Trumps Problem With God / Iran vs.

the House of Saud

This Is Your 09.02.2016

Brain on Poverty
GROWING UP POOR DOESNT JUST CHANGE THE WAY YOU
SEE THE WORLD. IT CHANGES YOUR BRAIN
 09.02.2016 VOL.167 NO.08

22 Crime
They Dont Sleep
With the Fishes...Yet

24 Nukes
Nuking Ourselves
in the Foot

26 Mideast
Death by Proxy

37 Turkey
Scooped Up

NEW WORLD

46 Innovation
Leaping Locusts,
Batman!

48 Economy
Bump-and-Grind
Economics
+
EATING IN PEACE: 50 Aging
Khaldoun Alhalabi Will You Still
eats with his sons Need Me?
at a Baltimore
pizzeria. Hundreds 53 Health
of Syrian refugees Put a Finger in It!
have arrived in the
city this summer.

DOWNTIME
FEATURES DEPARTMENTS
54 Journalism
Good Night and
BIG SHOTS Tough Luck
38 This Is Your Brain on Poor 58 Television
Growing up in poverty doesnt just change 4 Aleppo, Syria Stranger Danger
the way you see the world. It changes your brain. The Childrens Hour
by Erika Hayasaki 6 Gaziantep, Turkey 6O Movies
Wedding Hell World Wide
8 Rio de Janeiro Werner
Ugly American
63 Shoes
10 Sorrento, No Flip-Flopping!
Louisiana
Disaster Politics 64 Rewind
GA B R I E L L A D E M CZUK FO R N EWSW E E K

20 Years

PAG E O N E
COVER CREDIT: ILLUSTRATION BY OLIVER MUNDAY

Newsweek (ISSN0028-9604) is published weekly except one week in January, July, August and 12 Politics
October. Newsweek is published by Newsweek LLC, 7 Hanover Square, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10004. Trumps Big
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of address to Newsweek, 7 Hanover Square, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10004.
For Article Reprints, Permissions and Licensing www.IBTreprints.com/Newsweek 18 Refugees FOR MORE HEADLINES,
PARS International (212) 221-9595 x210 Newsweek@parsintl.com Trojan Horse Crap GO TO NEWSWEEK.COM

NEWSWEEK 1 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
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 BIG
SHOTS

SYRIA

The
Childrens
Hour
Aleppo, Syria
Five-year-old Omran
Daqneesh sits in an
ambulance after he
was wounded during
an airstrike by either
Russian or Syrian gov-
ernment forces in the
Qaterji neighborhood
of Aleppo on August
17. The photograph
and video of the dazed
child wiping blood
from his face quickly
spread around the
world, drawing fresh
attention to the plight
of children caught up
in the civil war, which
is now in its sixth
year. According to
The New York Times,
Omrans 10-year-old
brother, Ali, died a
few days later from
injuries he suffered in
the same airstrike.
M A H M U D RS L A N /A N A D O LU/G E T T Y

MAHMUD RSLAN
A H M E D D E E B/A F P/G E T T Y
 BIG
SHOTS

TURKEY

Wedding
Hell
Gaziantep, Turkey
A woman cries at the
morgue as she waits
for the coffin of a rela-
tive killed in a suicide
bombing in southern
Turkey on August 21.
A child suicide bomb-
er attacked a Kurdish
wedding party, killing
at least 54 people,
including at least 22
children, near the
border with Syria. The
Turkish government
blamed the Islamic
State militant group,
also known as ISIS, for
the attack and said the
bomber was between
12 and 14 years old.
Dozens more were
wounded in the attack,
the latest in a string of
bombings, including
one in June at Istanbul
Ataturk Airport.

AHMED DEEB
 BIG
SHOTS

BRAZIL

Ugly
American
Rio de Janeiro
U.S Olympic swimmer
Jack Conger leaves
police headquarters at
Galeo International
Airport on August 18
after he and Gunnar
Bentz were pulled off a
flight to be questioned
about fellow swimmer
Ryan Lochtes claim
that they and one
other U.S. swimmer,
James Feigen, were
held up by armed men
dressed as police.
Brazilian authorities
found no evidence of
a robbery. Instead,
police accused the
four of making up
the story to cover up
their vandalizing a gas
station. Lochte, who
left Brazil before he
could be questioned,
apologized but insist-
ed that he merely
over-exaggerated
what happened.
C H R I S M CG RAT H /G E T T Y

CHRIS MCGRATH
 BIG
SHOTS

USA

Disaster
Politics
Sorrento, Louisiana
Leslie Andermann
Gallagher surveys
flood damage to
her home on Au-
gust 17. Louisiana
was overwhelmed
with flooding from
unusually heavy rains
that caused at least 13
deaths and damaged
at least 60,000 homes
across 20 parishes.
President Barack
Obama was criticized
for not interrupting his
vacation in Marthas
Vineyard to visit
Louisiana, though the
states Democratic
governor, John Bel
Edwards, said he had
asked Obama to wait
to avoid distracting
emergency services
from more vital work.
Republican presiden-
tial candidate Donald
Trump did visit the
state and was filmed
passing out supplies
from a truck.

JOE RAEDLE
J O E RA E D L E /G E T T Y
 P A G E
REFUGEES POLITICS
THE SCOOP
TRUMPS BIG PROBLEM WITH GOD
An open letter to Paul Ryan and
James Dobson, on the many heresies
of their chosen candidate for president
TO HOUSE SPEAKER PAUL RYAN
AND JAMES DOBSON:
In recent months, each of you has endorsed Don-
ald Trump in his campaign to become president
of the United States. Mr. Speaker, you undoubt-
edly took this action in hopes of preserving
unity within the Republican Party. Mr. Dobson,
because you are the founder of Focus on the
Family and arguably the most influential evan-
gelical Christian in America, it is much harder to
understand your decision, as I will detail below.
In this, my third open letter to Speaker Ryan and
my first to Mr. Dobson, I urge you both to with-
draw your endorsementsto save this country
and the movements you two men represent.
I want to first state that this letter is not
intended to suggest Donald Trump (or any can-
didate) must be an evangelical or even a Chris-
tian to be president. Nor am I implying that
his faith or lack thereof should determine how
anyone votes this November. Rather, I am dis-
cussing what evangelists purport to believe,
NEWSWEEK
O N E
CRIME MIDEAST NUKES TURKEY
compared with who and what Trump is. The pri-
mary issue here is the credibility of evangelism,
particularly as it relates to politics. For years,
there has been a logic to the evangelists support
of the Republican Party: Both held similar views
on most social issues, and there was more pub-
lic discussion by conservative candidates about
how faith informed their policies. This year, that
is not true. Instead, you have a man whose posi-
tions on important social issues have changed,
whose faith is obviously shallow and who seems
to know nothing about even the basics of evan-
gelism, Christianity or the Bible. Mr. Dobson, if
Donald Trump represents Christian values, those
values mean nothing. By endorsing him, evange-
lists are creating the image that what matters to
them is political influence, not the word of God.
Weigh those words against the words of BY
Trump, uttered as he was going through his KURT EICHENWALD
first divorce: You know, it doesnt really matter @kurteichenwald
12 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 +
THE PRETTY GOOD
BOOK: Before his
current run for
president, Trump
C H A R L I E N E I B E RGA L L /AP

always said his

favorite book was
one he wrote; he
now says the Bible
is tops on his list.

NEWSWEEK 13 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016

PAGE ONE /POLITICS
what [the media] write as long as youve got a
young and beautiful piece of ass. This, Mr.
Dobson, is your man of the Bible?
Trumps connection to evangelical beliefs is
weak, at best. He has never before expressed
any serious connection to the Bible or even a
basic understanding of it. He has made occa-
sional holiday appearances at the Marble Col-
legiate Church in Manhattan, but that fact
raises even more questions as to why evangeli-
calswhether out of habit or hypocrisywould
embrace the Republican candidate this year.
Marble earned fame because of its half-century
of leadership by Norman Vincent Peale, known
best for blending pop psychology with spiritual-
ity in a form of Christianity centered on the self.
As a child, Trump toddled along with his fam-
ily to Peales sermons, hearing such messages
as the one that opens the pastors best-selling
book The Power of Positive Thinking: Believe in
yourself ! He clearly learned that one.
Its clear that Trump has had virtually no
other exposure to Christianity, with the possible
exception of Joel Osteen, another feel-good-
about-yourself TV preacher he counts as a friend.
How many churchgoers would call Second Cor-
inthians Two Corinthians, as he did earlier
this year? The name of that epistle from Paul is
mentioned whenever passages from it are read
during services, yet when caught in the error,
Trump didnt say, Oops, I have a lot to learn.
Instead, as is his wont, he lied, claiming that lots
of Christian churches around the world call the
book Two Corinthians.
This wasnt the first time he has lied about
the Bible to gain an advantage. In August 2015,
after his presidential campaign had begun,
Trump said his favorite book is the Bible. In
2007, Trump told Forbes his favorite book was
The Art of the Deal, by Donald J. Trump, saying,
It was a great read in 1987, a No. 1 best-seller
then, and nothing has changed. What changed
is that he decided to run for president and knew
he needed the evangelical vote.
It is a very good bet that Trump has never read
the Bible and knows little about even the basics of
Christian theology. During the campaign, when
asked whether he preferred the Old Testament
NEWSWEEK
or New Testament, he replied, Probably equal.
These are not the words of a man who under-
stands or cares about Christianity.
Asked in 2015 for his favorite biblical passage,
he refused to respond, saying it was too personal.
Seriously? Later, when pressed again for a bibli-
cal passage that influenced him, he latched on to
a few words from the Old Testament known even
to heretical 6-year-olds. Well, I think many, he
said. When we get into the Bible, I think many,
so many. And some people, look, an eye for an
eye, you can almost say that.
Of all the words Trump could possibly have
selected, he chose some of the few from Mosaic
law specifically repudiated by Jesus. Matthew 5:
38-41 quotes Jesus as saying, You have heard
that it was said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If any-
one slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the
other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you
and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them
two miles. Trump is famous for seeking revenge
against anyone who opposes himinclud-
ing you, Mr. Speakerand suing rather than
IF DONALD TRUMP
REPRESENTS CHRISTIAN
VALUES, THOSE VALUES
MEAN NOTHING.
handing over his coat, so it is not surprising he
doesnt know that the Old Testament passage of
vengeance was supplanted by Jesuss New Testa-
ment message of love and forgiveness.
Trump has referred to the symbolicor, for
you, Mr. Speaker, as a practicing Catholic, the
literalblood and body of Christ taken in com-
munion as my little wine and my little cracker.
He has also declared that he never asked God
for forgiveness because he could handle things
himself. That goes against everything in the
teachings of Jesus (1 John 1:9, Romans 5:8, Mat-
thew 6:14-15 and so on.)
And this is a man who, according to the beliefs
of evangelicals, needs a lot of forgiveness. Just
take the Ten Commandments prohibition against
adultery. In a sealed deposition taken during
divorce proceedings in 1991, Trump refused to
answer questions 97 times, the vast majority of
which were about various infidelities and sus-
14 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 +
PRAY FOR HIM:
Trump told a
crowd of evan-
gelicals that
winning the pres-
idency might be
EVAN VUCCI/AP

the only way hell

get into heaven.

NEWSWEEK 15 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
+
CAST THE FIRST
STONE: Trump has
shown little knowl-
J EW E L SA M A D/A F P/G E T T Y

edge of even the

basics of Christian-
ity, while his oppo-
nent, Clinton, has
a long and deep
history of faith.

