Sugar Substitute Sends Shockwaves Through the Food Industry

It goes without saying that a high-sugar diet over time often results in a barrage of symptoms such as increased risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. A new sweetener named rare sugar has come onto the scene with claims that it will not only eliminate the harmful effects of sugar overdoses, but is even beneficial to the human body.

In 1991, an Agricultural faculty member at the Kagawa University discovered a microorganism that carries the key enzyme necessary for converting fructose into rare sugar in the university's own soil. Rare sugar, as the name suggests is a sugar that occurs in very small quantities in nature. A decade later, Professor Ken Izumori officially began leading a team to research the possibilities of commercializing rare sugar in a lab environment. Rare sugar contains almost no calories, yet is said to be 70 percent as sweet as regular sugar. As a matter of fact, lab results have shown that rare sugar contains blood sugar management capabilities by inhibiting a spike in blood glucose. Moreover, this sweetener substitute can even boost resting energy expenditure during darkness, raising the possibility that rare sugar may actually play a proactive role in fighting obesity.

In 2011, rare sugar was formally introduced to the local Kagawa Prefecture and rolled out to the rest of Japan in 2012. With increasing health awareness, both nationally and globally, rare sugar has been praised as a healthy substitute for conventional sugar. Since then, the designated research team at Kagawa University has partnered up with Japan's leading health food manufacturer, Matusutani Chemical Industry to introduce the sweetener into a range of products from salad dressing to soft drinks. Currently, a majority of these products on the market contain only 15 percent rare sugar, but the industry has expressed hopes in developing products that contain 100 percent rare sugar as their sugar content in the near future. Since its debut in Japan, this surprising sweetener has been exported into the mainstream of a few Asian countries, and within a few years, rare sugar is expected to make its way into Western markets, forever changing the way we eat.

Support Translators & Interpreters to Work Free from Fear

Red T is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting translators and interpreters in conflict zones and other adversarial settings. Advocating on behalf of those at risks, the association informs the public on their role as impartial linguistic facilitators. From legal systems to combat zones, these professionals are confronted with varying degrees of discrimination and persecution from all sides due to the public's translator-traitor mentality, a shorthand term brought forth by Maya Hess, Founder and CEO of Red T to "capture the continuum and spectrum of distrust T/Is have been subjected to throughout the ages."

Without the service of these professionals, thousands would be deprived of access to pertinent information. Intelligence operations abroad would not be able to be carried out, linguistic minorities would not be able to participate in legal proceedings, and many would be denied of basic human needs. 

At present, translators and interpreters are not under the protection of legislation, A UN Resolution would be the first step toward ensuring protection under international law and it would mandate member states to prosecute crimes perpetrated against translators and interpreters. Please show your support today and sign the petition below to help these professionals work free from fear: https://www.change.org/p/urge-the-un-to-protect-translators-and-interpreters-worldwide

Pokémon Company Under Scrutiny Amid Heightened Cultural Sensitivity in Hong Kong

In the last decade, there has been a failing presence of Japanese games in the entertainment software industry; however, the latest launch of Pokémon Go has become a global craze in just a few days since the game was released. A spin-off of the long running Pokémon series, this immensely popular installment is a location-based augmented reality mobile game. Making use of the mobile device’s GPS and camera of mobile devices, the game allows users to experience digital game play in a real world environment.

This worldwide phenomenon would not have been made possible without localization. Due to great cultural differences between Japan and other countries, the business of localization is not merely a process of literal translations, but rather, involves complicated alterations in order to retain the original user experience with added local cultural vibes. In recent events, localization has proved to not be a smooth process after all.

In celebration of The Pokémon Company’s 20^th anniversary, a new pair of video games, Pokémon Sun and Moon will be released by the end of 2016. For the first time ever, this console series would be available in traditional and simplified Chinese, aiming to be distributed in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. Up until now, Pokémon creatures have used different names among those three regions to reflect local language. However, the franchise has planned to unify them in this new game installment. Originally translated as 比卡超 in Hong Kong, it now shares the same translation as Mainland China -皮卡丘(Pí kǎ qiu). While the Mandarin pronunciation sounds similar to the global name Pikachu, when read in Cantonese (Bei Ka Yau), it sounds nothing alike. Since the announcement, dozens of protesters have gathered at the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong, threating to boycott Nintendo if the company refuses their demands. Many emphasized that although it is disappointing to see name changes in characters, it is more outraging that local culture and language is being threatened. Although this language unification might simply stem from a commercial standpoint and seem culturally significant for the franchise, local Hong Kongers see this modification as a political threat and a step further away from independence from China. 

The Tanabata Festival

Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, is celebrated to commemorate the story of two lovers who are separated by the Milky Way on the 7th of July of the Western calendar. The story, which originated from a Chinese folklore, depicts two star-crossed lovers; Orihime, a talented seamstress and Hikoboshi, a young cow herder. They were madly in love and married soon after they met; however, they became so attached that they began to neglect their duties and responsibilities. Outraged, the gods of heaven forbade the lovers to be together and separated them with a vast river. Time went on and upon seeing the disheartened Orihime, the gods decreed that the couple would only be allowed to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. It is said that if it rains on that night, the raindrops are the teas of the reunited lovers.

This festival gained widespread popularity by the early Edo period. Those in Japan celebrate by decorating the streets with colorful streamers made out of bamboo and paper. In celebration of this holiday, girls often pray, wishing for improved craftsmanship whereas boys pray for refined technical skills, in homage to the legend of Hikoboshi and Orihime. Although the folktale varies in different countries, this festival is also observed in Chinese and Korean culture as the Qizi Festival and Chilseok Festival respectively.