𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪 in the Midst of COVID-19

Japan’s Cherry Blossoms in a Time of Coronavirus 

Japan's custom of cherry blossom viewing, or hanami, has been a quintessential part of its past and present, an entire chapter even having been devoted to it within the Heian-period classic The Tale of Genji. The viewings traditionally occur within the months of March and April, marking the arrival of Spring, and millions of people use the event as a way to escape the monotony of work-life, often setting up picnics to enjoy under the falling petals. In light of current events, however, these viewings have become worrisome issues for the Japanese government. While the government has urged people to avoid gatherings and events “that involve food and drink”, the public still continues to flock to parks to view the blooms. Despite being one of the countries with the most cases COVID-19 after China only a month ago, the spread in Japan has seemingly plateaued. Even with its population of around 14 million people, Japan "has recorded a little over 100 cases [of COVID-19] and just two deaths" as a result of the virus. While the reason behind the slowing of the spread is still quite unknown, the reason perhaps stemming from the country's traditional social culture, or the general maintenance of public hygiene, many citizens have slowly begun to resume everyday life, with "schools in some areas are already preparing to re-open and there are calls for a loosening of restrictions on large public events". However, with the rise in cases within Kansai, and as the majority of the population is within the age bracket of people most as risk (60 years and older), the Japanese government has taken perhaps rather reluctant precautions to prevent the virus from spreading exponentially, such as with the postponing of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will certainly impact the Japanese economy. Despite all of these measures taken, the public still continues to head out to the parks to view the blooms, the tradition unable to be stripped away. 

The Language Barrier Between Singaporeans

Singapore Has Almost Wiped Out Its Mother Tongues

Younger generations of Singaporeans, especially Chinese Singaporeans, are having a greater difficulty communicating with not only elderly people within their communities, but elderly people within their own families. Being that Singapore has stressed the teaching of English within schools since 1987 (to increase the country's "global competitive edge"), and the fact that the only secondary languages are either Mandarin, Malay or Tamil, this makes it extremely difficult for young people to speak with their elders, who, more often than not, do not speak these more standardized languages. This divide was primarily brought about by the “Speak Mandarin Campaign” of 1979, which sought to eliminate the Singaporean mother tongues of Hokkien, Cantonese, and Hakka (which came from Singaporean origins in the southern provinces of China). This campaign also brought about the erroneous belief that the Singaporean mother languages were nothing more than dialects that prevented a single Chinese identity from flourishing within the country, the government going as far as to publicly proclaim "To speak dialect with your child is to ruin his future". This thus brought about the dissolving of dialects within households by 78% in 1980, and even as current as 2015, with a 15% decrease in vernacular. The sheer extent to which English has been stressed as one of the national languages of Singapore is astounding, even beating out Mandarin, with "over 70% of households with children at primary school" using English as their primary language. Despite this overshadowing of the mother languages, recent sentiments have risen in support of them, even at a high political level, such as with current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who "claims to be proud of Singapore’s unique form of Mandarin". While his true feelings towards the mother languages could only be to emphasize a single Chinese identity, there seems to still remain a sort of sentimentality towards the languages. Recently, many younger Chinese Singaporeans have embraced the mother languages, taking classes to learn Hokkien, Hakka, and Cantonese to better communicate with their elderly family members. 

Japan's Craftspeople

The Future of Japan's Master Artisans

Throughout its history and well into modern times, Japan has been renowned for its attention to detail, not only in its catering to individuals within everyday life, but also in its artistry when creating products. Within Japan, there is a sector of traditional artists called shokunin, or craftspeople, who specialize in and are devoted to their specific region of art. One notable example of this is shokuhin sampuru, PVC food display samples made for restaurants that are intricately painted and modeled to look just like, if not better than the food served. Japan takes this even further, often taking its simplest of items and products, and extending and refining their potential in order to make it the best that it can be, such as with 94-year-old chef Jiro Ono who has gained acclaim in the past from serving exceptional sushi to Barack Obama and Abe Shinzo. Japan's population is further aging, and supplemented by the fact these craftspeople have spent most of their lives fine-tuning their skills to make their art, a fear has come about that these works will soon be lost without proper successors. Takeshi Tashiro, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics solidifies this decline, remarking that the “output of traditional craftsmanship has declined from 540bn yen ($4.8bn) in 1983 to 96bn yen in 2016, according to the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries”. However, there has come about an insurgence of younger shokunin that have begun to carry the torch, adapting their artistry for modern times, such as with Yuya Hasegawa, who has elevated shoe-shining to fit the contemporary market. In a similar manner, Yozo Otsuki, whose parents once owned a jazz coffee shop, now runs Kurasu, a specialty coffee shop in Kyoto that sells artisanal coffee and coffee equipment. With this new group of shokunin, artists and business owners alike are widening their markets, selling their products overseas, and even participating in collaborations to entice the public, and to keep the crafts of shokunin alive.