NEWSWEEK 16 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
pected mistresses. (Everybody knew the identity
of one mistress, since it was daily fodder for the
New York tabloids.) Now this was not a criminal
case, in which he would have the right to take the
Fifth Amendmenthe was refusing to answer
questions that, if the case went much further,
he couldnt avoid. Trump avoided ever answer-
ing those questions by settling instead of going
to court, giving up a lot more money than was
required under his prenuptial agreement. He
went on to marry that mistress. Later he divorced
her and married a third time.
As you know, Mr. Dobson, the hypocrisy of
divorce among evangelicals has been discussed
as a crisis by many of the movements leaders,
and even Peale said divorce makes someone unfit
for the presidency. Are feel-good pop-Chris-
tians more devoted to the Bible than evangelists?
When standing in front of evangelicals in
mid-August, Trump said he needed to win the
presidency because I figure it is probably,
maybe the only way Im going to
get to heaven. I know you under-
stand what that means, Mr. Dobson.
Trump does not see faith in Christ
as the path to the afterlife. This runs
TRUMP DECLARED HE NEVER
counter to everything taught by the ASKED GOD FOR FORGIVE-
Apostle Paul and by evangelism.
How can a man who claims to be
NESS BECAUSE HE COULD
devout know so little about Christi- HANDLE THINGS HIMSELF.
anity? There is a term for this, one
usually used to describe situations
in which the religious are taken
financially by someone professing the same faith:
affinity fraud. By pretending to be a religious
Christian, Trump has fooled those who want to
believe he is like them. They are being conned,
into giving up not their money but their vote. A
manone who has repeatedly lied after swearing
to God to tell the truth, who regularly walks away
from financial and personal obligations, who
knows nothing about Christianityhas tricked
them. He publicly proclaimed his commitment
to abortion rights and gay rights when it helped
his reputation in New York City, and now has
reversed himself on both issues while running for
president. He declared his own book the best he
has ever read, until he realized he needed to praise
the Bible to win the support of evangelicals. He is
human Silly Putty, endlessly flexible and bearing
the imprint of whatever surface he last touched.
Mr. Speaker and Mr. Dobson, you have no reason
to believe that, once in office, he would not again
change his beliefson abortion, on homosexual-
ity, on anything of value to evangelicalswith the
ease others change their clothes.
What about the Democratic candidate for
NEWSWEEK
PAGE ONE /POLI T I C S
president, Hillary Clinton? Numerous biogra-
phies have detailed her deep religious belief. She
maintained a spiritual relationship with the Rev-
erend Don Jones, the youth pastor in her Meth-
odist church during her childhood in Park Ridge,
Illinois, for 20 years. She carried a Bible while
working on the presidential campaigns of 1972
and 1992. She taught Sunday school. She gave
sermons about Methodist theology when she was
the first lady of Arkansas. She says grace before
meals, she has joined prayer groups. When faced
with troubles in her marriage, she stuck with her
philandering husband rather than seek a divorce.
(Amazingly, evangelicals ridiculed her for not
ending her marriage, rather than following the
teachings of the Bible on this point.) I am not
suggesting that you support Clinton; rather, the
point is, if you are going to claim that faith is a
primary basis for judging a candidate, then you
have to explain why Clinton falls short. There is
nothing to suggest her devotion is shallow, while
Trumps purported faith is an obvious fraud.
Speaker Ryan and Mr. Dobson, you are both
welcome to gamble on Trumpas a casino
operator (hardly a job of the spiritually driven),
he is well-trained at taking bets. But should you
continue to do so, you will be exposed as fools
who can be tricked by any carnival barker or,
worse, prove the critics of evangelism right: that
it has become an empty shell of political babble
that has sacrificed its commitment to the Bible
for secular power.
Gentlemen, the choice is stark: Withdraw your
endorsements or lose all your credibility. If you
want to save what you purport to value dearly,
you must condemn Donald Trump.
17 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 TROJAN HORSE CRAP
Donald Trump says Syrian refugees could
be taking orders from ISIS, but locals in
Baltimore dont seem too worried
THE MEN DONALD TRUMP has been warning
us about are sitting in a classroom in Baltimore.
When you look at that migration, you see so
many young, strong men, the Republican presi-
dential nominee said at a campaign rally in April,
lamenting the waves of refugees pouring into
Europe. You dont see that many women and
children.
There are 16 men here, almost all of them
recently arrived from Syria. Theyre sitting at
NEWSWEEK
rows of Formica tables in a windowless office
in Highlandtown, a gentrifying corner of the
city. These men do not look like the desperate
people washing up on the shores of Greece and
Italytheyre dressed mostly in jeans and crisp,
collared shirts and watch attentively as a young
woman with a blond pixie haircut writes slowly
on slowly a whiteboard. BY
There are two different kinds of bank EMILY CADEI
accounts, explains Danielle Corcoran, an @emilycadei
18 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 instructor with the nonprofit group Interna-
tional Rescue Committee (IRC). She pauses as
an interpreter translates her words into Arabic.
One kind is a savings account, and one kind is
a checking account. Does anyone know the dif-
+
ference? Several of the men volunteer answers.
SAY CHEESE PIZ-
ZA: Alhalabi fled This is Welcome to America 101. Its a one-
Homs, Syria, which week, 30-hour crash course for newly arrived
government troops
had gutted, and refugees, teaching them the basics of living in
brought his wife the United States. Aside from personal finance,
and four children the lessons tackle public transportation, gro-
to Baltimore to
start a new life. cery shopping, paying rent and going to the
doctor. This weeks class is all men because
their wives went through this same orientation
program the week before. We find the women
respond better if they dont have their husbands
around, explains Kevin Meadowcroft, senior
program manager.
Under the aegis of the State Department,
contractors like the IRC run refugees through
a gantlet of programs for eight months. By the
time theyve been in America for a year, they
are expected to speak basic English, hold down
a job and cover virtually all their expenses. Its a
ridiculously compressed timetable, with limited
resources behind it. Yet with the help of non-
profit groups, community leaders and religious
organizations, IRC has eased the transition for
more than 3 million refugees whove entered the
U.S. since 1980, when Congress authorized the
program. Meadowcroft says roughly 95 percent
of the refugees in Baltimore are self-sufficient
by the time their services end. Other programs
across the country report similar success.
While Muslims are a relatively new class of U.S.
immigrants, a 2007 Pew Research Center survey
found they are decidedly American in their out-
look, values and attitudes. Yet Trump and other
critics claim integration wont work with this lat-
est crop of Syrians, 8,000 of whom have entered
the country in the past few months. Refugee sta-
tus, Trump warns, is a potential Trojan horse
for jihadis. And even if theyre not terrorist infil-
trators, he claims Muslim migrants do not assim-
ilate in the United States. Implicitly, Trump is
suggesting that a system that has folded many
waves of migrants from different backgrounds
and religions into American life over the centu-
ries has reached its limit.
GA B R I E L L A D E M CZUK FO R N EWSW E E K
But has it? The test will come in places like
Baltimore, where hundreds of Syrians have
arrived this summer to start their new lives
and to prove Trump wrong.
10,000 SYRIANS
Right now, its bad stuff back there, Khaldoun
Alhalabi tells me through an interpreter. Alhalabi
NEWSWEEK
PAGE ONE /REFU G E E S
is a balding, heavyset 36-year-old man from
Homs, Syria, but he has the bright, animated
eyes of someone still young. As hes describing
the atmosphere in his hometown, which was
decimated in a government siege, he makes the
whistling sounds of artillery fire and gestures
with his hands to mimic the explosions of shells.
Alhalabi and his family of six eventually fled to
neighboring Jordan. There, he says, we were
humans without identity.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Jor-
dan has taken in 650,000 Syrian refugees, while
Turkey and Lebanon have been even more del-
uged. In 2014, the crisis began spreading to
Europe, with more than a million migrants and
refugees landing there in 2015. But the grinding
VIOLENCE AND
CHAOS ARE FUELING
THE LARGEST MASS
MIGRATION OF PEOPLE
SINCE WORLD WAR II.
war isnt the only conflict that has led to a seis-
mic shift of human populations. Violence and
chaos in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Libya,
combined with long-running conflicts else-
where, are fueling the largest mass migration of
people since World War II.
The United States has avoided the worst of the
fallout, largely due to geography, but President
Barack Obama called on the country to step
up last year. He raised the governments caps
on refugees and set a goal of resettling 10,000
from Syria, up from fewer than 2,000 last year.
The U.S. is poised to meet that target before Sep-
tember 30, and contrary to what Trump has said,
some 65 percent of those Syrians are children.
The White Houses rationale is twofold. Adding
millions of displaced people to countries already
struggling to provide for their own is creating not
just a humanitarian crisis but also more conflict
19 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
and extremism, says Avril Haines, Obamas dep-
uty national security adviser. The symbolism
is also important. The U.S. is resettling 85,000
refugees this year, a fraction of the more than 65
million people the United Nations estimates are
displaced, but it sends a message that the United
States is willing to share the burden. Accept-
ing more Muslim Syrian refugees, in particular,
directly contradicts the message thats being put
out there by Al-Qaeda and ISIL that America is
at war with Islam, says Haines using an alternate
acronym for the Islamic State group (ISIS).
The problem with the administrations argu-
ment is that its largely abstract, whereas Trumps
is visceral. Take his remarks in a speech in
mid-August: The common thread linking the
major Islamic terrorist attacks that have recently
occurred on our soil is that they have involved
immigrants or the children of immigrants. Its
true that ISIS has tried to recruit Somali-Ameri-
cans in Minnesota, many of whom arrived here as
refugees. (Three were found guilty in June of plot-
ting to join the militant group in Syria, and a hand-
ful of others are thought to have made the trip.)
In January, two Palestinian-Iraqi refugees were
arrested for lying to immigration officials about
ties to militant groups. And back in 2009, two
NEWSWEEK
Iraqi refugees were arrested in Bowling Green,
Kentucky, after the FBI learned theyd fought as
anti-American insurgents before being resettled.
In testimony to the Senate last October, FBI
Director James Comey acknowledged some fail-
ures in the vetting of Iraqi refugees. So we had
to go back and redo it, he said. Weve learned
a lot from that. Defenders of the program add
that Trumps examples amount to a tiny sliver of
the more than 3 million refugees whove come to
the country since 1980.
All it takes, however, is one really bad guy to
sneak through the system to create havoc. And
intelligence officials have raised concerns about
gaps in the information available on Syrian ref-
ugees. In Trumps mind, those question marks
have morphed into an ominous message: We
dont know who they are.
Leon Rodriguez, director of U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services at the Department of
Homeland Security, defends the vetting process,
calling suggestions the U.S. doesnt have ade-
quate intelligence on Syrians nonsense. Rodri-
guezs office oversees a multilayered system that
involves screenings by the United Nations and
U.S. State Department, law enforcement and
intelligence databases, as well as on-the-ground
+
WHERE THERES
A BILL, THERES A
WAY: Case work-
er Rebecca Noto
teaches Alhalabi
how to pay his gas
and electric bill as
part of a months-
GA B R I E L L A D E M CZUK FO R N EWSW E E K
long program that
helps refugees
adjust to life in
the U.S.
20 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
research, in-person interviews and biometric
scans. Some in Baltimore got through the screen-
ing in a little over half a year. For Alhalabi and his
family, the process took 18 months.
Many Americans remain skeptical. Poll after
poll show a majority oppose accepting Syrian ref-
ugees. One survey by Chicago Council on Global
Affairs in June found just 36 percent of Ameri-
cans favored Obamas policy. Yet as Americans
are faced with actual Syrian refugees instead of
caricatures, the reaction seems to be different
at least in Baltimore.
A FLOOD OF SYMPATHY
Yara Cheikh has been getting a lot of emails
this summer about Syrian refugees. The other
day, Cheikh got a note from a local professor
about a new family recently settled in Baltimore
County, asking if she could help collect funds
to buy some Arabic-to-English childrens books
for their kids. An elementary school teacher in
Owings Mills asked her for ideas on how to help
his new Syrian pupils acclimate to class.
The fast-talking mother of four serves as the
president of the American Arab Club of Balti-
more. Her father is from Syria and her mother
is Irish-Catholic, and Cheikh attends St. Igna-
tius, a Jesuit parish in downtown Baltimore.
Over the summer, the church organized a panel
discussion on the Syrian crisis, and parishio-
ners brought backpacks and school supplies to
donate to refugee children. How the media
speaks about the refugees and how the average
person feels about the refugees are two very dif-
ferent things, she insists.
Muslim leaders in Maryland are working to
create a formal charity to coordinate donations
from locals. There was a flood of sympathy,
Dr. Yassine Daoud, a professor of ophthalmol-
ogy at Johns Hopkins University, observed at a
recent planning session. The problem is one
family gets their need fulfilled 10 times and the
other family doesnt get anything.
Money is tight. Across departments, the fed-
eral government budgeted more than $1 billion
for services for new refugees this year, only a
small portion of what the people need as they
rebuild their lives, so the U.S. relies on private
groups and donors to help fill the gaps. IRC, for
example, finds apartments for new refugees
but solicits donations for furniture and house-
wares. Grants from the Department of Health
and Human Services partially fund a job train-
ing program, with local groups raising additional
money to help train and link refugees with jobs,
mostly low-wage ones at hotels and in food ser-
vices and warehouses. Under Armour, the Bal-
NEWSWEEK
PAGE ONE /REFU G E E S
timore-based sports apparel brand, is one place
that regularly hires refugees from IRC. But even
once theyre employed, many struggle to get by.
That is why it is crucial to find communities
that welcome the refugees. Ideally, refugees are
sent to places where they have family or friends.
Barring that, groups like IRC look for immigrant
communities from the same country or region.
They know more established immigrants can
help new arrivals.
In Baltimore, for example, there arent many
Syrian-Americans, but the IRC has helped reset-
tle close to 700 Iraqis in recent years, according
to Meadowcroft, and theres a fairly affluent
Arab-American community in the area. Kha-
lid Balajem, one of the coordinators of a Mus-
lim charity group known as BRIDGE America,
started helping Syrian refugees by volunteering
to accompany them on their first grocery trip. Its
actually because of my experience when I came to
I WAS EATING TUNA
FISH, NOT KNOWING
IT WAS PET FOOD.
the U.S., the Yemeni immigrant recounted at the
groups planning session. I was eating tuna fish,
not knowing it was pet food.
Despite the campaign trail broadsides against
them, none of the Syrians resettled by the IRC in
Maryland have faced any real harassment, says
Ruben Chandrasekar, executive director of the
groups Baltimore and Silver Spring branches.
Yet this first wave of Syrian refugees knows it is
controversial. Alhalabi, the father of four from
Homs, chuckles when asked if hes heard about
the anti-refugee rhetoric from Trump and other
politicians. He is aware of it, he says, but its not
a major concern. He has far bigger challenges,
like learning English and helping his children
recover from the trauma of war. I came here for
my kids to get an education, he says. I dont
want them to see what I sawin Syria.
21 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 P A G E O N E/ C R I ME
THEY DONT SLEEP
WITH THE FISHESYET
The Maa is still alive
and still bustin kneecaps
THE PANHANDLER was really pissing Pasquale
Parrello off, so he told his underlings to take care
of the guy. The alleged mob boss didnt appre-
ciate that the man was harassing women in the
parking lot near his Bronx restaurant, Pasquales
Rigoletto, so he ordered one of his soldiers to
break his knees.
When the wiseguys found the panhandler on
that day in June 2011, they attacked him with
glass jars and steel-toed boots, according to a
federal indictment unsealed August 4. One of
the attackers, Ronald the Beast Mastrovin-
cenzo, was later caught on a wiretap speaking
in code about the incident: Remember the old
days in the neighborhood when we used to play
baseball?... A ballgame like that was done.
In a 32-page indictment in early August
which revealed the Mafia is still a threat, even
after decades of aggressive investigations,
arrests and long prison sentencesfederal pros-
ecutors charged 46 members and associates
of five La Cosa Nostra (LCN) crime families in
connection with a sprawling criminal enterprise
that ran from Massachusetts to Florida. The long
list of crimes includes assault, gun trafficking,
loan-sharking and health care fraud, while the
defendants nicknameslike Rooster, Tugboat
and Nicky the Wigevoke a bygone era of mob
movies like The Godfather or Goodfellas. The
indictment reads like an old-school Mafia novel,
where extortion, illegal gambling, arson and
NEWSWEEK
threats to whack someone are carried out along
with some modern-day crimes of credit card
skimming, said Diego Rodriguez, head of the
FBIs New York office, in a press release.
Federal agents arrested alleged gangsters from
four out of the five New York crime families, bust-
ing members of the Genovese, Gambino, Luc-
chese and Bonanno clans, plus Joey Merlino, the
reputed head of the Philadelphia mob, along with
made members and associates in Massachusetts,
New Jersey, Florida and Costa Rica. Only the
Colombo family was left out of this roundup.
The organizationdubbed the East Coast LCN
Enterprise by the fedsseemed to use every
scheme known to us, New York Police Depart-
ment Commissioner Bill Bratton said in the press
release. In addition to breaking plenty of legs,
the gangsters allegedly poured gasoline on and
then set fire to a car belonging to the owner of a
competing gambling club in Yonkers, sold illegal
guns, and made millions from untaxed cigarettes
and stolen credit card information.
The feds said the organization also made money
through a sports gambling business in Costa Rica
and a health care fraud scheme in which corrupt
doctors wrote bogus prescriptions for expensive
creams and billed insurance companies. Prose-
cutors said the alleged mobsters also shook down
gamblers who couldnt pay their debts, as when BY
Parrello ordered another mobster to attack a JOSH SAUL
debtor who owed him $30,000: I want Buddy to @joshfromalaska
22 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016

+ ment to counterterrorism, and Raab
FLASH MOB:
Members of the
Gambino crime choke him, choke him, actually choke the mother-
family getting a fucker...and tell him, Listen to me...next time Im
free ride down-
town in 2008; the not gonna stop choking.... Im gonna kill you.
recent sweep by Richard Mangan, a criminal justice profes-
the feds picked up
members of four sor at Florida Atlantic University and a former
of the five Cosa Drug Enforcement Administration agent, tells
Nostra families.
Newsweek he was surprised to see such a large
bust targeting LCN, as opposed to the more active
Russian or Mexican organized-crime operations.
It may be twilight, but its not nighttime, he says
of the Italian mob. There wouldnt be an indict-
ment like this if there wasnt significant crime. Im
going to use this indictment in my course.
The Mafia reached the height of its power in
the U.S. in the 1970s and 80s, when the orga-
nization had influence or outright control of
labor unions and industries ranging from truck-
ing to garbage to construction. One example of
the mobs power came in 1979, when the FBI
moved its New York office from the Upper East
Side to its current offices downtown and the
mob used its control of the moving and storage
industry to rig the bid for the move. What the
federal government had to pay for that move
was inflated because the five members of the
Mafia-dominated moving and storage compa-
nies had gotten together and colluded on their
J I N L E E /AP
bids, says Edward McDonald, a former fed-
eral prosecutor in Brooklyn who oversaw Mafia
NEWSWEEK
cases in the 1980s and even played
himself in Goodfellas.
In the late 1970s, the Department
of Justice reset its priorities to tar-
get the Mafia, and the FBI did the
same, focusing on investigations
into labor racketeering and the orga-
nizations leaders, McDonald tells
Newsweek. In New York, the FBI had
almost 500 agents chasing Mafia
cases in the 1990s, with five squads
that competed with one another as
each chased a different crime fam-
ily. They gravely wounded, but
not mortally, the five families in
New York, says Selwyn Raab, the
author of both Five Families: The Rise,
Decline, and Resurgence of Americas
Most Powerful Mafia Empires and
the detective novel that inspired
the hit 70s TV show Kojak. What
happened was 9/11 changed every-
thing. It was a reprieve for the fam-
ilies. After the 2001 attacks, the FBI
pulled three-quarters of its agents
away from mob probes for reassign-
estimates there are still almost 1,000
made men in the New York City area today.
All 46 defendants pleaded not guilty at their
first appearance in Manhattan federal court. They
included Bradford Wedra, who was arrested on
racketeering charges. (He has a 1981 murder con-
viction for killing a man who disrespected him
in front of his girlfriend at a bar called Fudgies.)
LISTEN TO ME...NEXT
TIME IM NOT GONNA
STOP CHOKING.... IM
GONNA KILL YOU.
They pulled me out of my cousins funeral last
night, and I couldnt go to the burial this morn-
ing, he told Newsweek. Why Im getting pun-
ished is my past.
A woman who waited for one of the alleged
wiseguys outside a marble-paneled courtroom on
August 4 also heatedly disputed the charges. You
see what my roof looks like? she said to a friend
about needed repairs at her house. Wheres all
the fucking money theyre talking about?
23 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 P A G E O N E/ N U K ES
SPY TALK
NUKING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT
America has 7,000 nuclear weapons.
A new doc suggests a disastrous
accident is just a matter of time
A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST, like death itself, is
something wed rather not think about. So we
dont, much, except when some figure of note
starts talking about using hydrogen bombs to
settle a problem. Someone like Donald Trump.
But the shock and outrage over Trumps recent
loose talk about making Japan and South Korea
develop their own nukes or dropping a bomb on
the Islamic State militant group, also known as
ISIS, obscures a more prosaic but arguably more
imminent danger, according to a new documen-
tarythat of a warhead going off by accident.
Command and Control, directed by Robert Ken-
ner (Food, Inc.) and based on a best-selling book
of the same name by Eric Schlosser, aims to widen
the discussion about the threat posed by the thou-
sands of nuclear weapons in U.S. hands (and, by
extension, other countries as well). Developed in
concert with PBSs long-running American Experi-
ence series but slated for a limited September the-
atrical release in New York City, Los Angeles and
Washington, D.C., the uncommonly gripping doc-
umentary focuses more on the frightening number
of weapons mishaps than the missteps that could
trigger a nuclear war. It skips over near-disasters
involving panicky U.S. and Russian radar crews
picking up incoming missile ghosts and nearly
launching massive counterstrike orders. Instead,
citing recently declassified Energy Department
figures, it burrows into one of the more than a
thousand accidents and incidents involving our
NEWSWEEK
nuclear weapons, including the loss of eight war-
heads, one still buried somewhere in the soil of
North Carolina.
Why any of these incidents hasnt ended in
disaster is pure luck, Schlosser says in the film.
And the problem with luck is it eventually runs
out. Think about your laptop or car, he suggests.
Nuclear weapons are machines. And every
machine ever invented eventually goes wrong.
Nuclear war has been a subject of movies since
the 1950s, when conflict with the USSR period-
ically seemed imminent, and American school-
children famously practiced duck and cover
drills under their desks. In the 1960s, there was
Dr. Strangelove and Fail-Safe. The 1980s brought
WarGames, with its unforgettable climax of an
exhausted computer running through all the pos-
sible nuclear-victory scenarios and concluding,
The only winning move is not to play. Kenner,
in contrast, mines the drama in a nuclear bomb
accident nearly causing millions of fatalities.
IT SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME
On the night of September 18, 1980, Robert Peuri-
foy, a scientist at the Sandia nuclear weapons lab,
got a telephone call. A technician working high up
on a Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile in a
silo outside of Damascus, Arkansas, had dropped
a 6-pound socket several feet, punching a hole in BY
its first-stage fuel tank. The spewing fuel threat- JEFF STEIN
ened to trigger a massive explosion that could @SpyTalker
24 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 have armed the warhead. The four-man missile
crew had to exit from an escape hatch. Hours
went by as desperate emergency techs, hampered
by command delays, struggled to break their way
back into the silo and fix the problem.
They were too late. A massive fireball erupted
in the silo, obliterating the missile and ejecting
its 9-megaton warhead, the most powerful in
the U.S. arsenal, high in the air. It landed in a
ditch about 30 yards away. I knew I had to get
to Damascus, Peurifoy recalls. I knew that the
warhead could have been armed, ready to fire.
Fortunately, it wasnt. The bomb-firing safety
system held. Officials privately hailed the out-
come as proof of the nuclear arsenals safety over
30-plus years. But Peurifoy wasnt much calmed.
Later, he says, I read through all of the known
accident reports, and it scared the hell out of me.
Two hydrogen bombs, for example, fell from
a B-52 that broke up in flight and was spiraling
NEAR MISS: A Mark
39 thermonuclear down over North Carolina in 1961. One of the
bomb rests in a bombs went through all of its arming steps to
field in Faro, North
U.S. AIR FORCE
Carolina, one of detonate, and when that weapon hit the ground,
two that fell from a a firing signal was sent, Schlosser says in the
disintegrating B-52
bomber in 1961.
+ bays of B-52s, in submarines, missile silos and
NEWSWEEK
film. And the only thing that prevented a full-
scale detonation of a powerful hydrogen bomb
in North Carolina was a single safety switch.
Peurifoy describes the switch as not much
more than something you might find on a desk
lamp. If the right two wires had touched, he
says, the bomb would have detonated. Period.
The exploding 4-megaton warhead, about 267
times as powerful as the bomb the U.S. dropped
on Hiroshima 71 years ago, would have instantly
obliterated much of North Carolina.
It didnt. But Peurifoy and a Sandia colleague,
Glenn Fowler, became obsessed by the prospect
of a fire accidentally arming a hydrogen bomb,
according to William Burr, a senior analyst at
the National Security Archive, a private research
group based at George Washington University.
In the 1970s, the two became famous for putting
on Pentagon briefings with burned circuit boards,
annoying military officials who believed there was
enough safety, according to another Sandia sci-
entist. People were indignant that the labs would
blow the whistles on themselves, he says.
Back then, there were 20,000 to 30,000 war-
heads in the U.S. arsenal, ensconced in the bomb
foreign depots, not to mention the holdings of
France, Britain, Russia and China. Many more
would soon be in the questionable hands of
India, Pakistan and eventually North Korea.
Harold Brown, a physicist who served as
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
ARE MACHINES. AND
EVERY MACHINE EVER
INVENTED EVENTUAL-
LY GOES WRONG.
defense secretary under Jimmy Carter, thought
the immensity of the American stockpiles posed
an imminent threat. And we worried about that,
he says in Command and Control. We probably
didnt worry about it enough.
There are still about 7,000 warheads in U.S.
hands. Nuclear weapons will always have a
chance of an accidental detonation, says Peuri-
foy, who retired from Sandia in 1991 as vice pres-
ident in charge of safety and reliability issues.
It will happen. It may be tomorrow, or it may
be a million years from now, he adds, but it
will happen.
25 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 P A G E O N E/ M I D E AST
DEATH BY PROXY
The cold war between Iran
and Saudi Arabia is heating
upgood news for jihadis, bad
news for the next U.S. president
ONE YEAR AGO, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Mughassil
prepared to board a flight from Beirut to Tehran,
Irans capital. Before he could, foreign intelli-
gence agents who had slipped into the country
weeks earlier snatched him and whisked him
back to their capital, where to this day he sits in
detention.
The men who carried out the arrest were from
Al-Mukhabarat al-Aamahthe foreign intelli-
gence service of the House of Saud, the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia. Al-Mughassil is a Saudi Shiite and
a member of the military arm of the Iran-funded
extremist group Saudi Hezbollah, which seeks
the downfall of the royal family in Riyadh. And
his arrest had been a long time comingnearly
20 years, in fact. Al-Mughassil is accused of being
the ringleader of the 1996 bombing of the Kho-
bar Towers in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 U.S. ser-
vicemen were killed. Al-Mughassil immediately
fled to Tehran after that blast, and, according to
regional intelligence sources, has remained under
Iranian and Hezbollah protection ever since,
mainly in Beirut.
His arrest last year was another front in a deep-
ening cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran
that is coming to define the Middle East in the 21st
century. Their intensifying rivalry exemplifies
the bitter schism within Islam itself: Riyadh sees
itself as the standard bearer of Sunni Muslims in
NEWSWEEK
the region and views the Shiite theocracy in Iran
now becoming more powerful than ever, thanks
to a nuclear deal that has reduced international
sanctions on Tehranas its mortal enemy. Under
the leadership of King Salman bin Abdulaziz
al-Saud, who ascended to the throne last year, the
Saudis are challenging Iran on multiple fronts.
Those include two proxy wars. One is in
Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia. The Saudis
intervened there last year to prevent Iranian-
backed Houthi rebels from taking control of the
country. The war has dragged on ever since, with
the Houthis still entrenched in the capital, Sanaa,
as well as in their stronghold in the northern part
of the country. As John Hannah, a regional ana-
lyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democ-
racies (FDD), says, the standoff has resulted in a
failed state, one that is home to one of Al-Qaedas
most lethal affiliates, known as Al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula, and now appears destined
to be a fertile breeding ground for jihadism, sec-
tarian conflict and regional instability for years
to come. Thousands of civilians have been
killed in airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition,
which relies on U.S. support.
The other proxy war is the conflict in Syria,
which has claimed nearly 500,000 lives and
shows no sign of abating. Tehran is dictator BY
Bashar Al-Assads patronsupplying the embat- BILL POWELL
26 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 +
THE OTHER WAR:
Saudi Arabia
presents its inter- tled regime with arms and fight-
vention in Yemen
as a reaction to
Iranian meddling
ers, both from Iran and from the
Tehran-backed Hezbollah group
[YEMEN] APPEARS DESTINED
in the country, and
it has brushed off
in Lebanon. Tehran also now TO BE A FERTILE BREEDING
criticism over the
high number of
flaunts a de facto alliance with
Vladimir Putin and Russia, which
GROUND FOR JIHADISM,
civilian casualties.
on August 16 began using an air SECTARIAN CONFLICT AND
base in Iran to launch strikes
against anti-Assad rebels in Syria.
REGIONAL INSTABILITY
Over the past year, the interven- FOR YEARS TO COME.
tion of Tehran and Moscow has
turned that fight in Assads favor.
But the Saudis continue to pour in
weapons to Sunni fighters in Syria and have said for Obama to follow through on his vow to act if
they would supply ground troops if the U.S. would what he called a red line was crossed in Syria
back a more aggressive strategy to remove Assad. when he said Assad would have to go if he were to
A regional intelligence source says an influx of use chemical weapons. The president failed to do
Saudi-supplied weapons has held back govern- that, has resisted calls within his administration to
ment efforts to retake the city of Aleppo. more aggressively arm and train anti-government
The carnage in Syria comes as Riyadhs relation- rebel groups in Syria, and has talked openly
ship with Washington grows increasingly tense. about having to be mindful of Iranian equities
HAN I M OHAM MED/AP

