available and accessible to everyone — regardless of who you are, how fast you run, or which parkrun event you attend,” he said.

Anecdotally, the scientific data also seem to ring true.

Helen Cleary, a British parkrunner who wrote about her motivations on a National Health Service website aimed at encouraging others to move from “couch to 5 kg,” said looming middle age, kilograms of excess weight and several heart-related deaths in the family prompted her to get her act together.

Since taking up parkrun, she says she has lost 22 kg, dropped three dress sizes, and feels healthier, younger and more confident.

Benefits of parkrun go well beyond physical | The Japan Times

Benefits of parkrun go well beyond physical | The Japan Times

“Parkrun has made exercise enjoyable for people, and that’s something that can make them more likely to stick to it and do it regularly,” said Dr. Clare Stevinson, an expert in exercise and sport psychology at Britain’s Loughborough University who led some preliminary published studies on parkrun. “So they won’t see weight loss overnight and they won’t see changes in blood pressure overnight, but those long-term benefits will come if they are more likely to stick with it. It’s potentially very powerful in that way.”

There is little doubt the runners — some of whom start off as overweight, unfit and having never contemplated covering this distance before — will reap health gains later in life from being fitter and slimmer than people who do no regular exercise.

In Stevinson’s most recent research, published last month in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, participants interviewed about changes in their health after becoming parkrunners said they had seen improvements in a range of conditions from diabetes to asthma to chronic pain.

However, while some of these gains might take time to show through, researchers say the mental health rewards can be almost immediate, as well as long-lasting.

Mike Rogerson, a specialist in exercise and sport psychology at the University of Essex who is also a member of parkrun’s research board, has just conducted a study of around 330 participants to measure the effect the weekly session can have on psychological well-being.

The results showed that even taking part in a single parkrun event significantly improved participants’ self-esteem (by 7.7 percent), overall mood (by 14.2 percent) and the level of psychological stress they reported (by 18.4 percent).

Rogerson notes that while these numbers cannot measure whether, for example, a person clinically diagnosed as depressed might no longer qualify for that diagnosis, “what it does tell us, is that the improvement is significant from how they felt before they did the run.”

And with almost a fifth of adults in Britain suffering from anxiety or depression, those improvements could make an important difference.

“We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ said Rogerson, whose findings on parkrun have been submitted for publication in a scientific journal. “Everything starts at a perceptual level in the brain, and the brain tells the body what to do. So if we can get psychological changes, that cascades down to have physiological effects.”

Rogerson’s study also looked at whether certain specific factors, such as how well or fast a person ran on the day and what the weather was like, could influence the mood and mental well-being improvements, but found they had only a very small impact.

“These results suggest that not only does parkrunning benefit your psychological well-being, but also that just like parkrun itself, the majority of these benefits are available and accessible to everyone — regardless of who you are, how fast you run, or which parkrun event you attend,” he said.

Anecdotally, the scientific data also seem to ring true.

Helen Cleary, a British parkrunner who wrote about her motivations on a National Health Service website aimed at encouraging others to move from “couch to 5 kg,” said looming middle age, kilograms of excess weight and several heart-related deaths in the family prompted her to get her act together.

Since taking up parkrun, she says she has lost 22 kg, dropped three dress sizes, and feels healthier, younger and more confident.

‘Terakoya’ let Tohoku kids study in peace

SENDAI – To help children in Tohoku who lost studying space because of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, a Kyushu-based nonprofit organization is holding free after-school classes at temporary housing complexes in Miyagi Prefecture.

Since the first “terakoya” (temple schools) class was held in June 2011, the program has already attracted more than 200 elementary and junior high school students.

Terakoya were originally private elementary schools in temples that were common in the Edo Period (1603-1867). They taught pupils how to use the abacus, read and write, and essentially resembled today’s cram schools.

The Tohoku terakoya classes were initiated by Rocinantes, an NPO in Kitakyushu that has been providing medical and health care services in Sudan. The classes are held on weekday evenings.

In Watari, Miyagi Prefecture, there’s a terakoya at a housing complex that is open every day, while in Natori, also in Miyagi, peripatetic classes are held by Rocinantes staff at three locations.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/09/07/national/social-issues/terakoya-let-tohoku-kids-study-in-peace/