Cell-Grown Prawns and Their Potential

How Artificial Shrimps Could Change the World

While prawns and shrimp are comparatively minuscule when placed against cattle, their damage to the environment is equally, if not more so detrimental. As their cultivation seemingly does not produce any sort of negative impact on the environment, or aggravate global warming as the methane produced from cattle, or the deforestation caused by the maintenance of their pastureland, one would readily assume that the cultivation of shrimp has no repercussions. However, the aquaculture required to cultivate these shrimp displace and destroy coastal mangrove swamps that are essential in preventing flooding and erosion. Even if people were to refer to consuming wild shrimp instead, to prevent the destruction of natural habitats, this would only further exacerbate the steadily declining wild population. With the cultivation and harvesting of shrimp not only comes environmental damage, but extremely unfair and dangerous working conditions for fishermen, who are more often than not, victims of human trafficking and child labor. According to some interviews done by the UN on Cambodian fishermen, many commented on their working conditions being akin to slavery, and "59% of them reported seeing fellow crew-members murdered by the captain". In order to combat this ongoing cycle of detriment, Shiok Meats, a Singaporean-based company is currently attempting to create their own artificial shrimp from "propagating shrimp cells in a nutrient-rich solution", much like Western countries are attempting to produce meat without the use of cows. As shrimp is simpler in terms of biologic complexity, it should be easier to produce in a laboratory setting. While the thought of cell-grown meat can be a bit disconcerting, Shiok Meats is seeking to produce shrimp that will be favorable to all palates, which will hopefully be a bit easier as "shrimp is eaten in lots of forms and textures: whole, minced, as a paste and so on". However, as with all cell-based food production, these shrimp will surely come at a steep price. Hopefully, with the advances in cell-based food production and technology, these more ethical and sustainable versions of food will become more affordable in the coming years.

South Korea's Real-Life 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 Apartments

Parasite: The real people living in Seoul's basement apartments

With Bong Joon-ho's 2019 film Parasite, he illustrates the intense disparity and division between two distinct Seoul lifestyles: wealthy living in high-rise apartment complexes, and living in basement apartments, or banjiha. South Korea has the world's 11th largest economy, and yet, it significantly lacks affordable housing, especially for young people and those who have lower incomes. Historically, these basement apartments were created as a result of South Korean precautionary measures against North Korean acts of terrorism within the 1970s, new low-rise apartment buildings to serve as bunkers if the need arose. A successive housing crisis then allowed many Koreans, especially those of the younger generation, to live in these spaces. These apartments are almost always dim and susceptible to mold and other issues. And while these apartments may seem dull and almost pity-inducing to some, many of those living in these spaces are quite content with their homes, commenting on the lower prices and the savings in terms of space. They have learned to make the best of the space that they have, and some even having done makeovers on their homes in order to make them more welcoming. As a stigma still remains against those who live in these banjiha, equating the basement apartments to living in poverty, many of those living in these spaces are attempting to dissolve this stereotype in order to hopefully change people's perceptions of what banjiha living is truly like. 

Possible Transcendence of a Literary Past

Is Japan Enjoying a New Literary Golden Age?

With the advancement of technology, contemporary Japanese authors have had to deal with both the struggles and opportunities brought about by the varied media forms within the digital age. Through the wide access of reading formats, the Japanese have not only expanded their work within the nation, but have increasingly extended their work to the American market, often writing prose that deeply resonates with its audience. Recently, there has been a great escalation of published female authors within Japan who use their newfound visibility to mold what gets translated from Japanese into other languages, especially English. This expansion of literature has flourished because of the recurring central themes of alienation and the control of the self that so permeate contemporary work. These works not only simply highlight the traumas and struggles of life, but often "cut through" the bleak and dismal narratives with depth and introspection. While some may not necessarily enjoy this new style of emerging literature, it may be a precursor to a further blossoming of literature. However, while this spreading of Japanese literature (within the country and beyond) is a promising view towards a flourishing future, a future accepting of other voices and perspectives as its literature "embraces more women, minority and less-privileged voices", its literature, at least against the greater scheme of traditional Japanese literature, against "those infuriatingly male, elitist, tortured voices of the last century and their monumental achievements" unfortunately seems to pale in comparison. While a transcendence of the past may not necessarily be out of reach for contemporary Japanese authors, the looming expectations of the past still plague the Japanese literary market. 

African Swine Flu Crisis Worsens as Lunar New Year Approaches

Lunar New Year in China Raises Risks of Worsening African Swine Fever Crisis

As Lunar New Year approaches, the demand for pork reaches its peak in China, as it is to be the component of several traditional dishes. While usually a time for celebrating the new year, there is a significant amount of unrest and economic loss due to the African Swine Fever virus, a DNA virus that causes hemorrhagic fever in pigs with high rates of mortality. Around the time of the first major outbreak in 2018, "China’s sow herd declined by about 40 percent after the deadly disease, African swine fever killed millions of pigs and prevented many farmers from restocking farms". In an attempt to bolster the declining supply of pork meat, farmers have recently increased the number of pigs being bred. While this is narrowly restoring the rather decimated supply, allowing for more Chinese citizens to purchase pork for the holiday, this increase in supply further hinders the chance at a more speedy recovery. While fewer outbreaks have been recorded in more recent times, the chance of other major outbreaks occurring is still a worry with the now increased number of pigs. In addition to the risk of fresh outbreaks, the decline and subsequent increase of pigs have made pork significantly more expensive, China experiencing a 110.2% increase in price for the meat. In order to combat these prices and the challenges and risks in breeding and maintaining pigs, the government has encouraged the increased production of other meats, most notably chicken, to help with the shortages of pork.