The Saudis believe President Barack Obama, in Syriaall of which has infuriated Riyadh. Sal-
in pursuing the nuclear deal with Iran, has com- man is said to believe it is because Obama did
pletely upended the security status quo in the Gulf not want to antagonize Tehran before the nuclear
and throughout the region. The Saudis were eager deal was signed, and still doesnt for fear that Iran

NEWSWEEK 27 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 have clashed with Irans Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps troops, and ethnic Arabs have
claimed credit for attacks against Iranian oil pipe-
PAGE ONE /MIDEAST
lines. Hannah notes that Turki al-Faisal, a mem-
ber of the royal family and formerly head of Saudi
intelligence, as well as an ambassador to London
and Washington, gave a high-profile speech in
July before Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, an Iranian exile
BLEEDING IN THE
group that Tehran considers a terrorist organiza- MIDDLE: Nearly
will walk away from it. (This is a widely held belief tion. Among other things, Turki said, I too want half a million
throughout the Sunni Arab world.) Salman, says the downfall of the regime. people have died
in Syrias civil
the regional intelligence officer, has no use for This is dangerous stuff. Tehran could try to war. Saudi Arabia
Obama. He cant wait until hes gone. destabilize the regime in Riyadh. And while insists President
Bashar al-Assad
Obama has said he hopes that the Saudis and no one yet believes the two countries will clash must go, while Iran
Iranians can reach an equilibrium in the Gulf, directly, there is growing regional restiveness has provided mil-
itary support and
and that Riyadh must be content with shar- advice to him.
ing power with its archrival. In the Saudi view, +
the U.S. retreat in the region has not resulted in
equilibrium but instead has created a vacuum
Tehran seeks to fill. Salman, says the regional
intelligence source, is very determined to make
sure that doesnt happen, which is why hes
confronting Tehran on so many fronts.
As the FDDs Hannah notes, the Saudis have
also used their chief economic weaponoil
to deprive Iran of as much money as they can,
now that Tehran can sell crude globally, free of
sanctions. Despite a glut of oil and a prolonged
period of weak prices, the Saudis have resisted
calls to cut their production to boost prices. In
September, the OPEC nations and Russia are
set to meet in Algiers, Algeria, to discuss pro-
duction freezes. But with Moscow, the third
largest oil producer in the world, working with
Tehran, the Saudis are unlikely to play along.
We see nothing to indicate that they want any-
thing other than lower prices longer in order to
deprive Russia and Iran of revenue, says a diplo-
mat in a neighboring Gulf country. Theyve been
using this weapon for two years now, and theyre [KING] SALMAN HAS NO
likely to continue using it. USE FOR OBAMA. HE CANT
Riyadh has also been active diplomatically in
order to punish Tehran. When the Saudis exe-
WAIT UNTIL HES GONE.
cuted a prominent Shiite cleric in Januaryafter
Iran had warned them not tomobs attacked
and burned down Saudi diplomatic facilities
in Iran. The Saudis quickly severed diplomatic about the proxy wars continuing without end and
relations with Iran and pressured fellow Arab even intensifying. The Jordanians in particular
League nations to downgrade relations as well. would like to see a ratcheting down of tensions
As Hannah notes, the only one that didntLeb- between Riyadh and Tehran, given their proxim-
anonquickly felt the Saudis wrath. Riyadh ity to the Syrian conflict and the burden of having
cut off $4 billion in aid to Beiruts military and to take in more than 1.2 million refugees (so far).
warned Saudi citizens to stop going to Lebanon But what they would like to see, says a West-
as tourists or for business. ern intelligence source working in the region, is
MANU BRABO/AP

Hannah and other regional analysts believe very different from what theyre likely to get. The
the House of Saud might be behind recent unrest Middle Easts Cold War, the source predicts, is
among Iranian minority groups. Kurdish forces likely to intensify before it abates.

NEWSWEEK 28 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 J A PA N
Ancient Monozukuri philosophy still guides
corporate Japan in the 21st century
With a focus on a long-
term vision rather than
short-term results, Japa-
nese companies push for
sustainable growth, while
adhering to age-old princi-
ples of craftsmanship and
contributing to society
Although there is no direct
translation for the term Mono-
zukuri, the closest description
in English is associated with the
word craftsmanship. In Japan
there has always been a focus on
producing things in accordance
with principles that have guided
the society for centuries. While
less formal in practice than in
the past, the notion of kata or
the most proper way of doing
something still resonates with
Japanese citizens today. The idea
that a person should work at
their craft with the aim of perfec-
tion centers on the importance of
quality production rather than the
person who created it or, like the
American mentality, of just get-
ting it done. The Japanese have
a desire and concern for doing
things right, however it may not
mean short-term results or the
fastest production.
Even the machines for manu-
facture themselves are created
or improved to ensure high-
quality results. We use Euro-
pean machines because of their
quality. We believe in importing
those and slightly changing them
UP mU UIF EFNBOET PG UIF +BQB-
nese market. At the end of the
day, what is important is to sat-
isfy the demand of the Japanese
BOE BNFOE UIF NBDIJOFT UP mU
the current needs, says Gotaro
Nakamura, President of NASCO
Nakamura Sangyo, which spe-
cializes in food packaging.
In fact, as notable writer on
Japanese culture Boye De Mente
once wrote, One of the aspects of
the quality obsession of the Japa-
nese is that it covers the whole
product, including areas that are
not ordinarily seen the bottom,
inside, and so on. Many Western
products have failed the Japanese
test for quality because they were
OPUGVMMZmOJTIFEPSEFUBJMFEw
Following kata can still be
seen in interactions with Japa-
nese businesses today. There are
certain principles, manners and
etiquette that are expected of
foreign individuals wishing to
conduct business with Japanese
executives or in Japan. Being fa-
miliar with these customs is es-
sential rather than a bonus when
engaging in business, as it is a
normal practice of the Japanese
to study and become familiar
with the customs, culture and
language of their customers or
partners.
At the same time, adapting to
international practices has helped
many Japanese companies learn
more about the processes of their
industries and expand overseas.
Changes have been applied both
in Japan and abroad, which
have helped businesses like
Ariake Japan maintain steady
growth. The food manufacturer
has been in business for over
50 years and expanded into the
U.S. 26 years ago.
Chairman Kineo Okada ex-
plains, We had to comply with
the strict regulations of the FDA,
which are much stricter than our
domestic standards. We learned a
lot during this process and were
able to comply with the interna-
tionally acclaimed standards of
food administration. This allowed
us to gain the trust of our Japa-
nese clients, which resulted in the
growth of the company.
And while the company con-
tinues to enjoy success at a time
when others are challenged, one
of the pillars of their management
philosophy involves contributing to
society because the goals of Japa-
nese corporations focus on suc-
cess beyond the immediate future.
 As Konosukue Matsushita,
(the revered Japanese industrial-
ist who founded Panasonic), said,
The real value of a corporation
comes out when the economy is
sluggish. This is a creed all man-
agers in Japan know and this is
what we embody. We cannot use
the badly performing economy as
an excuse for poor performance.
It is all about efforts. Efforts al-
ways pay off, adds Mr. Okada.
Kameda Seika Co., Ltd. is
another company in the food
industry that began the interna-
tionalization process some years
ago, beginning with the United
States in 1989. Chairman and
CEO, Michiyasu Tanaka, explains
that, The domestic growth
rate for rice crackers is 2-3%;
however, growth in the U.S. is
10-20% per year. The market
in Japan for these crackers is
260 billion yen ($2.56 billion); in
the U.S. that same number is 36
billion, and in terms of scale, it
 IBWF B TJNJMBS earn money. Eventually, when
keeps expanding.
As they focus on the increase
 OPU UIF DPNQBOZ 8F IBWF home countries, they can go
in purchase of the health food in
the United States, Kameda Sei-
 XF FTUBCMJTIFE PVS PGmDF actions since coming to power
ka is holding true to Japanese
 mTDBM Caroline Govin - Project Director
standards of maintaining high
quality and looking out for the
long-term results.
In an interesting anecdote,
Mr. Tanaka describes the Japa-
nese mentality that is so steady
amongst business practices:
Three weeks ago, a professor
from Harvard Business School
visited us in order to write a new
case on Kameda. One of our sub-
sidiaries in the U.S. engaged in
selling traditional Japanese rice
crackers has been losing money
for nine years. The professor
asked us why we are still running
this business. I told him that we
operate on a long-term basis rath-
er than short-term. In the U.S., if
you cannot get results within
three years, you will give up and
abandon the business; we are not
like that in Japan.
Other industry leaders like Soji
Maeda, President of Maeda Cor-
poration, a civil engineering and
DPOTUSVDUJPO mSN
it is implemented well.
viewpoint. We put the needs
mSTU
tion strategy has not entirely con-
always been striving to adjust to
the needs as quickly as possible
and that is how we have been
expanding our company and con-
tributed to society. To challenge
new things, to keep on challeng-
ing, is within our DNA.
Japanese companies also
value the importance of giving
back to their employees. In the
case of Biken Techno Corpora-
tion, a building and facility man-
agement company, that entails
offering training programs to
its employees from Vietnam and
the Philippines, whereby they
come to Japan to acquire new
skills and a technical license, all
while earning a wage.
In terms of the caring busi-
ness, we started this strate-
gic Technical Training System
program in Asia. For example
in countries like Vietnam and
the Philippines, we invite local
employees for training so that
they can acquire the technical
license. These people come to
Japan, learn technologies, and
XFFTUBCMJTIPVSPGmDFTJOUIFJS
back and start working there. In

in Singapore, which has about
68 employees. I am also plan-
ning to establish another one in
Bangkok, Thailand, says Presi-
dent Ryusei Kajiyama.
Expansion into foreign mar-
kets will remain a top priority for
+BQBOFTF mSNT BT UIFZ XPSL UP
strengthen their global presence.
However, cultural standards and
the central idea of Monozukuri
will continue to be a priority in
the way things are made and
done when doing business in and
outside Japan.
Japanese values stress the
importance of sustainability
and long-term contributions to
society. And while the Japanese
will continue to press for inter-
nationalization, they are hold-
ing true to those values of high
quality and standards that they
believe will ultimately help to re-
vitalize the economy.
Abe reelected, vows to acceler-
ate Abenomics
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
came to power in December
2012 promising to lift Japans
economy out of decades of stag-
nation, by implementing his bold
UISFFQSPOHFE NPOFUBSZ
and growth strategy known as
Abenomics.
Unfortunately many would
argue that Abenomics has not
had the impact that Mr. Abe en-
visioned almost four years ago.
And many leaders in the Japa-
nese business community, includ-
ing Toshiyuki Kanda, President of
Okada Aiyon Corporation, remain
on the fence about the plan.
Abenomics was implemented
XJUI UISFF BSSPXT 5IF mSTU BS-
row touched upon monetary poli-
cies, which was approached with
a very aggressive strategy that I
believe has gone fairly well. The
TFDPOE BSSPX XBT BCPVU mTDBM
policies, and I believe this was
positive too. The third arrow,
growth strategy, has not been as
successful as expected, he says.
It is still early to say, and we
have to wait a bit for it to be fully
implemented, but compared to
the previous policies, I personally
feel that we can get something
out of the growth strategy plan if
While his economic revitaliza-
vinced business leaders, Mr. Abes
convinced the Japanese people to
reelect him in June, giving him a
mandate to accelerate Abenom-
ics to meet the publics expecta-
tions. And in July, he announced
a staggering 28 trillion yen ($265
billion) stimulus package to boost
domestic demand and to stave off
EFnBUJPO
So while Mr. Abe looks to push
on with his agenda to elevate the
economy, leaders in the phar-
maceutical, real estate and food
industries will continue to build
long-term sustainable growth by
applying the Monozukuri and
kata principles, to which Japan
has adhered for centuries.
#TheWorldfolio
#JapanTheWorldfolio
PRODUCED BY
GLOBUS VISION
Jos Santoyo Llamas - Editorial Director
Louise Grankvist - Project Director
Benjamin Delpon - Editorial Associate
Yoshie Isomura - Project Assistant
Gemma Gutirrez - Regional Director
Promotion of generic drugs core of new pharma policy
With generic drugs mak-
ing up only 30% of total
sales, the government
and Japanese pharma-
ceutical firms hope that
increasing the use of ge-
neric drugs will help to
ease the burden of car-
ing for Japans rapidly
aging population
Representing almost 10% of
the worlds market, Japans
pharmaceutical market is the
second largest in the world,
behind the United States. Jap-
anese companies retain high
customer loyalty locally, which
has made it difficult for for-
eign competitors to establish a
profitable consumer base.
Another problem for for-
eign entrants to the Japanese
pharmaceutical market is the
lack of trust in generic drugs,
which currently make up only
30% of total sales. Recent
legislative policies have how-
ever advocated a push for the
consumption of generic drugs.
The government is pro-
moting the use of generic
drugs. In 2015, it even stated
the actual volume share of ge-
neric drugs to be used by the
public. This was an unprec-
edented move. The promotion
of generic drugs is at its core
because they cost less for sim-
ilar effect, which is very clear
to understand. We have been
helped along by this favorable
wind and the generic industry
as a whole is expanding, says
Itsuro Yoshida, President of
Towa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
The government hopes
the increased use of generic
drugs will help to ease the
burden of caring for Japans
rapidly aging population (it is
officially the worlds fastest
aging nation). And caring for
the growing number of elderly
in Japan is indeed one of the
main challenges for the coun-
trys drug makers.
In order to provide solu-
tions for the super-aging soci-
ety issues, I have two focuses.
The first focus is through the doctors who remain skeptical
pharmaceuticals themselves, about using generic drugs. It
says Dr. Masayuki Mitsuka, used to be pharmacists, but
President and CEO of the Mit- now less so. So in order to
subishi Tanabe Pharma Cor- persuade doctors of the ben-
poration. efits of generic drugs, we are
When we look at health- opening up our facilities, al-
care cost distribution of lowing them to see first-hand
Japanese medicine, most of how they are made. Because
the cost goes to bedridden seeing is truly believing.
patients, the senior patients, The high standards expect-
who need care throughout the ed by Japanese doctors and
day. If we put all the money consumers present a chal-
on the costs for these bedrid- lenge for the pharmaceutical
den patients, it might not be industry, leaving plenty of
an appropriate way of seeing room to grow the market and
it, but it will not be a produc- to change the scope of what
tive way to provide a solution. quality means in the availabil-
I think what we personally as ity of medicine for a popula-
a company have to focus on is tion that prioritizes health We have been helped
the medication to help senior concerns. along by this favorable
citizens not to enter that bed- In Japan, the pharmaceuti- wind and the generic
ridden stage, how to prolong cal industry is one of the plac-
the period where they are es where the Monozukuri
industry as a whole is
able to be active themselves principles are being put into expanding
and do some activity and do place for the good of business
some work as well. and economics, as well as the Itsuro Yoshida, President,
While the market is expect- good of the people. Towa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
ed to grow annually by about
2.2% in Japan, there are still
other challenges facing the in-
dustry, such as the regulation
of pricing. Mr. Yoshida ex-
plains, In Japan, the system
is a little bit different from
that of the U.S. The Japanese
government sets the price for
pharmaceutical drugs.
Companies that begin to sell
a drug in the free competitive
market often try to market it
lower than that price, and then
later, when the government
again evaluates the pricing,
the standard price is set even
lower. Its a cycle that per-
petuates and makes it difficult
for the companies to profit, es-
pecially generic drug makers.
However, with the government
advocacy for more generic
drugs, the industry is expected
to see an increase in sales over
the coming years.
In order to influence key
opinion leaders on the ben-
efits of increasing the us-
age of generic drugs, Towa
Pharmaceuticals has opened
up its facilities for the public
to be able to see the quality
of production. According to
Mr. Yoshida, There are some
Japan real estate a safe long-term bet for investors
5IFDPNNFSDJBMQSPQFSUZBOESFOUBMNBSLFUTIBWFFYQFSJFODFETJHOJmDBOUHBJOT
XIJMFUIF5SBOT1BDJmD1BSUOFSTIJQ
and 2020 Tokyo Olympics bode well for the construction and real estate industry as a whole
Japans real estate market can ap-
pear daunting to overseas inves-
tors, but its long-term stability and
 SFHJTUFSJOH JUT mSTU
size Tokyo is, after all, the worlds
most populous city have been at-
USBDUJOH TJHOJmDBOU DBQJUBM nPXT
from abroad, most conspicuously
from neighboring Asian countries.
For investors concerned by the un-
certainty and volatility in interna-
tional capital markets, the longer
term may well prove to be the
smarter option, making Japans
residential, commercial, hotel and
industrial properties worth a clos-
er look, along with related sectors
such as construction.
Beginning in 2016, the Bank
of Japans policy of negative in-
terest rates has allowed compa-
nies to negotiate favorable terms
from banks for long-term loans
at near-zero rates.
We are waiting to see the ef-

