Taiko Tuesday: Kingyo Sou (金魚奏)

Are you a fan of shoujo manga? Do you like your manga short and sweet? If so, you might want to consider reading Kingyo Sou.

When one of my manga-obsessed friends first found out that I would be taking a taiko class at Swarthmore this past fall semester, she suggested – no, commanded me to read Kingyo Sou. Tastefully short with only 8 chapters and a few extra pages, Kingyo Sou covers a budding romance between two high school students.

Murakami’s New Book Piques Railroad Fans’ Interest

Haruki Murakami’s latest novel “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” was published on April 12th. Although I haven’t had the chance to pick up his book yet, reading the news on his new novel that’s been long-awaited by millions of his fans the world over, it seems that people who are eager to read this book are not just pure Murakami fans, but also train aficionados!

Taiko Tuesday: Tamagawa at Swarthmore

Yes, I realize this is my second blog post about Tamagawa Taiko and Dance Performances. But I can't help it! They're just so amazing. One of Swarthmore's most popular events of the year, Tamagawa Taiko and Dance performed last Sunday, commemorating their tenth anniversary.

Dr. Mineo Nakajima: An International Education Pioneer

On February 14, 2013, Dr. Mineo Nakajima passed away at the age of 76, leaving behind a legacy of reform in the Japanese higher education system. A former president and professor at the Tokyo Institute of Foreign Studies, as well as a prolific author on the subject of International Relations, Nakajima has spent the last 10 years almost single-handedly building the Kokusai Kyoyo Daigaku (international liberal education university), better known outside of Japan as Akita International University.

Japanese Researchers Warn of Coral Danger

It’s been a while since climate change or global warming started making headlines in newspapers and media outlets, the actual outcome might be felt pretty visually, starting with something that Nemo will panic without – coral reefs. The team led by Shihori Inoue at the University of Tokyo found that corals could be extinct by the end of this century due to the increasing acidification of oceans. Their finding was published in the British magazine “Nature Climate Change” on the 25th of March.