On Jan. 30, as NHK kicked off its evening news program with upbeat music, footage aired of a young woman with immaculately coiffed brown hair wearing pearl earrings and her trademark ¡°kappogi,¡± a Japanese-style white apron.
¡°A ¡®rikejo¡¯ (young female scientist) has stunned the world,¡± the news anchor announced cheerfully as he introduced Haruko Obokata, a 30-year-old researcher at the state-backed Riken institute¡¯s Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe.
The footage showed her peering into a microscope in a lab with pink walls and drawings of Moomin cartoon characters on the doors.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.