fects of the negative interest rates
 IF IPQFT UP Why is this happening just
in the short term, says Eiji Kut-
sukake, President of Nomura Real
Estate Holdings Inc., which has
undertaken large-scale develop-
ments of smart cities in Funabashi
Morino City and Zutto City.
In the long term, there will be
some negatives and positives of
Abenomics, but I believe eventu-
ally there will be a positive effect
overall. This is contrary to what
the media is popularly reporting.
A shrinking population has kept
residential housing demand rela-
tively low, however, even though
banks choking on their reserves of
unproductive cash would be only
too glad to lend them the money.
In such an environment, in-
vestment grade properties con-
tinue to generate better than
acceptable returns as they re-
cover in sync with other global
economic drivers. Real estate
is particularly attractive on ac-
DPVOUPGUIFTFDVSFnPXPGSFOUBM
income it produces and is often
sought after for balancing port-
folios. In the case of Japan, there
is the additional advantage that
no restrictions apply to foreign-
ers owning property regardless
of residence or visa status.
Even in the worst of times,
Japan Inc. was never in danger
of tarnishing its reputation for
excellence and quality. Executives
learned not to lose sight of those
standards as they became more
forward-looking, outward-looking
and innovative. At the same time,
the realization hit home that the
most successful business is not
necessarily the one that makes the
CJHHFTUQSPmUT
So Japan has had to change its
mindset along with its skillset and
open up to ideas that challenge
the traditional Japanese way of
doing things while its businesses
look for new overseas markets in
order to learn from them as well
as to sell to them.
Two upcoming events are cer-
tain to attract even more interest
in Japanese real estate. Before U.S.
President Barack Obama leaves
PGmDF OFYU +BOVBSZ
TJHOUIF5SBOT1BDJmD1BSUOFSTIJQ
(TPP) accord into law, creating a
GSFFUSBEF[POFBNPOH1BDJmD
Rim countries that is expected to
add $23.2 billion to Japans GDP.
How does this impact on housing?
Pundits claim the realignment of
logistic networks and creation of
OFXUSBEFnPXQBUUFSOTXJMMCSJOH
about the displacement of entire
population centers. These will
have to be rebuilt practically from
scratch, the experts say.
One thing is certain: the con-
struction sector is sure to be
working overtime to construct
state-of-the-art sports facilities
valued at $3.8 billion and hotels
to accommodate some 20 million
visitors taking advantage of the
weak yen to spend time in Japan
in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo
Summer Olympics.
Meanwhile, commercial prop-
erty is on an uptick. The vacancy
SBUFGPSQSJNFPGmDFTQBDFJO5PLZP
was just 2% in 2016, and income
from rental property grew by
about the same amount over the
QSFWJPVT ZFBS
TJHOJmDBOU HBJOT TJODF UIF NBDSP
upheavals of the early 1990s.
That counts as good news in
the current environment of slug-
gish growth and low interest rates,
and even more so in a country
recovering from two decades of
SVOBXBZ EFnBUJPO UIBU QSPEVDFE
BOFOPSNPVTCVCCMFPGJOnBUFEBT-
sets. Until it popped late in 1991,
the price of quality land in Osaka
had shot up by 33%, and in one
Tokyo district increased 122% in
1988. Two years later, prices had
plunged by 13% to 18% across the
board in Japans six largest cities,
marking the start of the lost de-
cade of painful recovery.
As failed banks closed their
doors, loans went unpaid and GDP
TFFQFE UISPVHI UIF nPPSCPBSET
while the Tokyo skyline under-
went changes. The Bank of Japan
kept on pumping money into the
system and some of that liquid-
ity went into property acquisition.
/PX UIF PGmDF CMPDLT BOE TIPQ-
ping centers built back then are to
be retired, replaced or removed.
OPX %VSJOHUIFEFnBUJPOBSZEF-
cades, Japanese people clung to
their savings in the certain knowl-
edge it would appreciate in value
inside their mattresses. Compa-
nies avoided capital expenditure
like the plague. This accounts for
the slightly dated look at the head-
quarters of certain corporate gi-
ants dating from the 1970-1990
period, many of which are ear-
marked for an upgrade.
This Japanese approach to
urban renewal is known as scrap
and build and there is more la-
tent opportunity in their para-
digm than just a chance to bid
for demolition tenders, insists
Mampei Ohmoto, President of the
civil engineering and construction
mSN0INPUP(VNJ
Unfortunately, compared to
other countries, we do not have
all that many big and beautiful
buildings and monuments. I hear
that the roads in Paris were de-
signed mainly by Napoleon III.
 Despite the declining
population, there are
still possibilities for
developing markets and
developing business in
[real estate]
Eiji Kutsukake, President,
Nomura Real Estate Holdings
FOFSHZ
Establishing a beautiful city is a
priority, as it contributes to the
economy, says the head of the
ZFBSPMEmSNUIBUQPTUFESF-
DPSEQSPmUTJO
Many European companies
have a long-term vision, instead
of looking at the short-term ben-
FmUT
BOE*XBOUUIJTDPNQBOZUP emergency since Chernobyl.
be like that. I want to be humble,
but at the same time, be chal-
lenged by new projects, adds
Mr. Ohmoto. For example, Japan
might face a recession after the
2020 Olympics. Who can tell?
Scrap and build requires pow-
erful, purpose-built machinery
to clear away the remnants of
old construction and make way
for the new. Okada Aiyon Cor-
QPSBUJPO JT BO 0TBLBCBTFE mSN
that specializes in manufacturing
and servicing the heavy equip-
ment used to break up, crush,
pulverize, slice, grapple and lift
Our core strength as
of today is in Japan and
North America, but for
the future, our focus
is on the Far East and
Western Europe
Toshiyuki Kanda
President, Okada Aiyon Corp.
chunks of unwanted concrete in
demolition operations.
Concrete has a life cycle of
about 50 years, explains Toshi-
yuki Kanda, Okada Aiyons Presi-
dent, and when Japan experi-
enced the massive boom of the
1970s, that was when all the sky-
scrapers and tall buildings were
built. Recently, there was an acci-
dent on the Chuo Highway where
the Sasako Tunnel collapsed and
many people were injured. The
main reason was the outdated
infrastructure.
The need to upgrade is a ma-
jor concern of Japans construc-
tion and engineering sector, in
a country that registers around
5,000 earth tremors each year.
Fortunately, few are as lethal
as the 40-meter tall tsunami
churned from the depths of the
sea by the March 2011 quake
which disabled the Fukushima
nuclear plant, killed almost
20,000 people and triggered
the worlds most serious nuclear
Biken Techno Corporation, which
Authorities know that even
without factoring in random
threats from tsunamis and nucle-
ar meltdowns, Japanese earth-
quakes tend to be fairly frequent
and uncommonly deadly over
140,000 people perished in the
Great Kanto quake that leveled
Tokyo and its port city of Yoko-
hama on September 1, 1923.
Awareness and forethought
were not enough to stop it. In
his plans for Tokyos grand Impe-
rial Hotel, architect Frank Lloyd
Wright incorporated elements
that offered as much protection
In order to survive and
compete with other com-
panies in similar sectors,
JUJTJNQPSUBOUUPmHVSF
out where to invest and
to seek our priorities
Ryusei Kajiyama,
President, Biken Techno
as the science of the period knew
how to put into it including can-
tilevered support beams, seismic
separation joints and other fea-
tures that allowed the hotel to
sustain only minor damage from
the quake that occurred on the
day of its opening.
Given that in Japan, geology
is destiny, it is hard to fathom
why a duly rigorous seismic
building code for commercial
property was not introduced un-
til 1981, and its regulations made
applicable to all existing struc-
tures after 1985. As a result,
pre-1980s construction that has
OPU CFFO SFUSPmUUFE BOE DFSUJ-
mFEBTFBSUIRVBLFSFTJTUBOUXJMM
undoubtedly be priced consider-
ably lower than similar proper-
ties built in accordance with the
strict new codes.
In a country prone to such
natural disasters, building man-
agement service providers are
crucial and offer property owners
QFBDF PG NJOE 0OF TVDI mSN JT
at their disposal but prefer to
offers owners a full range of what
its President, Ryusei Kajiyama,
describes as facility manage-
ment services that include build-
ing security, food handling and
sanitation, equipment updates
and emergency repairs. At pres-
ent, it has 232 properties under
management for some 80 clients.
Over the past decade, Bikens
mWFTVCTJEJBSJFTBOEBTTPDJBU-
ed companies have expanded the
range of its people-oriented ser-
vices into the nursing, hospital
management and real estate/ho-
tel sectors. Now Mr. Kajiyamas
Towards the Olympics,
many hotels are going
to be established in the
city, so we want to take
that project and be
responsible for that
Mampei Ohmoto,
President, Ohmoto Gumi
sights are set on Bangkok. We
have seen the quality of our ser-
vice improve and are constantly
looking to make new improve-
ments by taking the good parts
from every sector, he says.
What will the buildings of the
future be like? Mr. Kutsukake, the
President of Nomura Real Estate,
one of the countrys top develop-
ers with around 1,600 employ-
ees, believes new construction
should incorporate relevant new
technologies, offering the people
who live or work in them the
CFOFmUTPGTVTUBJOBCJMJUZ
FGmDJFODZBOEBOPWFSSJEJOHFN-
phasis on quality.
With 55 years of experience
and nearly 200,000 units built,
Nomura is committed to de-
veloping innovative residential
properties marketed under its
PROUD brand, including Sustain-
able Smart Towns designed for
active seniors in the 50 to 70
age bracket who have more dis-
posable income and leisure time
have a range of multifunctional
conveniences within easy reach.
Japan is experiencing so-
cial shifts such as a population
decline, low birthrate, and di-
WFSTJmDBUJPO PG XPSLJOH TUZMFT
due to womens participation in
society, greater energy-saving
awareness, and so on, says Mr.
Kutsukake. Reacting to those
changes, we plan to develop
sustainable cities that are en-
FSHZ FGmDJFOU BOE DPODFOUSBUF
multiple functions and commu-
nities where various generations
live in harmony.
Food makers look to supply rising global
demand for healthier, high-quality products
Rising demand for healthier
foods in the U.S. and
Europe and the growth
in popularity of Japanese
food across the globe
translates to big opportu-
nities for Japanese food
makers, who exemplify the
Monozukuri philosophy
grounded in high quality
and craftsmanship
As the world shrinks in size but
 XIJMF arguably been replaced by the
grows in terms of population,
new and forward-thinking prod-
ucts, as well as variations on
traditional favorites, are gaining
ground. The companies at the
forefront of the segment are in
a continuous search for prod-
ucts that combine consumer
BUUSBDUJPOXJUIIFBMUICFOFmUT
 However, when consider-
at the same time being care-
ful to preserve the reputation
for responsible and sustainable
manufacturing that Japan has
become globally renowned for.
Such has been the surge in
the global popularity of Japa-
nese food over recent times that
today it is undoubtedly one of
the worlds best-loved cuisines,
eclipsing even the internation-
ally adored pizza, if certain sur-
veys are to be believed. And its
not hard to believe, either, when
ZPVUBLFBMPPLBUUIFmHVSFT
According to a study by Ja-
pans Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry, and Fisheries, in July
2015 the number of Japanese
restaurants in all markets out-
side Japan was nearly 89,000.
This was up considerably from
the 55,000 tallied in 2013 and
more than triple the 24,000
counted in the 2006 survey.
The rise in Japanese food is
part of a wider trend, particu-
larly in the United States, of an
increase in preference for Asian
cuisines. Asian restaurants
are now the fastest-growing
fast food category in America,
growing 10% in 2014 alone,
according to data from market
SFTFBSDI mSN 5FDIOPNJD
that is our goal. Technology is
the Washington Post also noted
that global sales for Asian food
have grown by nearly 500%
since 1999, the fastest growth
seen in any food category
around the world, according to
EBUBGSPNNBSLFUSFTFBSDImSN
Euromonitor.
Japanese way and quality. Es-
ing the factors behind the
sharp spike in popularity and
demand for Japanese food in
particular, unlike a lot of Asian
cuisine, Japanese dishes (such
as sushi and soba) are actu-
ally seen as a healthy option.
In fact, the global Japanese
food boom started with sushi
back in the 1970s, spreading
throughout the U.S. due to a
drift towards health-conscious
eating. As time has progressed
and the trend in global health
consciousness has continued to
broaden across continents, so
too has the image of Japanese
food as health food, resulting
in its explosive popularity.
But there is much more to
Japanese cuisine than maki
rolls and noodles. The countrys
vibrant food manufacturing in-
dustry, among which products
such as confectionaries and rice
crackers are perhaps two of the
most well-known exports, have
also contributed heavily to the
Japanese food boom.
Whereas car and electron-
ics manufacturers like Toyota,
Sony and Nintendo may have
once served as symbols of na-
tional identity, today they have
countrys food products, ow-
ing to their heightened global
reputation and demand. And
like all national products, Japa-
nese foodstuff is characterized
by high quality, innovation and
trademark attention to detail.
We are keen to expose the
emphasis is on quality and in-
pecially in this sector, it is all
about taste, quality and safety.
We want to commercialize our
products by appealing to the
growing demand for Japanese
quality, says Tomiya Takamatsu,
President of Dydo Drinco Inc., a
company engaged in the manu-
facture and sale of beverages.
Indeed, producing such
high-quality food products of-
ten requires heavy investment
in R&D and innovation, which is
also something that Japanese
mSNTBSFSFOPXOFEGPS
We are trying to boost our
research and development, in
order to meet the demands
of the client and customers;
We can see that people
have a positive impres-
sion of rice crackers with
them being gluten free,
low in calories, and good
for allergies, because we
are experiencing rapid
growth of our product
Michiyasu Tanaka, Chairman &
CEO, Kameda Seika Co., Ltd.
a fundamental part of the busi-
ness, explains Kunio Otani,
President of Nichirei Corpora-
tion, Japans largest frozen food
producer which also engages in
the transport and refrigeration
of fresh produce.
First and foremost, our
novation, says Yasushi Yoshida,
President of food and beverage
processor, Bourbon Corpora-
tion, highlighting a value held
widely across the countrys
manufacturing industry.
We take great measures
for product development. In
Japan, consumers are always
requesting new products, and
that is why we come up with
at least three new products per
month. On top of that, we also
have the full line of products,
from biscuits to chewing gum,
which allows us to be probably
the number one in the world in
terms of product range, adds
Mr. Yoshida, whose companys
 Kameda Seikas business
As we are in the food
24,000 doesnt just end with rice crack-
ers, however. In a bid to con-
tinue innovating and developing
industry, we have to pro-
vide safety and security
No. of Japanese restaurants
its products, the company set as well as tastiness. We
outside Japan (2006) up the state-of-the-art Rice Re- always put the customer
search Center in order to help
it conquer even more markets.
mSTUBOEQSPWJEFIFBMUIZ

89,000 The reason we created the

center is because rice has so
many possibilities, explains Mr.
ingredients to society
Kineo Okada, Chairman,
No. of Japanese restaurants
Tanaka. Low-protein rice, for Ariake Japan
outside Japan (July 2015)
JOTUBODF JTTQFDJmDBMMZQSFQBSFE
for people with kidney disease.

10%
We just began developing some
research for brown rice. Not the
brown rice you eat as it is, but
Growth of Asian fast food the kind that goes into pack-
restaurants in the U.S. (2014) aged foods or drinks. We have
developed many supplements
for pets with allergies or cos-
and dieticians across the world,
remains incredibly high when
compared to Japan. According
to Masaaki Iida, President and
CEO of Mitsui Sugar Co., Ltd.,
the average Japanese person
consumes less than half the

500%
metic products as well. In addi-
tion, we provide space foods to
the international space station,
Growth of global Asian which is a big selling point.
food sales since 1999 Yet despite the healthy eat-
ing trends in the United States
and Europe, consumption of
Sources: Japanese Ministry of sugar, which has now replaced
Agriculture, Technomic, Washington Post fat as enemy number one on
the lists of most nutritionists
amount of sugar that a person
consumes in the U.S. or Europe.
In the States a person con-
sumes about 35 kilograms of sug-
ar, in Europe it is 37 kilograms.
Swiss people consume 55 kilos;
and Japanese consume 17 kilos,
says Mr. Iida. Many researchers
and scholars from Europe and the
U.S. say sugar is not good for you.

product range includes rice to cater for this market, but

crackers, bean snacks, wheat
crackers, tea-based soft drinks,
and fresh and frozen desserts.
While such products as bis-
cuits and frozen desserts may
OPU CF UIF mSTU UIJOHT UIBU
spring to mind when you think of
the healthy and nutritious food
that Japan has become famous
for, Mr. Yoshida explains that
an increasingly health-conscious
society is driving product inno-
vation at his company.
In the post-war period, the
trend was to sell large quanti-
ties of inexpensive things, he
explains. Nowadays people do
not want to eat a lot even if
something may be cheaper, be-
cause people are also concerned
about their health. Japan is not
a country where people are
starving or where we cannot
sustain the food demand we
IBWF UIJT QBSU TBUJTmFE )PX-
ever, there is a new demand for
the health food, and we believe
there is a new market growing
in this area.
Therefore, food processing
companies like Bourbon are not
only developing new products
also innovating their existing
products to make them health-
ier. As well as catering for
higher demand in Japan, where
a rapidly aging population is
one of the major driving forces
in the heightened demand for
health products, Japanese man-
ufacturers are also especially
targeting the growingly health-
conscious U.S. market.
We can see that people
have a positive impression of
rice crackers with them being
gluten free, low in calories, and
good for allergies, because we
are experiencing rapid growth
of our products, especially in
the American region, says
Michiyasu Tanaka, Chairman &
CEO of Kameda Seika Co., Ltd.,
the leader in the Japanese and
U.S. rice cracker markets with
around a 30% and 60% share
respectively. I believe there is
more potential for growth in
the health food market in the
U.S. We have plans to put more
force into the health-related
domain, which I believe puts us
in sync with the trend of soci-
ety in the U.S.

