高齢の親の世話、法はあるべきか？

※編集後記にお知らせがあります。 Caring for Aging Parents: Should There Be a Law? （ TIME ） China’s government thinks so, and as the population of elderly in nearly every society starts to swell, such eldercare laws are becoming more common. But are they effective? What kind of care and devotion is expected of adult children toward their aging parents? Not surprisingly, sibli…

中央銀行の大実験 無制限の現金は問題を解決するのか、引き起こすのか

※編集後記にお知らせがあります。 The Great Central-Banking Experiment: Will Unlimited Cash Solve Problems or Cause Them? （ TIME ） The Bank of Japan folded as easily as a hot slice of New York pizza. After a few weeks of pounding by newly installed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the BOJ’s (officially independent) managers capitulated on Jan. 22 to his demands that the central bank…

問題は古く答えは少なく 安倍首相とオバマ大統領が緊張するアジアの安全保障を議論する

Old Questions and Few Answers As Japan’s Abe and Obama Discuss Asia Security Tensions （ TIME ） On Shinzo Abe’s first trip to the United States as Japan’s prime minister, the key issues included the rise of China, North Korea’s quest for nuclear weapons and whether Japan would revise its constitution to allow a standing military. The year was 2007, the U.S. president was Geo…

世界で最も恐ろしい環境に関する事実

The Scariest Environmental Fact in the World （ TIME ） See this sobering graph from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): As the data show, China is now burning almost as much coal as the rest of the world -- combined. And despite impressive support from Beijing for renewable energy and a dawning understanding about the dangers of air pollution, coal use in China is…

宇宙岩石の嵐 心配はいらない・・・今のところは

The Storm of Space Rocks: Nothing to Worry About -- For Now （ TIME ） Alright people, let’s move on. Nothing to see here. You know that asteroid of death that whizzed by Earth today at an altitude that’s actually below some of our satellites? You know that meteor that exploded in the skies over Russia today, injuring nearly 1,000 people? And you know all that speculation that th…

発見 人類はネズミのひ孫だった

Found: Humanity’s Great-Grand-Rat （ TIME ） Most of us think we know exactly what we mean when we use the word “mammal” -- and most of us are wrong. Typically, we think only of the sub-group of mammals like us, the so-called placental mammals. There are two other kinds, however: the egg-laying monotremes, which include the duck-billed platypus; and the marsupials, which count …

ニャンコが200マイル歩いて帰宅 猫の内なる方位磁石を科学する

How a Kitty Walked 200 Miles Home: The Science of Your Cat’s Inner Compass （ TIME ） When a battered, skinny tortoiseshell cat wandered into a yard in Florida earlier this year, she could have been any other stray, but she was nothing of the kind. She carried an implanted microchip -- one put there by a loving owner -- and it revealed an intriguing story: the cat belonged to a …

日本女子柔道の指導者の辞任「私は選手を虐待した」

Japanese women's judo coach resigns over claims he abused athletes （ The Guardian ） The coach of the Japanese women's judo team has resigned amid accusations that he physically abused athletes in the buildup to the London Olympics. Ryuji Sonoda is accused of harassing and assaulting female judoka while they were preparing for the summer games. The revelations have rocked the J…

日本のポップ・スターが頭を剃って謝罪・・・恋人との一夜のために

Japanese pop star shaves head in apology -- for night with boyfriend （ The Guardian ） As pop star misdemeanours go, Minami Minegishi's was tame in the extreme -- breaking her group's strict dating ban to spend a night with her boyfriend. Yet hours after a magazine published photographs of her leaving his home last month, Minegishi, a member of the wildly popular girl band AKB4…

イッキ！イッキ！イッキ！なぜビンジ飲みをする女性が増えているのか

Chug! Chug! Chug! Why More Women Are Binge Drinking （ TIME ） It’s not just fraternity brothers who are guzzling one beer too many. Women and high school girls are equally likely to drink too much. According to the latest survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 14 million U.S. women binge drink about three times a month, downing about six be…

戦闘任務につく女性たち 粉砕される「真鍮の天井」

Women In Combat: Shattering the “Brass Ceiling” （ TIME ） The Pentagon will declare Thursday that it is lifting a ban on women serving in combat -- a decision essentially rendered a fait accompli by more than decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, where many women served ably under fire. Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to make the announcement, based on a rec…

アルジェリア人質事件 謎めいた武装勢力指導者の意図は何か

Algeria’s Hostage Crisis: What Was Behind a Shadowy Militant Leader’s Plot? （ TIME ） A day after Algerian forces launched a military raid to end a deadly hostage crisis at a natural gas plant, confusion reigned on Jan. 18 over the fate of the captives and their Islamist captors. Western leaders, some of whose citizens were among the hostages, expressed frustration at having h…

日本の大島渚監督が80歳で死去する

Japanese Film Director Oshima Dies at 80 （ TIME ） Nagisa Oshima, a Japanese director internationally acclaimed for his films “Empire of Passion” and “In the Realm of the Senses,” has died of pneumonia. He was 80. A former student radical from Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, Oshima debuted in 1959 with “A Town of Love and Hope,” quickly earning a reputation of a “new …

インドはどのようにポリオと戦い、勝ったのか

How India Fought Polio -- and Won （ TIME ） A few days ago, Ramesh Ferris took his first ride on a motorbike. Born in India and raised in Canada, Ferris made the journey into rural India to meet Ruksa Khatun, the 3-year-old girl who is the last child in India known to have contracted polio. This weekend, as the nation quietly marked two years without a single infection by the wi…

中国の一人っ子政策 「小皇帝」の呪い

China’s One-Child Policy: Curse of the ‘Little Emperors’ （ TIME ） China is a colossal country and, as befits such a global powerhouse, it has made some colossal mistakes. Take its infamous one-child policy, implemented in 1979 and condemned from that day forward. A new study released in Science makes it clear just how misguided the idea was. Initially, the policy seemed to …