First published in NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW, Nov. 13, 2020 A Lancet article about a mysterious virus in Wuhan in January inspired the couple Ugur Sahin, left, and his wife Ozlem Tureci, the co-founders of German biotech firm BioNTech that developed a coronavirus vaccine for Pfizer. (Source photos by Reuters and courtesy of BioNTech) TOKYO — …
Author Archives: ilginyorulmaz
Nagorno-Karabagh Conflict After 30 Years and 600,000 Refugees
Joint press conference at #FCCJ by the ambassadors to Japan of #Azerbaijan and #Turkey. It’s heartbreaking to see civilians on both sides getting caught in fire so many kilometers away from the #Nagorno-Karabakh frontline, as well as knowing 600,000 internally displaced people created for the past 30 years of this conflict.
A Highly Charged Story
2019 Nobel laureate in Chemistry and Asahi Kasei Corp Fellow Akira Yoshino explains what it’s like to win Nobel and how lithium-ion batteries can potentially curb climate change.
Climate Change: A Personal Account Across 3 Continents And 3 Decades
HuffPost, October 13, 2019 Growing up in the dangerously politicized environment of Turkey in the 1980s, I was far from an activist for any cause. In fact, like so many others of my generation who had seen the worst of political violence in those turbulent years of my home country’s history, I tried to avoid …
How to Raise the Best Beef in Japan? Start with Love
Associated Press Content, June 5, 2019 KOGA — At the crack of dawn on a cold February morning, Katsuo Nagashima woke up in his farmhouse in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, just northeast of Tokyo. He put on his black turtleneck sweater, his old, dark blue sweatpants and white rubber boots. After breakfast, he left home to …
Japan Finally Recognizes the Ainu Ethnic Minority
BBC Türkçe, 25 Apr., 2019 — Kenji Matsuda runs a ramen shop around Akan Lake in the Ainu district of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. Now in his 70s, he remembers his grandmother recounting her memories of how, as an indigenous Ainu, she had to conceal her identity for many years — even taking …
Should Society 5.0 Fight or Embrace Industry 4.0?
TOKYO — For a year, unmanned aerial vehicles planted, cultivated, and have recently harvested wheat in a field of one hectare in the UK. They didn’t get any help doing all this. Around the same time, the late theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking’s last book “Brief Answers to the Big Questions” (John Murray, 2018) was published …
Japanese Journalist Held Hostage in Syria for More than 3 Years: “This is not Islam”
BBC Turkish, Nov. 10th, 2018 — Jumpei Yasuda, the freelance Japanese journalist who had been kidnapped in Syria in 2015, was released three weeks ago at the Turkish border. TOKYO — Jumpei Yasuda marvels at a Japanese-made video camera complete with latest gimmicks that someone uses to record him with. Having …
Overseas Press Reacts to Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki’s Opposition to the U.S. Bases Prior to His First U.S. Visit
Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 10th, 2018 海外記者、玉城デニー知事をどう見た？ 初訪米前に会見 How did the foreign press react to Denny Tamaki’s speech before his first visit to the U.S.? 日本外国特派員協会で会見する玉城デニー沖縄県知事＝２０１８年１１月９日午前１１時５６分、東京都千代田区、恵原弘太郎撮影 玉城デニー沖縄県知事の会見を取材する記者たち＝２０１８年１１月９日午前１１時３４分、東京都千代田区、恵原弘太郎撮影 日本滞在歴計８年で、米英でも仕事をしてきたトルコ人のフリージャーナリスト、イルグン・ヨルマズさん（４７）は「沖縄が『辺野古』に反対している理由は、私も含め海外には十分伝わっていない。その意味で、訪米は理解を広めるチャンス」と指摘する。「米国で訴え、米国から日本政府にプレッシャーがかかるのなら、日本政府も聞く耳を持つのでは」と語った。 関心は、来春までに実施される県民投票だ。「イエスか、ノーかを問うことは大切。ノーが示され、それでも日本政府が民意を無視するのなら、ビッグニュースだ。日本には民主主義はないのか、と問われるだろう」（成沢解語、木村司、上遠野郷） Turkish freelance journalist Ilgin Yorulmaz (47), who has worked in the United States and the UK for 8 years, said, “The reason Okinawa is opposed to” …