Looking at the bigger
picture, the world is
facing food shortages.
We need to address
this situation
Kunio Otani, President,
Nichirei Corporation
 BDDPSEJOH UP
Coca-Cola is trying to convert
Japanese people to other kinds of
BSUJmDJBM TXFFUFOFST #VU JG ZPVS
consumption is at a level of 17 to
18 kilograms, its okay for you to
enjoy sweets using sugar.
With the rise of obesity and
diabetes in the U.S., reducing con-
sumption of sugar is a grave chal-
lenge for policymakers, as is cut-
ting consumption of genetically
NPEJmFE (.
 DSPQT
 XIJDI BSF Of course as a company that
also understood to have adverse
health effects. GM crops take less
time and effort to produce than
their traditional counterparts.
But with the growing demand
for non-GM crops, an increasing
number of farmers in the U.S.
are returning to the cultivation of
traditional crops. An added incen-
tive for farmers is the premiums
buyers are offering for non-GM
produce. Reports state GM crop
cultivation in the U.S. has reached
a plateau as more farmers opt for
traditional varieties.
In the American market,
there is a movement and its shift-
ing towards the non-genetically
NPEJmFE DSPQT 0G DPVSTF FWFSZ
year, we go and talk to the local
farmers. We see what they do
and we listen to their opinions.
If we compare the GM and the
non-GM, by far, GM is the most
FGmDJFOU BOE UIF FBTJFS UP QSP-
cess and produce, says Junji
Torigoe, President of tofu maker,
Sagamiya Foods Co., Ltd.
But in Japan, there are only
OPOHFOFUJDBMMZ NPEJmFE DSPQT
It is in the base, it is the core of
the Japanese food culture. Of
course were very happy that the
U.S. market is shifting as well.
Working with Sagamiya,
snack food and cereal maker
Calbee Inc. began marketing a
tofu variety of granola in Ja-
pans Kanto region in March.
Domestic production of granola
has multiplied six-fold over the
QBTU mWF ZFBST
the Japan Snack Cereal Foods
Association, as producers look
to meet the increased demand
for healthier breakfast cereals
amongst Japans rapidly rising
elderly population.
Nichereis President, Mr.
Otani, shares the typical Japa-
nese preference and enthusiasm
for natural, healthy and high-
quality produce.
deals in the food-related busi- Japan, a leading producer of we have to provide safety and
ness, it is all about utilizing nat- natural seasonings. Ariake has security as well as tastiness. We
ural resources that are safe and made major investments total- BMXBZT QVU UIF DVTUPNFS mSTU
high quality. In order to do that, ing around 20 billion yen ($195.4 and provide healthy ingredients
we need to have a stable supply million) over the past couple of to society. We have also invested
of these resources, he says. years alone in order to expand a lot in social contribution; for in-
Mr. Otani explains that the natural seasonings business stance, our company has invest-
Nichirei, like many Japanese throughout the world, and has ed 10 billion yen ($97.7 billion) in
companies, is also concerned constructed a global eight-pillar a private scholarship fund. This
with global food shortages as system with production and was made possible thanks to the
population growth and climate sales bases centered in Japan, company stocks we had accumu-
change impact food supply and China, Taiwan, Belgium, France, lated, and this fund is the largest
demand. Japan, he believes, can Indonesia and the U.S. educational fund in Japan.
MFBE UIF HMPCBM mHIU BHBJOTU Chairman Kineo Okada ex- Environmental concerns also
food shortages. Looking at the QMBJOT UIBU UIF mSTU NBKPS NJMF- come high up on the list of pri-
bigger picture, the world is fac- stone of the company came 26 orities for Japanese manufac-
ing food shortages. We need to years ago when it decided to turers such as food packaging
address this situation, he adds. expand to the United States. It manufacturer NASCO Naka-
Nichirei has been active in was triggered by an unstable sup- mura Sangyo. In terms of the
the U.S. market since 1979 and ply of livestock here in Japan, and environmental focus, our tactic
brings popular foods from Japan we entered the market at a very is to produce products that are
to America, through its Seattle- early stage, says Mr. Okada. more sustainable and do not
based subsidiary, Nichirei USA. Like most Japanese compa- have to get disposed as easily,
Another Japanese food pro- nies, Ariake not only holds the says President Gotaro Naka-
cessing company which has not value of quality and innovation mura. We have to comply with
only established itself in the U.S. in high esteem, it also has special the different demands from
market, but also become one of regard for sustainability and so- the convenience stores and su-
many domestic manufacturers cial responsibility. Contributing permarkets, and our goal is to
to have led the way in bringing to society has always been im- work together with them in or-
Japanese food products to a portant to us, says Mr. Okada. EFSUPmOETPMVUJPOTUPQSFWFOU
truly global audience is Ariake As we are in the food industry, environmental exploitation.
Proudly sponsored by:
 Scooped Up
IN THE WEEKS SINCE THE
FAILED COUP IN TURKEY, THE
GOVERNMENT HAS CLOSED
131 MEDIA OUTLETS AS
PART OF A CRACKDOWN ON
SUSPECTED OPPONENTS
IN MID-AUGUST, while on a trip
to Europe, one of Turkeys most
celebrated journalists was ad-
vised by his lawyers not to return
to his homeland. The source of
the perceived threat: his own
government. The signs were
very clear, says the journalist,
Can Dndar, who on August 16
resigned as editor of the inde-
pendent newspaper Cumhuriyet.
Dndar was sentenced in May
to nearly six years in prison after
being found guilty of revealing
state secrets. His lawyers have
appealed the verdict, but Dn-
dar says the courts are a tool of
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and no longer independent.
The prosecutor who arrested
me is now the chief prosecu-
tor in Istanbul, Dndar says,
speaking by phone from his new
home in a European city that he
asks not be identified. I am [at
the] top of the list of journal-
ists to be arrested [on further
YAS I N A KGUL /A F P/G E T T Y
charges]. I could even face the
death penalty. After Turkeys
failed military coup on July 15,
Erdogan voiced support for rein-
BY troducing capital punishment.
ALEV SCOTT A rapidly growing number of
@AlevScott Turkish journalists have taken
refuge abroad, fearing they
could be arrested and detained
under laws that give security
forces increased powers during
Turkeys current state of emer-
gency. Since the coup attempt,
more than 40,000 people
academics, judges, journalists
and state employeeshave been
detained in a wave of politically
oriented arrests so extensive
that it has prompted the govern-
ment to make space in Turkeys
prisons by paroling 38,000
people imprisoned for crimes
committed before July.
The state of emergency will
be used exclusively to bring
the coup plotters to justice and
prevent future attacks against our
democracy, a senior government
official tells Newsweek.
On July 28, Turkish authorities
announced that they had closed
down 131 media outlets with sus-
pected links to Fethullah Glen, a
U.S.-based cleric whom Erdogan
accused of plotting the coup.
NEWSWEEK 37 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
+
SILENCED:
Dozens of Turkish
journalists have
been arrested
and others have
fled the country
since the July 15
coup attempt.
Many journalists who appear to
have no link to Glen have also
been swept up.
After the attempted coup, sev-
eral foreign journalists resigned
from state-owned television
channel TRT World. One, who
asked to remain anonymous,
says: I left because it became
clear that after the failed coup it
was no longer possible to cover
the story in Turkey objectively.
(TRT World tells Newsweek that
it continues to relay the latest
developments with all transpar-
ency to the world.)
The vast majority of people in
Turkey are relieved that the coup
failed. But critics of the govern-
ment fear Erdogan will continue
to use the foiled takeover as cover
to suppress all sources of dissent.
Erdogan used this military inter-
vention as an excuse to build up
his power, says Dndar. Whats
the difference between a military
coup and a police state? Its more
or less the same for us.
 THIS
IS BY
ERIKA HAYASAKI

YOUR
BRAIN
ON
 GROWING UP IN
POVERTY DOESNT
JUST CHANGE THE
WAY YOU SEE THE
WORLD. IT CHANGES
YOUR BRAIN

POOR
NEWSWEEK 39 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016

HE VIDEO tells the story
of Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner from Paki-
stan who at 15 survived being shot in the head by the Taliban
while riding a bus in 2012. I want to get my education, and I
want to become a doctor, she says, adding that the Taliban
throw acid on some peoples faces and kill others, but they
cannot stop me.
A 15-year-old boy watching the clip on a laptop inside the
University of Southern Californias Brain and Creativity Insti-
tute seems unmoved by Yousafzais storyhis face is blank, his
shoulders slumped. An interviewer asks how it makes him feel.
He shrugs: I dont know. Nothing. The researcher moves
on, asking what kind of person he hopes to be when he grows up.
Nice, he says.
Do you want to go to college?
Yeah.
Do you have plans after college?
I havent thought about it.
What kind of job do you want?
I havent thought about it.
He is one of the 67 low-income teens USC neuroscientist
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang has been tracking in a five-year
study designed to understand how culture, family relation-
ships, exposure to violence and other factors shape the human
mind. Test subjects from throughout Southern California watch
40 video clips, each depicting a different true story told by
the person who lived it. Some storieslike Yousafzaiswere
chosen because they are heart-tugging and inspirational. The
teenagers watch parts of the clips again while inside a machine,
NEWSWEEK 40
and their brain responses are recorded. Two
years later, they are called back to the Brain and
Creativity Lab, a hybrid learning center and
campus innovation hub with an MRI-scanning
lab, meeting offices, modern art and photogra-
phy galleries, as well as a performance hall that
offers literary readings, scientific presentations
and concerts featuring Yo-Yo Ma. The testing
process is repeated to track changes over time.
Early results show a troubling trend: Kids who
grow up with violence as a backdrop in their lives
dont show much emotion in their interview
responses and, based on MRI scans, have weaker
neural connections and less interaction in parts
of the brain involved in awareness, judgment,
and ethical and emotional processing.
Immordino-Yangs work is part of a growing
field called the neuroscience of poverty. Though
its still largely based on correlations between
brain patterns and particular environments, the
research points to a disturbing conclusion: Pov-
erty and the conditions that often accompany
itviolence, excessive noise, chaos at home, pol-
lution, malnutrition, abuse and parents without
jobscan affect the interactions, formation and
pruning of connections in the young brain.
Two recent influential reports cracked open
a public conversation on the matter. In one,
researchers found that impoverished children had
less gray matterbrain tissue that supports infor-
mation processing and executive behaviorin
their hippocampus (involved in memory), frontal
lobe (involved in decision making, problem solv-
ing, impulse control, judgment, and social and
emotional behavior) and temporal lobe (involved
in language, visual and auditory processing and
self-awareness). Working together, these brain
areas are crucial for following instructions, pay-
ing attention and overall learningsome of the
keys to academic success.
The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics in
2015, examined 389 people between 4 and 22
years old. A quarter of the participants came
from homes well below the federal poverty level
($24,230 annual income for a family of four in
2016). Children from the poorest backgrounds
showed greater diminishment of gray matter and
scored lower on standardized tests.
The second key study, published in Nature
Neuroscience, also in 2015, looked at 1,099 people
between ages 3 and 20, and found that children
with parents who had lower incomes had reduced
+
NO GRAY AREA HERE: MRIs done years apart show that
children raised in violent neighborhoods have progressively
weaker neural connections and less interaction in parts of
the brain associated with judgment and ethical processing.
0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 brain surface areas in comparison to children from
families bringing home $150,000 or more a year.
We have [long] known about the social class
differences in health and learning outcomes,
says Dr. Jack Shonkoff, director of the Center on
the Developing Child at Harvard University. But
neuroscience has now linked the environment,
behavior and brain activityand that could lead
F RO M L E F T: G R EG O R SC H UST E R /G E T T Y; B R I A N VA N D E R B RUG/ LOS A N G E L ES T I M ES/G E T T Y
to a stunning overhaul of both educational and
social policies, like rethinking Head Startstyle
programs that have traditionally emphasized
early literacy. New approaches, he says, could
focus on social and emotional development as
well, since science now tells us that relationships
and interactions with the environment sculpt
the areas of the brain that control behavior (like
the ability to concentrate), which also can affect
academic achievement (like learning to read).
We are living in a revolution in biology now,
Shonkoff says, one in which new findings are
finally giving us a real understanding of the inter-
action between nature and nurture.
A CONSTANT STATE OF
FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT
WHEN SHE thinks back to her South Los Ange-
les middle school, 19-year-old Stephanie Ver-
NEWSWEEK
THEY WERE ALWAYS
STRAPPED, AND THEY WOULD
WAIT FOR KIDS TO COME OUT.
gara sees metal detectors, police dogs and riots. Her school
was once in lockdown for a weekkids couldnt leave campus
or move freely in the hallways because campus officials were
worried about gang activity outside of its gates.
Vergaras sister, Vanessa, 16, remembers worse scares, like
walking onto her physical education field with a friend and get-
ting jumped by five girls. They beat Vanessas friend until she bled
because they thought she was trying to act tough, Vanessa says.
Neither sister ever really felt safe at that school. Strangers, both
kids and adults, would force their way onto the campus through
broken bars over windows. Gang members would show up after
school and linger. They were always strapped, Vanessa says,
and they would wait for kids to come out.
High school was better but not always. Vanessa remembers
one code-red lockdown following a shooting near the campus.
All students were directed to the gym as one of the shooters ran
across the campus, still carrying his gun.
Vanessa and Stephanie grew up in a 950-square-foot home,
along with an older sister and brother. Their parents were immi-
grants who met while working in a sewing factory; they bought
their house in 1999 after years of scrimping and saving to get
41 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
the cash for a down payment. At least four rival gangs control
their block and the surrounding ones, but, the family says, at
least their house is within walking distance of several schools.
In 2013, Vergara joined Immordino-Yangs study as a test
subject, watching the series of videos and undergoing MRI
scans. (She remembers the story of a girl with terminal can-
cer who tried to raise money for her treatment with a lemon-
ade stand.) The experience piqued her interest, and when she
learned that Immordino-Yang was offering internships, Ver-
gara put her name in. She got the job and helped recruit test
subjects from her neighborhood, where 43 percent of families
live below the poverty line ($24,230 a year for a family of four
in 2016, according to U.S. census data).
Even before she started working at the lab, Vergara knew
how people in more affluent neighborhoods viewed her life
and why researchers were interested in studying her and her
classmates. But then Vergara started to see the MRI scans of
classmates and understood that something profoundly unset-
tling was happening: Our brains dont really develop the
same as people who live in other communities.
Vergara did not yet know that there is a direct connection
between the bodys stress-response system and brain devel-
opment. And being poor is inherently stressful. The sisters
always knew when their area was in a heat, which meant
NEWSWEEK 42
gang violence was surging. They knew which
blocks belonged to the Bloods, or Back Street
Crips, PJ Watts Crips, Main Street Crips or
Hoover Criminals. They knew which men on
their block were lifelong gangsters and which
kids from their elementary school were new
recruits. Vergara never saw anyone get shot, but
she heard bullets flying outside her bedroom
more than a few times.
You dont need to see anyone take a bullet to
the chest to be affected by violence, according
to Immordino-Yang. When all of this turmoil is
in the background, it tells your biology you are
in a scary social world, she says. Its a danger-
ous, mean place where anything can happen.
You cant trust that other people are good. In
such a stressful state, brain structures shift.
Neural synapses are altered, and your neu-
rons fire differently. The stress hormones that
permeate your brain go into overdrive.
For most people, being held up at gunpoint
ON HIGH ALERT: Schools that can feel like prisons because
of barred windows, security checks and lockdowns increase
the anxiety level of many students and can make learning
nearly impossible.
+
0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 kicks in a fight-or-flight response, releasing hor-
mones, including cortisol and epinephrine, that
shoot energy and vigor to muscles. Neurotrans-
mitters like norepinephrine, adrenaline and
dopamine are released into the amygdala, which
stimulate the brain to tell the heart and lungs to
beat and breathe faster. Emotions and acuity are
on high alert, and the body gears up to run or
fight for its life. Its beyond stressfula study out
of Kings College London analyzed 106 mugging
victims and found that 33 percent ended up with
post-traumatic stress disorder, while 80 percent
reported feeling excessively fearful of people.
Now imagine seeing dozens of violent crimi-
nals every day. Imagine they are likely to pop out
of the shadows at any moment to beat you, rob
you, rape you, shoot you. Your stress hormones
would be constantly amped up, and after a while
your body wouldnt be able to turn down the vol-
ume. Your brain would get stuck in a constant
state of fight-or-flightthe kind of chronic stress
that impedes the development of stem cells, brain
connections and neurons. Immordino-Yangs
work has found that those in this type of envi-
ronment often do not fully develop the ability to
effectively plan, set goals, make moral decisions
and maintain emotional stability. Their brain
activity is less organized, less well developed and
less systematic, Immordino-Yang says.
Similar harm is seen in response to family chaos,
neglect and abuse. This biological-neural effect
grips teenagers and children, but it is also seen in
toddlers and newborns. One study of 77 children
by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers
found that children as young as 5 months old from
low-income families had reduced regions of gray
matter in their frontal and parietal regions com-
pared with babies and toddlers from wealthier
families. This and other research on baby brain
activity indicates that such early effects of poverty
may lead to slower brain growth.
And when it comes to brain development, if
you start behind, you might never catch up.
THE NEW EUGENICS?
THE HEADLINES around this emerging neurolog-
ical research are startling and troublingHow
Poverty Stunts Kids Brain Development. Pov-
A N N I E W E L LS/LOS A N G E L ES T I M ES/G E T T Y
erty Shrinks Brains From Birth. Why Poor Peo-
ple Seem to Make Bad Decisions.
Shonkoff says this type of language is a dan-
gerous, slippery slope. Its one thing to say, We
on average see less gray matter, less surface
area. Its another for people to conclude, Oh,
youre brain damaged. This unfairly stigma-
tizes people. Without context, poverty-brain
research could fuel misguided beliefs involving
NEWSWEEK
racial disparities in intelligence or the inherent inferiority of the
poor. It could also be used to justify racism.
We run the risk of these findings becoming fodder for a nou-
veau eugenics movement, says Matthew Hughey, associate
professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. The
easily dispensed adage that the poors brains are different is an
all-too-easy, scary and simply wrong-headed approach.
Its true that some minority groups living in poverty greatly
exceed the U.S. average, according to the National Poverty
Center at the University of Michigan. As of 2014, the national
poverty rate was at 14.8 percent, according to U.S. census fig-
ures: 26.2 percent of African-Americans and 23.6 percent of
Latinos are poor, compared with 10.1 percent of whites and 12
percent Asian-Americans, proving that poverty is not equally
distributed among ethnic groups.
Young minorities who are more likely to experience poverty
and in turn more likely to face the cognitive development chal-
lenges laid out by sciencecould end up shouldering another
burden, says W. Carson Byrd, assistant professor of Pan-African
Studies at the University of Louisville: the assumption, based
on these studies and headlines, that minority children are less
capable than their white peers. Growing up as a poor minority in
America alone does not make someone inherently more prone to
brain development impactsbut the manifestations of poverty,
along with how society treats poor minorities, can have an effect.
Housing discrimination against minorities living in unsafe,
dilapidated buildings, implicit racial bias by teachers, malnutri-
tion, and underfunded schools in poor communities can ham-
WE RUN THE RISK OF
THESE FINDINGS BECOMING
FODDER FOR A NOUVEAU
EUGENICS MOVEMENT.
per normal brain development. All of these factors combined
can make learning nearly impossible and influence why Afri-
can-Americans, for example, are more likely than whites to be
entrapped by poverty. Its easy to see how a sound bite about
smaller brains can end up as fuel for narrow views of social
inequalities and the people that endure them in society, Byrd
says. It begins to dangerously echo racist arguments from past
generations by so-called scientists who claimed that black peo-
ple had smaller brain sizes and were therefore less intelligent
than Europeans.
The scientists behind these brain studies agree their work
tends to be oversimplified in mass media articles and even
research abstracts. For example, they imply causality when
we really only have correlational evidence at this point, says
Columbia University neuroscientist Kimberly Noble, who led
the Nature Neuroscience study. Portraying the findings this way
often misrepresents the science. The brain is not destiny. I cant
predict with any accuracy what a particular childs brain size will
be based on their family income.
How much money a childs parents make is just one piece of
43 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
the puzzle: Shonkoff points out, You have kids living in poverty
whose brains are perfectly fine. Thats because poverty is on the
one hand just a measure of income. It alone does not equate to
a neurobiological life crippled by the stress of violence or abuse.
Certain kids in impoverished neighborhoods ruled by gangs can
still grow up feeling safe, because their parents shielded them
and emotionally prepared them to handle adversity.
Through relationships with parents, teachers and other
adults who make them feel secure and teach them coping
mechanisms so their fight-or-flight systems are not constantly
keyed up, these children are able to develop resilience buf-
fers that protect their brains from adversity. Its about getting
that stress system down to baseline and building a capacity to
deal with burdens of violence or poverty, Shonkoff says.
These subtleties, in fact, are what hint at a potential solution:
We need to teach kids who grow up poor to deal with stress from
an early age. Even if your neural foundation is weak because of
adversity early on, its never too late, Shonkoff says. The brain
continues to develop. Neural circuits are open to being shaped
by environmental influence. The brains neuroplasticityits
ability to modify its own structureis highest around birth and
early childhood, and it decreases over time but never to zero.
And between the ages of 15 and 30, the brain undergoes a second
spurt of increased plasticity, which means that adolescents and
young adults, with coaching and practice, are primed to adapt.
To help that happen, child behavioral experts agree that we
need to rethink the social programs and policies in poor com-
munities, investing in programs that reduce crime, pollution,
overcrowding and abuse, and focus on helping parents during
the first five years of a childs life. New programs would focus
not just on the children but also on the mother who grew up
in poverty and as a result hasnt developed coping skills and is
therefore highly unlikely to be passing them on to her children.
Schools could add social and emotional learning courses to
their elementary through high school curricula, designed to help
children recognize and pay attention to their feelings, especially
NEWSWEEK 44
while coping with trauma and stress. Such courses
could become requirements, like reading and
math. That would require a massive re-evaluation
of the priorities of our educational and develop-
ment institutionsand some way of funding any
new programs and tools deemed necessary.
Getting that to happen could take the kind of
power wielded by Congress, local governments,
school boards or the U.S. legal system. In 2013,
Clancy Blair of the New York University Neu-
roscience and Education Lab, led a study that
found the time a child spent in poverty, and in
WHEN COLLEGE
CLASSMATES
FIND OUT WHERE
STEPHANIE GREW UP,
THEY ASK: HOW DID
YOU MAKE IT OUT?
a household filled with chaos, was significantly
related to higher levels of the stress hormone
cortisol. Blair says similar findings could be lev-
eraged the way research in the past linked detri-
mental health outcomes to tobacco, sugar-filled
drinks and junk food, and ultimately changed
policies and regulation of those industries. Simi-
larly, findings like those in Blairs study could be
used support legislation or even a landmark law-
suit targeting overcrowded living conditions, or
unaffordable housing and child care.
Other systems that reinforce the cycle of pov-
ertyinferior schools and community infra-
structure; poorly protected neighborhoods and
unchecked child abuse; pollution; a lack of health
care, public transportation and green space
could face legal challenges or new laws.
SEVERAL ANGELS
ALMOST TWO years have passed since Vergara
completed her internship with Immordino-Yang.
She graduated high school in 2015 with a 3.8 grade
point average and the highest SAT scores in her
class. Now shes studying biomedical engineer-
ing at San Jose State University on a full scholar-
ship. She says some see her as a survivorwhen
college classmates find out where she grew up,
they sometimes ask: How did you make it out?
+
REWIRED: The brain scans of some children from extremely
distressed neighborhoods show irreparable damage that
can make it difficult for a child to ever catch up.
0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 She knows how. Growing up, her home was a
refuge. Her parents could not control what hap-
pened out on the street, but they held total con-
trol over anything inside their gates. Theirs is still
one of the lushest yards on the block, with spiral-
ing rose bushes blooming pink, peach, red and
yellow. Inside, the living room is spotless, with
walls painted the color of those pink roses and
decorated with framed family photos, like one of
Vergaras sister in a white gown, holding a bright
orange bouquet for her quinceaera. Dozens of
small, cheery, painted figurinesa panda, a turtle,
F RO M L E F T: G I O N A B R I D L E R /GA L L E RYSTO C K ; RO B E RT N I C K E LS B E RG/G E T T Y
a mother lion with her cubs, the Statue of Liberty
and several angelsadorn a television stand.
Vergara shared one bedroom with her two sis-
ters and a nephew. Some might say that sounds
crowded, but she considered it cozy. When her
parents struggled with money, they didnt let
their kids know; Vergara remembers their fru-
gality as delicious home-cooked meals like pork,
potato and carrot tacos. Her parents climbed the
work ladder in the same factory where they met,
eventually overseeing assembly lines as manag-
ers. This year, they paid off their mortgage.
Vergaras parents were also strict, with firm
rules about homework and socializing. Vergara
played on her high schools soccer and volley-
ball teams, which kept her too busy to party.
NEWSWEEK
But she always felt comfortable enough to speak openly with
her parents, and they encouraged her and her siblings to seek
out other adult role models and protectors. The kids grew up
knowing the names and faces of all the gang members on their
block, but they also knew who would protect them if trouble
eruptedlike the owner of the ice cream store down the block
and the friendly neighbors with the Dalmatian.
Her high school volleyball coach studied science at USC,
which is how Vergara learned about biomedical engineering.
She later decided to major in it. He introduced her to Immordi-
no-Yang, and the researchers at USC took the time to not only
teach Vergara about the brain but also help her with writing
college applications.
Vergara knows she is lucky to have a nurturing family and men-
tors like these. Friends she grew up with didnt have those same
opportunities or support systems. Growing up, she always noticed
how some teachers and administrators divided students between
kids they believed have potential and kids who dont, treating
each group differently. But this new science illuminates more
than surface behavioral or learning problems. When it comes to
the development of the brain, its much more complicated than
that. It could be an eye-opener, Vergara says.
This scientific revolution is only beginning, says
Immordino-Yang. Were starting to get an appreciation of the
richness of the social storythe social stress of poverty that is
really driving these kinds of effects and shaping brain devel-
opment and biological development in ways that we think are
going to persist through a lifetime.
45 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
+
PLAGUE CHEERS:
T E L AV I V U N I V E RS I T Y
NIR EL IAS/REUTERS/

