Humanity among Tragedy

"This story is ultimately about how small acts of kindness can bring a little humanity, even in a tragedy that defies all imagination." It's an account of what a retired undertaker has achieved in Kamaishi, Japan. Atsushi Chiba took it upon himself to clean and tend to the dead bodies of hundreds of last year's earthquake and tsunami victims, preparing them for their family members (in case they're found) and burial.

Read the moving story in The New York Times as we recall the events of one year ago.

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Shy Prince with a Huge Heart

These may be the worst of times for Japan.
They are the best of times for Ryo Ishikawa.

Ishikawa is the 19-year-old golf sensation who has captured the minds and imaginations of his Japanese homeland. He is a big-time newsmaker at a very tender age. At a time when most teenagers are looking for an identity, Ishikawa has already made his way in the world and has done the extraordinary.

His concern for his nation and its people has driven him to make an incredible decision. He is donating all of his golf course earnings this season to the earthquake and tsunami relief efforts that will help his country rebound from these horrible disasters.

Last year he made nearly $2 million. He's a cinch to do better than that this year. As if that's not enough, he's also going to donate $1,200 for each birdie he makes this season. He made 341 last year, so that will be a hefty amount in and of itself.

In Fast-Growing Asia, New Attention on Quality Over Quantity

Automakers received an unexpected boost in August, when Asian sales surged thanks to variations on the American "cash for clunkers" scheme to encourage consumers to turn in old gas guzzlers and buy new, cleaner models. The US plan, you may recall, was designed in part to help rescue the American auto industry, but ended up doing more to boost sales of Japanese and Korean cars. So Tokyo decided in April to offer consumers rebates if they would also purchase new hybrid cars. And in June, China followed suit, offering even larger subsidies to consumers in five cities that bought more environmentally friendly cars.

More than just a plan to revive domestic auto sales, the moves are part of a broader shift among Asian policy makers from pursuing economic growth at all costs to promoting what is widely known as "green growth." Asian governments used to focus almost exclusively on GDP growth as the barometer of policy success, but as rapid development creates growing environmental and social stresses, more policy makers are focusing on how to make their economies better, and not just bigger. Fast-growing economies in which citizens face crippling pollution and destabilizing disparities in income aren't necessarily healthier economies. So governments are quickly bringing sustainable growth, once a rallying cry for non-governmental organizations, into the policy mainstream.