It's been said laughter is the best medicine, but no one has yet to prove it. Now a Japanese scientist is unlocking the secrets of the funny bone, which he believes can cheer up people's genes.
Geneticist Kazuo Murakami has teamed up on the study with an unlikely research partner: stand-up comedians, who he hopes -- no joke -- can turn their one-liners into efficient, low-cost medical treatment.
Genes are usually regarded as immutable, but in reality more than 90 percent of them are dormant or less active in producing protein, so some types of stimulation can wake them up.
PHOTO: NY TIMES SERVICE
Murakami's tentative theory is that laughter is one such stimulant, which can trigger energy inside a person's DNA potentially helping cure disease.
"If we prove people can switch genes on and off by an emotion like laughter, it may be the finding of the century which should be worth the Nobel Prize or even go beyond that," said Murakami, 70, director of Japan's Foundation for Advancement of International Science.
Three years ago, Murakami and Yoshimoto Kogyo Co Ltd, a leading entertainment company, jointly carried out their first experiment to let diabetics laugh at a comedy show performed by the firm's top stand-up comedians after listening to a monotonous college lecture.
PHOTO: NY TIMES SERVICE
The two-day experiment showed that their blood glucose levels -- a key gauge for development of diabetes -- became lower after they laughed compared with after listening to the yawning lecture.
His latest experiment with the entertainment firm spotted at least 23 genes that can be activated. Eighteen of them are designed to work for immune response, signal transduction and cell cycle, while functions of the remaining five others are still unknown.
The findings, which Murakami said are the first of their kind, are scheduled to be published in January by Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, a US academic journal.
"A laughing therapy has no side-effect, meaning it is an epoch-making treatment for clinical medicine," he said. "One day it won't be a joke to see patients receive a prescription for a comedy video at a pharmacy for medical treatment."
Having a good laugh has long been thought of as therapeutic. Laughter has been taught by yoga masters in India, home to a growing number of "laughing clubs" whose members get together just to enjoy a chuckle.
Expectations from Murakami's research are particularly high in Japan, where medicare costs are increasing year after year as the country rapidly ages.
Even with the research still in its early stages, a Japanese medical publisher, under the editorial guidance of Murakami's research team, began selling DVDs last year instructing patients with diabetes on how to laugh.
The ministry of economy, trade and industry believes that laughter therapy could be put to good use in a project as demand grows for preventive medical care.
"If the relation between laughter and health is proved scientifically, it may have a big impact on ways to improve health," said Hikaru Horiguchi, a ministry official.
"We also hope that a new type of industry will be created by linking the two different fields -- laughter and medical treatment," Horiguchi said.
With the ministry's financial support, Osaka Sangyo University in western Japan formed a joint venture with researchers, firms and doctors in 2004 to provide elderly people with a complete medical care program combining physical training and laughter therapy.
"It was the nation's first attempt to launch a medicare business with laughter in collaboration with the government, industry and academe," said Mitsutoshi Nishikawa, a university official in charge of the Daito Dynamic Project based in Daito city in Osaka.
Nishikawa said Osaka was an ideal location to launch the project as the city is famous for its humor culture, with residents here said to be less hesitant to laugh in public than more taciturn Tokyo.
"We believe there is a big business chance here," Nishikawa said.
"With the project, we can expect a reduction in medicare and nursing costs," he said. "Moreover, it is important for
elderly people to live long with good health."
In the program, participants receive a medical check-up and gymnastic exercises while enjoying a comedy show performed by professional comedians. It also offers them cooking classes on making healthy foods.
"I used to laugh a lot when I was young, but I realized that I had not laughed much since getting older," said Kiyomi Yamanaka, a 61-year-old housewife participating in the program.
"But after attending the event, my blood flow has become smooth and I can now get down on my knees, which I couldn't do before."
According to project officials, the 92 participants polled said their combined annual medicare costs fell some 30 percent to US$19,800 after they joined the program.
Nishikawa said, "In the future, we want to make medical treatment something not gloomy but fun. That's our goal."
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located