Ayalis mechanical
version can jump
higher and farther
than locusts.

NEWSWEEK 46 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 NEW WORLD
CLIMATE INNOVATION HEALTH ECONOMY
GOOD SCIENCE
LEAPING LOCUSTS, BATMAN!
What insects can teach robots about
walking, running and even jumping
FOR MOST HUMANS, insects are a nuisance, but
Amir Ayali has spent years researching them. The
Tel Aviv University zoology professor studies how
they walk, jump and flythe kinds of movement
at which they exceland translating his observa-
tions so engineers can build better machines.
Hes examined the caterpillars crawl as inspi-
ration for the emerging field of soft robotics and
sees the cockroach as a walking machine that
could help make robots with utmost control over
their legs. Recently, the leaping prowess of the
locust has captured his attention as he works on a
team with his colleague in the school of mechani-
cal engineering, Gabor Kosa, and Uri Ben-Hanan
in the mechanical engineering department at
Ort Braude College. The teams prototype is a
remote-controlled robot that weighs less than an
ounce and is only about 5 inches long but can jump
higher and farther than a locust11 feet high and
ending up 4.5 feet away. The body is the same
BY plastic used to make Legos and holds a small bat-
STAV ZIV tery. Its legs are stiff carbon rods connected with
@stavziv wire springs. Instead of relying solely on muscle
NEWSWEEK 47
AGING WILDLIFE
or motor force, the locust and the miniature robot
it inspired both store mechanical energy to power
a jump. The locust bends its legs, locks the joints
and stores energy in a stiff spring-like structure,
which helps propel the locust into the air. The tor-
sion springs fulfill a similar function in the robot
version, which Ayali says can jump more than
twice as high as similar-sized robots. A second
prototype adds thin nylon wings that unfold at the
peak of the jump to help the robot gain distance,
by gliding, and make for a smoother landing.
Although it obtains less height, it can travel about
12 feet. Future iterations could hone control over
the robots movement and direction and might
incorporate a flapping motion for the wings.
By adding GPS or other tweaks, robot locusts
could provide data from places where humans
cant fit, arent safe or want to avoid detection.
One hundred of these could cover huge areas
in search-and-rescue missions, or on the site of
a radioactive spill, Ayali says. I leave it to any-
ones imagination what could be done with such a
device in the battlefield or anywhere else.
0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 N E W W O R L D/ E CONOMY
DISRUPTIVE
BUMP AND GRIND ECONOMICS
In todays tech-driven economy, its the
friction, not the motion, that matters
AN ENORMOUS SELLING point of cloud soft-
ware, artificial intelligence, the Internet of
Things and other new technology is that it
removes friction from business. But as it turns
out, much like with sex, the economy isnt that
great if you take away all the friction.
This is why the best news out of our house of
horrors presidential campaign might be that
both candidates pledged to pump hundreds of
billions of dollars into infrastructure projects.
A good way to add friction to our hyper-fast
software-driven economy would be to invest in
painfully slow, physical, local, wasteful infra-
structure, like a nice bridge or sewer. If some
parts of our society are going to speed up, tech
philosopher Stewart Brand wrote in The Clock of
the Long Now, then other parts are going to have
to slow way down, just to keep balance.
Businesses loathe friction, a catchall term for
anything that gets in the way of speed and profits.
Something as simple as a credit card swipe can be
considered friction, which is why companies like
Pymnts.com pitch a way to pay with your phone.
IBM and Cisco advertise that they can analyze
data collected at every step of a products journey
to decrease friction in the supply chain. Trucking
physical products around is considered friction.
At a recent conference for corporate chief infor-
mation officers, Steve Rosenbush, editor of the
Wall Street Journals CIO Journal, noted, The
perfect CIO is enabling the perfectly frictionless
business. To sum up, businesspeople want fric-
tion like they want head lice.
NEWSWEEK
So businesses invest in technology that promises
to work like Astroglide. Of course, businesspeople
have been making those kinds of investments, but
todays technology is automating away friction so
fast that society is reeling.
Why? Friction creates middle-class jobs, and
cutting it out means automating or completely
bypassing those jobs. Books provide a simple
example of how technology nukes friction-gener-
ating jobs. Physical books generate a lot of friction
between publisher and readerthink of the por-
tion of a books price that goes to employees at
printers, truck companies, warehouses and retail-
ers. An e-book erases much of that. It zips from
Amazons data center to your iPad. The technol-
ogy brings benefits to the publisher as costs fall,
and makes books cheaper and easier for consum-
ers to get. But it kills all those jobs in the middle.
Imagine the much greater carnage when AI
technology automates truck driving, Americas
most common job. Or when blockchain, the tech-
nology behind bitcoin, makes accountants obso-
lete. Eliminating friction means more money in
the economy bypasses the middle class and goes
right to the ownership class, making the rich
richer. Thats why we now see stalled middle-class
incomes, slow growth, a widening wealth gap and
the anti-establishment anger expressed by sup-
porters of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
Nobody is going to halt advances in technol-
ogy. Nothing is going to convince businesses they BY
shouldnt automate away friction as fast as they KEVIN MANEY
can. So how do we get Brands friction balance? @kmaney
48 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 For the first time since the Reagan administra-
tion, there seems to be a consensus that adding
friction is the governments job. Both presiden-
tial candidates in the 2016 race are going all-in
on infrastructure promises, which is a remarkable
turnaround. Surveys show the public wants this
investment. A recent Brookings Institution report
concludes that government infrastructure spend-
ing is the cure for recent economic woes. The
need to invest in U.S. infrastructure has never
been clearerboth to drive long-lasting growth
and to expand economic opportunity across the
entire workforce, the report says.
Infrastructure projects can add friction as soft-
ware automates it out elsewhere. Building a high-
way or school is stubbornly local, so cloud-based
software from Silicon Valley cant replace work-
ers in Kansas or Maine. Critics say that when the
government builds anything, the work is plagued
by inefficiency and bloated costs. In this soft-
M AT T H EW H O RWO O D/G E T T Y
THERES THE RUB:
Writing, printing, ware-eats-everything era, that is part of the point.
distributing and Inefficiency is friction, and friction means jobs.
selling books is a
process with a lot The latest proposals for infrastructure spending
of friction, which would add 2.5 million jobs by 2025, the American
means it creates a
lot of jobs.
+ proposal put forth by some Silicon Valley leaders
NEWSWEEK
Society of Civil Engineers says, and infrastructure
projects employ people who havent graduated
from Harvard Business School and dont know
the Python programming language from a snake
but still want satisfying work. We never so badly
needed shitty government management.
Added friction further juices local econo-
mies because the newly employed can then hire
plumbers to fix their bathtubs or buy burgers at
nearby restaurants. All of that puts money in the
hands of more people who will spend it, instead
of adding another billion to Mark Zuckerbergs
savings account. A good dose of friction should
do a lot to defuse the anger and resentment
aimed at the richest one-percenters.
Thats the short-term benefit. The big payoff
from improving transportation and cities and
water and schools and broadband will come in the
future. Economist Lester Thurow, who died ear-
lier this year, put it this way: The proper role of
government in a capitalist society is to represent
the interest of the future to the present. Better
infrastructure will create a more efficient and
effective country down the line.
Adding friction seems politically savvier than a
to counter techs impact by giving people a guar-
anteed basic income. That idea assumes software
is going to eradicate most of the friction in the
economyin other words, software will kill most
middle-class jobs. To fend off a revolt, govern-
ment would set up a way to pay everyone enough
so people wouldnt have to work. Apparently,
ELIMINATING FRICTION
MEANS THAT MORE
OF THE MONEY IN THE
ECONOMY BYPASSES
THE MIDDLE CLASS.
the one-percenters would make everything, and
the rest of us would take our economic opium
and spend our time painting or making our own
cheese. But that doesnt sit well with the Ameri-
can ideal of working hard to get ahead. Adding
friction by building infrastructure sounds more
promising. It would pay people to do real jobs, and
the result would be roads and buildings and sys-
tems of great value to future generations.
That way, everyone can feel satiated, then roll
over and immediately fall asleep.
49 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 NE W W O R L D / A GING
WILL YOU STILL NEED ME?
As the population ages, some companies
see older workers as a huge asset
DR. LEONARD BAILEY turns 74 in August, but as
chief of surgery for Loma Linda Universitys Chil-
drens Hospital, about 60 miles east of Los Ange-
les, he still puts in 60-hour weeks, starting at 6:30
every morning. Tall and slender with blue eyes
and a corona of thinning gray hair, the pioneering
heart surgeon performed the worlds first success-
ful infant-to-infant heart transplant and has done
hundreds of transplants for the tiniest of babies.
Some weeks, its 80 to 90 hours, if we do a
transplant that goes round the clock, but we sel-
dom do more than two a day, says Bailey of his
workload. Despite his hectic schedule, he has
no plans to retire. Theres no reason to stop. If
youre constantly thinking new thoughts and
dealing with new problems, it refreshes your
brain cells and makes new connections.
Here in the city of Loma Linda, a high desert
Shangri-la known as Americas longevity capi-
tal, Bailey is not all that unusual. Many of the
residents live as much as a decade longer than
their counterparts in surrounding communities,
and many people in their 70s and beyond are
doing jobs we normally associate with some-
one half their age. While they may seem like
remarkable exceptions, theyre actually part of
a growing phenomenon.
A June report by the Pew Research Center
found that the percentage of retirement-age
Americans who remain in the workforce has
dramatically increased, climbing from 12.8 per-
cent in 2000 to 18.8 percent this year. Roughly
one-third of the nations 65- to 69-year-olds
NEWSWEEK
were still gainfully employed, as were a fifth of
those in the 70-to-74 range and even 8.4 percent
of the 75-plus population.
Several factors are driving this trend. Some
of it is financialthe Great Recession of 2008
ripped a big chunk out of retirement savings,
and fewer employees these days have fixed pen-
sions, so many people have little choice but to
keep working. But others are like Baileyedu-
cated professionals who arent ready to be cast
aside. What was once viewed as the traditional
retirementliving in a retirement commu-
nity on the beach with a rec center and a golf
courseis not the aspiration for the aging cohort
of baby boomers or Gen Xers, says Paul Irving,
chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the
Future of Aging in Los Angeles. People are liv-
ing longer, healthier lives, and the entire notion
of retirement is being rethought.
Theres also a shift in attitudes toward retire-
ment, probably because were in the midst of
the most significant demographic change in
history. Up until the 20th century, fewer than
half of all Americans reached age 50, but by
midcentury, more than 88 million Americans
will be over 65, according to U.S. government
projections, which has triggered worries that
caring for these oldsters could drain societal
resources and bankrupt the health care system.
Rapidly aging nations like Japan, where nearly
40 percent of the population will be 65 or older BY
by 2060, are bracing for economic disaster LINDA MARSA
because there will be fewer young workers to @LindaMarsa
50 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 +
BEATS AN APPLE
A DAY: Dr. Bryon
Harbolt opened his generate robust and sustainable growth, while
clinic in Altamont,
Tennessee, in 1960,
pension and health care costs will skyrocket.
But many experts believe horror stories of
LIVING IN A RETIRE-
and was still see-
ing patients at 90. greedy geezers guzzling scarce resources miss MENT COMMUNITY
the fact that many of todays seniors are health- ON THE BEACH WITH
ier, better educated and more productive than
previous generationsand want to keep working. A REC CENTER AND A
While some employers worry about aging work- GOLF COURSE IS NOT
ers diminished capacities, rising health care costs
and their unfamiliarity with new tech tools, some
THE ASPIRATION FOR
companies are already finding innovative ways BABY BOOMERS.
to accommodate an aging workforce. Theyve
launched programs that range from mentoring
programs that pair up experienced veterans with
younger colleagues to phased-in retirement plans according to a 2014 report by the Bureau of
that allow people to work flexibly or on part-time Labor Statistics. This reduces turnover and
schedules. These programs let companies capital- minimizes costs for hiring and training replace-
H A R R I SO N M CC L A RY/ R EU T E RS

ize on the legions of workers in their 60s whod
miss the camaraderie and the paycheck but not
the hectic pace that comes with a full-time job.
There are good reasons for companies to do
this. Older workers are more loyal and stay on
the job longer than their younger counterparts,
ments. Older employees also have a depth of
experience, contacts and skills, which often
means they can come up to speed faster than
the youngsters, and they can be more adept at
navigating in the corporate world.
The staff at Michelin, the tire manufacturer

NEWSWEEK 51 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 were highly selective of who we hire, says
Maggie Leung, the companys senior director
of content, who sifted through more than 8,000
NEW WORLD /AGING
rsums to field an editorial team of 90. The
company allows telecommuting for profession-
als who dont want to uproot their families or
spend a giant chunk of their paychecks living in ITS ONLY FARE:
the Bay Areas extortionate real estate market. Ray Kottner has
been driving a taxi
Leung says she aggressively recruited a highly for more than 50
that has its U.S. headquarters in Greenville, experienced automotive writer in his mid-60s. years; he charges
nothing for a
South Carolina, is practically geriatric: Nearly Phil Reed, whos been writing about cars for ride in his New
40 percent of their 16,000 employees are over more than two decades, telecommutes from York City cab, but
usually gets very
50, and most of them have been with the com- generous tips.
pany for two decades or more. Michelin, which is +
consistently ranked by AARP as one of the best
places for older workers, has a suite of alterna-
tive arrangements designed to keep people on
the job. They range from flextime, compressed
work schedules and job-sharing to telecom-
muting and phased retirement programs. Even
when staffers opt for that gold watch, theyre
regularly informed of employment opportu-
nities, such as temporary work assignments,
consulting or contract work, or even full-time
jobs. People want to work less and have a bit
more flexibility but dont want to drop out com-
pletely, says David Stafford, Michelins execu-
tive vice president of human resources.
And Michelins not just holding on to its
white-collar professionals; it puts just as much
effort into retaining skilled tradespeoplethe
automation experts, electricians and technical
support staffers who maintain production on
the factory floor. These are the
hardest jobs to fill because so few
have this kind of expertise, says
Stafford. Manufacturing compa-
nies are all facing these kinds of
PEOPLE WANT TO WORK
shortages today. LESS AND HAVE A BIT MORE
MEI Technologies, an aero-
space and technology company
FLEXIBILITY BUT DONT WANT
across the street from the John- TO DROP OUT COMPLETELY.
son Space Center in Houston,
actively recruits retirees, target-
ing former NASA engineers and
retired military people to work on a project basis Long Beach, California. He says at first he felt
during rush periods. Work flows have peaks and somewhat out of place when he traveled to San
valleys, and this on-call workforce helps us meet Francisco for staff meetings.
M I C H A E L A L BA N S/ N Y DA I LY N EWS/G E T T Y

customer needs, says Sandra Stanford, director
of human resources at MEI Technologies.
Even in the notoriously youth-oriented tech
world, some companies are crafting corporate
benefits to keep and attract older workers. At
NerdWallet, a financial information website
headquartered in San Francisco, nearly a third
of the writing and editing staff is 50 or older.
I want the best talent, I want a mix of it, and
There were times I felt conscious of my age,
recalls Reed, who normally does weekly video
conferences with his boss and colleagues. But
I was pleased to find that there were quite a few
editors in their 40s and 50s, and it wasnt just a
startup with kids running around. Originally,
I had planned to retire in a couple of years. But I
like being involved and being part of a team. If
things keep up like this, why would I retire?

NEWSWEEK 52 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 +
DO I HAVE TO?
Nearly one in five
men surveyed
said hes gone to
the doctor simply
to put an end to
nagging by a wife
or girlfriend.

PUT A
FINGER IN IT!
MEN ARE SHOCKINGLY,
DANGEROUSLY OBLIVIOUS
ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES

PHYSICIANS OFTEN bemoan

how hard it is to get male patients
thinking about the health of their
colon, heart and prostateand
to then do something to avoid
a health crisis later in life. Most
young, healthy guys rarely stress
out over ED (erectile dysfunction,
for the uninitiated) or the Big C,
and when it comes to medical
matters, especially preventive
medicine, men would rather
avoid the topic than face a colo-
noscopy headno, bottomon.
According to a survey of 500
men by the Cleveland Clinic, way
too many male patients have no
idea when or how frequently to
undergo routine lifesaving tests.
This includes even the easy ones,
like having your blood pressure
taken or cholesterol checked.
More than half didnt know the
recommended age to start rou-
tine heart disease screening. (For
the record, the American Heart
Association says a man should get
his ticker checked beginning the
third decade of life.)
For many, the problem is
ignoranceif you dont know
J O E RA E D L E /G E T T Y
Education is one key, thats
probably the most important
thing, says Dr. Eric Klein,
chairman of the Cleveland
Clinics Glickman Urological &
Kidney Institute, who helped on
the study. But some of it is fear,
and some of it is not wanting to
be bothered. The survey found
40 percent of men dont go for
annual checkups.
This is not to say that men are
completely unconcerned about
health (44 percent worry about
heart attacks, and 42 percent
said theyd like to avoid cancer
if at all possible). The problem
is, many arent proactive, even
when it comes to seeking out
(and listening to) the advice of
close family and friends. While
health is often a topic of conver-
sation among women, only about
7 percent of men said they would
willingly discuss personal health
the right physician to see or may
be supportive, says Klein.
While the survey found diet,
weight gain and injuries are
sometimes discussed among
male friends, some subjects are
off-limits, particularly those that
fall below the belt. Just 5 percent
of men surveyed said theyve
talked with a male friend about
bedroom performance, while
only 3 percent have asked a buddy
for advice on urinary problems.
Thankfully, women can help
the men in the lives. Nearly 20
percent of men said theyve gone
to the doctor simply to put an
end to nagging. Other research
shows that men who are married
are more likely to survive cancer.
One study published this year in
Cancer found single men had a
mortality rate 27 percent higher
than men who didnt live alone.
I think women are more ex-

what a urologist is, youre unlikely
to go see one. Nearly 20 percent
BY of millennial men and about 7
JESSICA FIRGER percent of baby boomers have no
@jessfirger clue what a urologist is.
with male friends.
Many men overlook the fact
that your male friend may be a
resource for you or an experien-
tial resource, or they may know
perienced with feeling vulnerable
and... know how to deal with it
better, says Klein.
Never underestimate the pow-
er of a persistent woman.

NEWSWEEK 53 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
+
SALAD DAYS: A
woman fertilizes
lettuce with her
menstrual blood
for an article that
appeared on Vice.

NEWSWEEK 54 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016

THEATER JOURNALISM MOVIES TELEVISION
GOOD NIGHT AND TOUGH LUCK
When did journalism become so
humiliating, all stunts and no brains?
ON JUNE 15, 2015, Brendan Klinkenberg ate a
burrito. It was a breakfast burrito packed with
eggs, bacon, avocado, beans and cheese. Several
hours later, he ate a burrito for lunch. For din-
ner, a carnitas burrito. Klinkenberg repeated the
dietskipping breakfastthe following day. And
the next day, and the day after that.
After a hellish week, Klinkenberg wrote a
BuzzFeed article titled I Ate Nothing but Burri-
tos for a Week.
It was a mistake, Klinkenberg says now of
his burrito cleanse. You shouldnt eat only bur-
ritos for a week. The idea was pitched to him by
an editor, and Klinkenberg happily consented.
The headline was guaranteed to garner atten-
tion. BuzzFeed would pay for the burritos. Thats
a week of free meals. Why not? I thought it was
kind of a silly idea and Id just do it and be done
with it, he adds. But it was pretty bad. You just
feel like garbage. In his write-up, he declared it
JOEY PRIN CE
BY the dumbest thing Ive ever done.
ZACH SCHONFELD Other journalists have done far worse.
@zzzzaaaacccchhh Ive smoked coffee grounds, ate gourmet dog
NEWSWEEK
DOWNTIME
SHOES MUSIC
food, got drunk off a humidifier full of vodka and
most recently tried to get drunk off a few gallons
of Kombucha, says Jules Suzdaltsev, a writer who
has taken stunt journalism to its logical extremes.
A decade ago, stunts like this might have been
fodder for Fear Factor or Jackass. Today, the Jack-
asses are likely to be professional journalists.
When did journalism become so humiliating?
I CAME TO WORK WEARING
ONLY UNDERWEAR
Immersive journalism is not new. In 1887, the
reporter Nellie Bly feigned insanity in order to be
committed to a New York City insane asylum. Her
stay resulted in a landmark undercover account of
appalling conditions at the Womens Lunatic Asy-
lum. Eighty-odd years later, Hunter S. Thompson
wrote a manic first-person account of the 1970
Kentucky Derby, which more or less invented the
genre now known as gonzo journalism. His work
brought madcap (and drugged) self-immersion to
the forefront of American journalism.
Whats happened now, says Duy Linh Tu, a
55 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016

D O WNTIME /JOURNALISM
professor at the Columbia School of Journalism,
is theres been an escalation in the types of stuff
[writers will] do. Stunt journalism is pretty easy
to define: Its any article wherein a writer becomes
a guinea pig, attempting some masochistic or out-
rageous challenge attempting to prove a point
or provide a compelling or horrifying firsthand
account. But its not so easy to trace its history.
Nobody can really tell you when stunt journalism
evolved into todays more sensationalist form, so
lets just go with May 2007. That was the month
Vice magazine had an intern masturbate into an
ice tray for a week, freeze the semen and then eat
the 12 syrup-flavored cumsicles.
There are basically four categories of stunt
journalismsex, food, body horror and fashion/
beauty. The Vice interns dirty deed done dirt
cheap ticks at least four of those boxes. Nine years
later, the stomach-churning story has been largely
scrubbed from the internet, but the try-anything
ethos has blossomed into a cottage industry.
A lot of young journalistsare doing these
things for very, very little pay, says Lauren Lar-
son, an editorial assistant at GQ who in February
wrote a list of Free Stunt-Journalism
Ideas for Aspiring Writers. Some-
times its really funny, and some-
times its really, really stupid. SOMETIMES ITS REALLY
Larsons piece envisions a future
overrun by a bunch of J-school
FUNNY, AND SOMETIMES ITS
grads in adult diapers, eating burri- REALLY, REALLY STUPID.
tos. Its not so far off. Then there is
the live-like-a-celebrity genre: One
writer lived like Khlo Kardashian
for a week; another lived like Marilyn Mon-
roe. The Cut published My Week Living Like
Shailene Woodley, and The Tab posted I Lived
Like Donald Trump for a Week. (How?) You can
interview people or do a bunch of research on a
particular topic, says Brooke Shunatona, an edi-
tor with Cosmopolitan who lived like Kylie Jenner
for a week, but you dont actually really know or
understand until youve done it yourself.
The stunt piece headline is nearly always a
first-person, declarative statement. I Let My Boy-
friend Dress Me for a Week. I Fertilized My Salad
With Period Blood. I Came to Work Wearing Only
Underwear (and This Is What Happened). I Tried to
NEWSWEEK
Eat Hot Dogs Competitively and Nearly Died. I Read
and Replied to Every PR Email I Received for a Week.
I wrote the last one, by the way.
SUPER SIZE US
The stunt piece might be understood as a distant
cousin of the personal essay, the confessional
form that now commands great power and even
greater traffic on sites like Thought Catalog and
xoJane. Its similarly intimate, except the pain
flows out of a careerist strategy thats familiar to
a post-Revenant, frostbitten Leonardo DiCaprio:
How much bodily and emotional harm am I
willing to do to myself for the sake of my career?
They contain traces of the personal essay, but
the tone is different. The personal essay searches
inward, mining personal experiences for con-
tent; stunt journalism pushes outward, creating
experiences from scratch. Its a neat trick: Youre
no longer required to have an interesting life in
order to write about yourself.
If the modern stunt essay has a film antecedent,
its Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlocks 2004 docu-
mentary chronicling his attempt to eat nothing
but McDonalds food for 30 days. However jokey
it seemed, the stunt served the public interest in
clear ways: Spurlock drew national attention to
the obesity epidemic, and McDonalds discontin-
ued its Super Size option shortly after the film pre-
miered. Less journalistic value is accomplished by
ingesting nothing but alcohol for a week. Tu, the
journalism professor, wonders whether the term
stunt journalism is a misnomer. I dont think
all of this is journalism, he says. Im not mak-
ing a quality judgment. Its all content.... [But]
you wont be able to build a long-term journalistic
organization pulling these stunts.
You might envision stunt journalism as a
giant spectrum, with newsworthy on one end
and existentially pointless on the other. In
the former category, youll find Mother Joness
PAU L J. R I C H A R DS/A F P/G E T T Y
powerful recent dive into life as a prison guard
or Motherboards Soylent investigation, How I
Ate No Food for 30 Days.
At Columbia, Tu isnt teaching his journalism
students how to dress like Disney princesses.
We dont talk about it, he says. Not because
56 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016

+ but not seriously enough to produce much insight.
BLOW HARDS:
BuzzFeeds
exploding wa- we dont think its something our students
termelon video would ever be exposed to or lean towards. We
attracted nearly
a million viewers. just have other fish to fry. That said, his stu-
The impact on U.S. dents might go to a place like Vice or BuzzFeed
gross domestic
product has not or any of these online platforms that get very
been calculated. loosy-goosey with whats allowable, Tu adds.
Maybe we should address it more.
THE THIRST FOR CONTENT
Super Size Me proved prophetic in subject as well
as style: Stunt journalism frequently involves fast
food and extreme diets. A few months after the
burrito piece, Cosmopolitan published I Only Ate
Pizza for a Week and I Lost 5 Pounds. Another
reporter tried eating nothing but Chick-fil-A for
30 days, while a BuzzFeed contributor tasted
12 brands of cat food. Sometimes the fast food
industrys concoctions are so ghastly that merely
sampling the latest item on the menu passes for
a stunt. In 2015, Time, Fox News, The Washington
Post, USA Today, Time Out and Newsweek all made
a big show of tasting Pizza Huts hot dog-crusted
pizza monstrosity. (One wonders if the foods are
created to solicit exactly this kind of coverage for
free advertising.) In other cases, the food is pretty
much incidental: Dan Ozzi, an editor at Noisey,
recently spent 12 hours in Taco Bell on 4/20the
ultimate weed holiday. He describes the stunt as
really isolating and boring.
Theres a thirst for content, says Ozzi. I real-
ize that Im insulting myself by saying this, but
it also says a lot about journalism that its a very
NEWSWEEK
me-focused thing: Oh, I did this. I went out and
did this stupid thing. It is very focused on the
writer, because digital media makes it so that
online popularity is the new form of currency.
Especially now that content creators are stunt-
ing not just behind the laptop but in front of
the camera too. BuzzFeed Video is owed some
creditor blamefor the shift. BuzzFeeds Try
Guys (a team of guys who, well, try things)
have racked up millions of views exploring zany,
gender-bending antics on camera: trying cosplay,
trying on wedding dresses, simulating the feel of
going into labor. More than shock value, these
videos make a desperate bid for relatability, the
secret ingredient for converting mundane subject
matter into viral manna. Look! they scream. These
men are discovering how gross it is to change a diaper!
Many of the stunts amount to a kind of super-
ficial tourism of gender, class or race. BuzzFeeds
diary of a flannel-wearing dude wearing makeup
for a week (which has well over a million views),
for example, presents something that women do
daily just long enough to produce viral content
Writing for Gawker, Leah Finnegan likened the
piece to John Howard Griffins book Black Like Me,
deriding it as stuntertainment at its worst: doing
something a large swath of the population does
every day as if its a remarkable act.
In recent months, the advent of Facebook Live
has both bolstered and redefined stunt journal-
ism. When BuzzFeed got nearly a million viewers
to watch two guys in smocks explode a water-
melon on Facebook Live, the landmark antic
spawned dozens of future of media blog posts
and nearly as many copycat stunts. A week later,
Mic, a prominent BuzzFeed competitor, broad-
cast its staffers donning lab coats and blowing
things up in real time, to significantly less fanfare.
Meanwhile, a Washington Post columnist ate his
words on camera, swallowing a newspaper cevi-
che with graceful composure, while the New York
Post had its staffers attempt to eat 3 pounds of arti-
sanal cheese on Live.
This is a journalistic clichdont look for a
story, be the storyfunneled through new-media
channels. Its not the recklessness thats new (war
reporters have long put themselves at risk) but the
humiliation. The stunt craze is liable to change
how would-be journalists go about breaking into
the industry. Or maybe it already has.
Whenever kids ask me how to get into writ-
ing, Im always just like, You know how to get
into writing? Go fuck up your life really bad,
Ozzi says. Go do something really stupid. And
then write about it. Thats where good stories
come from.
57 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 D O W N T I M E/ T E L E VISION

STRANGER DANGER
Stranger Things taps into the
80s hysteria over missing kids

OUTSIDE OF COMIC-CON in San Diego in July,

attendees discovered missing person fliers taped
to surrounding poles and concrete walls. Have
you seen this child? Will Byers. Age: 12. Height:
48. Weight: 102 lbs., they read. Below that was
the hashtag #StrangeHunt.
The fliers turned out to be part of a tasteless
marketing stunt for Stranger Things, the Netflix
series that debuted July 15. Its set in the 1980s and
revolves around the disappearance of Byers at the
hands of a monster and the attempts of his friends
and family to find him, with the help of a girl with
supernatural abilities. The show has received
great reviews, with writers calling it a cultural
phenomenon and an instant cult classic. With
good reason: The show is a thrilling tribute to 80s
films, with the energy of Steven Spielberg in his
prime. The show also draws on another element
from that period, one that is far truerand per-
haps scarierthan the monster.
Byers goes missing during a time of national
panic over the disappearances or abductions of
children, says Robert Lowery Jr., vice president
for the Missing Children Division of the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
He notes that at the time, several missing child
cases made headlines, including those involving
Etan Patz, who disappeared in New York City
in 1979, and Adam Walsh, who was abducted
from a department store in Florida in 1981. (His
father, John Walsh, went on to host Americas Most BY
Wanted.) A popular made-for-TV movie about the MAX KUTNER
Walsh case premiered in October 1983. @maxkutner

NEWSWEEK 58 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 In 1984, Newsweek published a cover story on
child abductions and the case of Kevin Collins,
who disappeared in San Francisco that year.
Until recent years it was one of the secondary
shocks for parents of stolen children that they
were alone in their crisisand often nightmar-
ishly thwarted by foot-dragging police depart-
ments, jurisdictional tangles and an FBI unable to
enter a case unless there was clear evidence of an
abduction, the article said. That began to change
with the Patz case, the article said, and since
then, interest in the subject has snowballed.
There was no infrastructure in place for deal-
ing with the issue at the time, Lowery says. Law
enforcement agencies tended to conduct such
investigations on their own, as the local county
DEJA-VOODOO: sheriff, Jim Hopper (played by David Harbour),
In the 80s, does in Stranger Things.
there was no
CURT I S BA K E R / N E T F L I X
infrastructure for This began to change, due largely to the work
finding missing of victims parents who became advocates. Con-
kids, so local
police often han- gress enacted the Missing Childrens Act in 1982,
dled the search, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited
as is the case in
Stranger Things. Children opened in 1984. Also that year, the faces
+ of missing children began to appear on milk car-
tons nationally for the first time. So many tools
we have today we didnt have then, Lowery
says. The recovery rate is now 98 to 99 percent,
he adds, as opposed to the 62 to 64 percent in the
period in which Stranger Things is set.
Still, each year in the United States, nearly half
a million children are reported missing, accord-
ing to the FBI. Counting unreported cases, the
figure could be more than 1.3 million. But only a
fraction of those are stranger kidnappings2 to 3
percent. Seven to 9 percent are family abductions,
and almost half of the cases involve runaways or
thrown-aways (children who are abandoned or
kicked out of the home). The rest involve children
whose whereabouts are unknown to their caretak-
ers but are not actually missing.
What happens in the late 70s and 80s is
theres this huge anxiety that children are being
taken in order to be exploited sexually and then
sadistically murdered, says Paula Fass, professor
emerita of history at the University of California,
Berkeley, and author of Kidnapped: Child Abduc-
tion in America. Missing children saturated the
news media and appeared on fliers and milk car-
tons. People were surrounded with what looked
like demonstrations of the fact that children were
disappearing, Fass says. Parents were taking
out kidnap insurance. They were being advised by
local police stations to have their children finger-
printed so they could identify the bodies later.
Despite the headlines and high-profile cases,
the stranger danger panic was overblown, Fass
says. She has not seen Stranger Things, but she
NEWSWEEK
says the paranormal monster that abducts Byers
sounds like an embodiment of that panic, of an
abductor having no face, coming from some-
where else. The shows main victim is also con-
sistent with those from that time, she saysa
prepubescent boy. The alarm over young male
victims, Fass says, had a lot to do with fears
about homosexuality, that these monsters were
treading across all kinds of boundaries in terms of
sexuality, and it coincided with the early days of
the AIDS crisis. And Fass says the boys mother,
Joyce (played by Winona Ryder), fits another
aspect of the moral panic at the time, which was
that because of the rising divorce rate and women
increasingly entering the workforce, parents were
no longer around to look after their children 24/7.
Joyces experience is consistent with those of
the parents of missing children who have spo-
ken with Newsweek. Those parents have said that
they felt alone in dealing with the disappearance
and that others were incapable of understand-
ing what they were going through. It is a loss
that is so different from other kinds of losses of
YOURE FROZEN AND
YOU CANNOT FINISH
THE GRIEVING PROCESS.
BECAUSE IF YOU DO FIN-
ISH, YOUVE GIVEN UP.
children, Ruth Parker, whose sons CJ and Billy
Vosseler were abducted by their father in 1986
and are still missing, told Newsweek in January.
Youre frozen and you cannot grieve, you can-
not finish the grieving process. Because if you do
finish that process, youve given up.
Stranger Things is one in many on-screen por-
trayals of missing children, particularly in the
horror genre. I tend to see...the loss of the child
as irreparable damage, as irrecoverable horror:
horror which cannot be recovered in memory
or representation, horror from which there is no
absolute recovery, writes University of Cam-
bridge professor Emma Wilson in her book Cine-
mas Missing Children. On the screen, such a loss is
annihilating, immense and nonsensical.
For many viewers, the threat of child abduction
or disappearance is scarier than any paranormal
monster. Perhaps what makes Stranger Things
so frightening and captivating is that it has both.
Even if both are largely fictional.
59 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 DO W N T I M E / M O VIES
WORLD WIDE WERNER
In Lo and Behold, director
Werner Herzog dives deep
into the turbulent digital seas
DO NOT LOOK at the photos of the Nikki Catsouras
car crash on the internet, lingering there despite
the efforts of her parents to scrub them through
ReputationDefender and pleas to human decency.
Look at pictures of Rollerblading dachshunds,
click through a BuzzFeed quiz about Full House,
read an article about Donald Trumps grooming
habits. Take a walk, for Gods sake. The photos
of Catsourass mangled body hanging out of a
car, head split openas well as the story of how
those photos ended up being disseminated on the
internetrepresent the most debased instincts
of humanity. I gave in and looked, thinking they
couldnt be that bad. I was wrong.
The remaining members of the Catsouras fam-
ily are in Lo and Behold, the new documentary by
Werner Herzog about the founding of the inter-
net, our struggles to understand its effects on us
today and the even greater influence it may have
on our tomorrows. Its subtitle is Reveries of the Con-
nected World, but the films section that focuses on
Catsourass death feels less like a reverie than an
anger-tinged lament, not only for the girl but for
a world not yet populated by anonymous trolls
whose digital jabs can cause real wounds.
On October 31, 2006, Catsouras, 18, took her
fathers Porsche and drove it down California
State Route 241 at 100 miles per hour. As she
tried to pass a slower vehicle, she lost control
and smashed into a toll booth. First responders
were greeted with a gruesome scene, which they
NEWSWEEK
photographed, sending the photos to two dis-
patchers, who thought to share the bloody tableau
with outsiders. At first, they forwarded the pho-
tos through email, but secrets do as well on the
internet as in a sixth-grade classroom, and soon
enough the images of Catsouras found their way
to sites that promulgate images of death.
Someone made a fake MySpace page for the
girl, according to Newsweeks Jessica Bennett,
who helped make this story a national outrage.
Trolls gonna troll, but why they decided to troll a
grieving family is impossible to understand. But
they did, descending on the Catsourases with a
mirthful vehemence, sending them photos of
Nikki, often with messages attached. Woohoo
Daddy! Hey daddy, Im still alive, one said.
Herzog did not look at the photos of Cat-
sourasand this is a man who once listened to
audio of a man being devoured by a bear. The
transgressions make you speechless, he says
when I met him in Los Angeles on a recent after-
noon. Nor does Lo and Behold describe in any sig-
nificant detail the vitriol directed at the Catsouras
family. Unspeakably evil, he says about that.
Herzog does not have a smartphone and is not
an avid internet user, but Lo and Behold makes the
case that digital technologies will become only
more advanced and ingrained in the human expe-
BY
rience. You better learn how to cope with it, he
ALEXANDER
warns me with a schoolmasters sternness. NAZARYAN
Believe me, Werner, I am trying. But between @alexnazaryan
60 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016

+ this time, NetScout, a Massachusetts-based
A BEAUTIFUL
SICKNESS: Herzog
is fascinated by the ruin porn, death porn and just plain old porn;
internets dark, 17,000-word exposs of the organic food indus-
evil sides, but also
its many glories. try; Periscope videos from Syrian refugee camps;
and Christopher Walken GIFs, the coping can
start to feel like drowning, until there I am, look-
ing at the photos of Nikki Catsouras again.
THERE WAS A TIME, not that long ago, when Her-
M AT T SAY L ES/ I N V I S I O N /A P
zog was regarded as one of the great auteurs of
the New German Cinema, the uncompromising
director who threatened to shoot (not with a cam-
era) his star, Klaus Kinski, on the set of Aguirre, the
Wrath of God (1972) and had a steamship dragged
through the Amazon for Fitzcarraldo (1982).
NEWSWEEK
Today, though, Herzog is best known as a docu-
mentarian. In the past decade or so, he has repeat-
edly trained his camera on wonders both human
and natural: a man who moves to Alaska to con-
sort with bears (Timothy Treadwell, the tragic
hero of Grizzly Man, 2005); the strange creatures,
some of them human, that thrive in Antarctica
(Encounters at the End of the World, 2007); and
the prehistoric imagery in the Chauvet cave in
France (2010s Cave of Forgotten Dreams). The
disparate subjects are united by Herzogs curios-
ity, his openness to the weird and wonderfulbut
also to that which terrifies and confounds. There
is a patience to Herzogs documentary work, and
a reluctance to judge. And what some take to be
ELON MUSK SAYS HE
NEVER REMEMBERS
HIS DREAMS, ONLY
HIS NIGHTMARES.
a lack of humor on the native Bavarians part (he
has long been an Angeleno) is really an admirable
refusal to descend to sarcasm.
In 2013, Herzog made From One Second to the
Next, a documentary about texting while driving,
at the behest of AT&T and other telecommuni-
cations companies. It was a bracing look at an
activity both lethal and common, one that has led
Herzog into the Fitzcarraldian jungle that is the
internet. I see theres something going on in civi-
lization, he told the Associated Press at the time,
which is coming with great vehemence at us.
Like its predecessor, Lo and Behold is a collab-
oration between Herzog and a corporate patron:
cybersecurity company. Each of the documenta-
rys 10 chapters explores some facet of our digital
lives: the rise of robots, the fear of electromagnetic
waves, the internets founding legends. He talks
to the Catsouras family, whose matriarch calls the
internet the manifestation of the antichrist, and
to Leonard Kleinrock, a University of California
at Los Angeles computer scientist whose work on
ARPANET in the 1960s allows us, today, to finish
an Excel report while streaming the Hamilton cast
recording. Standing in the plain room where the
very first message over a rudimentary version of
the internet was sent (an aborted missive from
which the film takes its name), Kleinrock marvels
at the delicious old odor of the ancient machine,
61 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016

DOWNTIME /MOVIES
which for himand for millions of othersmight
as well be the Shroud of Turin.
Lo and Behold is a survey of the beast Kleinrock
and his peers have created. They couldnt have
foreseen, of course, that the enormous machines
that sent messages between research centers
would morph into a digital overlay on the human
experience, one where state secrets compete
with hockey bloopers. As the Silicon Valley pio-
neer Danny Hillis tells Herzogin what sounds
nearly like an apologyin the 1970s you could
find the identity of an internet user through the
ARPANET Directory, a sort of White Pages for
every person who was online. Today, about 3.2
billion people use the internet around the world.
As Herzog says, CDs containing a single days
worth of global data flow would reach to Mars
and back. Even so, we are probably living in
the digital Dark Age, Hillis says.
Although Lo and Behold is narrated by Her-
zogthe Teutonic dryness in his voice lightly
masking the curiosity beneathhe mostly stays
out of the way, letting his subjects do the talking.
The legendary hacker Kevin Mitnick recalls his
pursuit by the government, the ludicrous allega-
tion that he could launch nuclear missiles simply
by whistling into a jailhouse phone, and the year
he spent in solitary confinement. Elon Musk, the
Tesla founder, confidently muses about the colo-
nization of Mars. But in a remarkably unguarded
moment, he tells Herzog that he never remem-
bers his dreams, only the nightmares. Rarely has
one of Silicon Valleys sunny, delight-bearing
titans admitted to a darkness within.
Yes, it has its dark, evil sides, and it has its
glories, the meticulously agnostic Herzog says
to me as I try to tease out condemnation or
praise. He may well be the last person on Earth
without a strong opinion about the internet. Lo
and Behold refuses to hammer the reader with
argumentation: This is an anthology, not a hot
take, its questions not gotcha but tell me. As the
Carnegie Mellon computer scientist Joydeep
Biswas praises a soccer-playing robot, Herzog
asks him if he loves a puck-shaped gizmo named
Robot 8, apparently the teams star.
Yes, we do, Biswas says without any hesita-
tion, or shame. We do love Robot 8.
NEWSWEEK
LO AND BEHOLD is a sign of a conversation evolv-
ing beyond save-the-world utopianism and The
Matrix-is-coming dystopianism. In Herzogs
view, all that Silicon Valley has wrought is a phe-
nomenal achievement, as awesome and danger-
ous as fire, so I press him on that: If the internet is
a tool, is it like penicillin or the atom bomb?
Not easy to accept the question as it is, he
counters with a touch of exasperation.
Some will wonder how a man so obviously
enthralled by the internet can use it so little. He
rarely goes online other than for emails and nav-
igationand in the latter case, he still prefers a
paper map, the kind that wont tolerate many
pins. My social network is my dinner table,
he says. Any guest placing an iPhone next to her
wineglass should not expect another invitation
to eat steak at the Herzog household.
While he is happy to lead a largely analog exis-
tence, Herzog knows he is the subject of many
internet memes, as well as parody accounts like
THE INTERNET IS
THE MANIFESTATION
OF THE ANTICHRIST.
@WernerTwertzog, which dispenses seemingly
Herzogian morsels of faux-dour wisdom: Life
is a parade of absurdities and pain, and then we
die, alone, in filth. So, yes, little girl, I shall buy
a box of Thin Mints. The real Herzog, the one
sitting across from me, says he welcomes these
parodies, calling his various online chimeras my
unpaid bodyguards, protecting his true identity
with their fake ones. And when I suggest, jokingly,
that I will live-tweet our conversation in an act of
meta-journalism, he seems enthusiastic about
the prospect. It would actually be interesting,
he says. Later, he allows me to take a selfieIf
you need tothough he warns he will not smile.
And when I bemoan the proliferation of cat vid-
eos, he rises in defense of the internet, which is the
triumph of the useless and the beautiful, the cruel
and the ingenious and the insane, the place we go
when we are bored, when we are lonely, when we
want to know Steph Currys stat line and why your
knee is making a weird sound and why they tore
down the Bastille and what happens when we die,
which we will, unlike the internet, which will not.
There are fantastic, crazy cat videos out
there, says Herzog. Nothing wrong about it.
62 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
 +
OLD SOLES:
La Manual
Alpargatera has
been selling
espadrilles in
Barcelona since
the 1940s.
No Flip-Flopping!
How the espadrilles became a sartorial classic
worn by peasants and popes
NOL COWARDS verdict on the
Duke of Windsor was damning:
He had the charm of the world,
with nothing whatever to back it
up. That judgment was unfair.
Coward overlooked the dukes
great talent as the standout
sartorial innovator of his age:
He was famed for his advocacy
of sportswear, popularizing plus
fours and relaxing the dinner
jacket by having one made
of corduroy. And he elevated
humble items to the height of
fashion, like the espadrille,
a rustic, rope-soled style of
footwear popular with Pyrenean
peasants for centuries.
While the duke was discover-
ing and championing the shoe,
over in Spain, Joan Oliv Vagu
and his wife, Emilia Martinez,
decided it was time for espa-
drillesor alpargatas in Span-
ishto enter the salons of the
elite. Just after the Spanish Civil
L A M A N UA L A L PA RGAT E RA
War, they opened a shop and
manufacturer called La Manual
Alpargatera in Barcelona.
As the price of leather shoes
was out of reach for most
BY Spaniards, La Manual Alpargat-
NICHOLAS FOULKES era created a range of different
rope-soled, canvas shoes. They
quickly became a summer
fashion staple. La Manual
Alpargateras business is still
running, and, incredibly, the
teenage girlJuana Martinez
Garcawho sold the first
pair there 77 years ago is still
occasionally seen in the shop.
Her son, Joan Carles Tasies, now
runs the business day to day,
while his wife superintends the
workshops. The store has had
many famous customers over
the years, including then-Pope
John Paul II, the Catalan police
force and Salvador Dal, who
loved the simple footwear so
much that he wore espadrilles
laced with ribbons.
The method of making
espadrilles has changed little
in centuries. The sole is formed
by coiling the plaited rope into
shape, stitching it transversally
(tough work when done by
hand) and using an implement
that looks like a straight-side
rolling pin to flatten it. Then the
linen upper is stitched to the
sole. There are some styles that
clearly correspond to certain re-
gions or certain areas, and some
NEWSWEEK 63 0 9 / 0 2 / 2016
whose origins we dont know,
says Tasies. And there are some
others that were started in our
shop but are now considered as
classics, and widely made. The
regional differences are very
much based on the laced styles.
For instance, the espadrilles we
make for the Catalan police orig-
inated in Valls, a city in Catalo-
nia. The Valls has a fabric front
that goes high up the foot, with
a V-like throat and ribbon laces
that fasten around the ankle.
They are very different from
the style favored by Dalithe
Pinxo. This is fastened with
a ribbon, says Tasies. It has
some white canvas in the front,
something in the back, and there
are ribbons in between.
As its history stretches
back perhaps millenniaa
4,000-year-old grass sandal
found in a cave has been identi-
fied as an ancestor of the modern
espadrillethere are likely many
more variations. That heritage
helps explain some of its appeal.
Its both timeless and fashion-
ablewhether you happen to
be a pope, a police officer or just
someone relaxing on vacation.
 REWIND20 SEPTEMBER 2, 1996
YEARS
HOWARD FINEMAN AND BILL TURQUE
REPORT ON BILL CLINTONS UNORTHODOX
GOVERNANCE IN A 1996 COVER STORY

[President
Clinton]
applies the
down-home
treatment
to foreign
policy. At Hyde Park last
year, Boris Yeltsin com-
plained that his feet hurt.
In a dizzy moment, the
two beefy potentates tried
on each others shoes.
Discover the cultural, political and
economic impact behind
Americas most controversial plant

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