It’s early morning and you’re snuggled tightly under the warm covers. Your alarm buzz isn’t quite enough to entice you to get up and en route to begin your day. But what if there was a public radio announcement with a trusty reminder that it’s good for the body, if possible, to get up and move? Well, in Japan, there is.

The Associated Press posted a clip on YouTube of people lightly stretching in various locations across Japan. They explain that this is a common practice. “This is how Japan wakes up,” a voiceover shares. “It’s called Radio Taiso. In English, it’s radio exercise. It’s a very simple idea. At 6:30 in the morning, on the radio, you get music. You get choreography to exercise by. People gather in city parks to do it. People gather in their offices. At schools. You can do it at home.”

The exercise regimen is nothing too heavy. “The exercises are not very strenuous—just exercise and basic calisthenics,” they explain. “It’s suitable for all ages and everybody can do it. You can exert yourself a lot if you want, but you don’t have to.”

The host of the segment points out that Japan has a “long-lived population.” He shares, “As we all know, Japan is famous for longevity. I wouldn’t say that Radio Taiso is why, but it certainly can’t hurt anything.”

According to the BBC, Japan continues to break records for long, healthy lives: “The number of people in Japan aged 100 or older has risen to a record high of nearly 100,000, its government has announced. Setting a new record for the 55th year in a row, the number of centenarians in Japan was 99,763 as of September.”

In a recent article, Yahoo!life explains that this tradition has been around for nearly a century. “Radio Taiso has an almost 100-year history,” write article author Stephen Wade, “formally introduced in 1928 and coinciding with the enthronement of Emperor Hirohito. The tradition endures because the exercises are suitable for all ages and capabilities, and easily accessible.”

Even more interestingly, Wade shares the roots of the exercise, writing, “Radio Taiso was inspired a century ago by a similar radio program in the United States sponsored by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The Japan Radio Taiso Federation says officials of the postal ministry visited the United States in the 1920s and returned to Japan with the concept.”

The Japan Society explains that these routines, of course, are helpful for all ages. On their website they write, “Fun for children and adults alike, Radio Taiso is commonly used for group warm-ups in Japan and the whole school will participate in the exercises at the beginning of school Sports Day.”

They add that it gained popularity because of the positive mental and physical effects it seemed to have on citizens. “The purpose of Radio Taiso is to improve general health and fitness,” they write, “and the routine is therefore designed to be simple and accessible to all. It requires no equipment, can be done in a small space, and can be modified for those with mobility issues.”

The movements, as mentioned, are simple. Similarly to yoga, it begins with arm exercises. Participants lift their arms up and move them in gentle circles. Then, they slightly bend and twist their legs.

This continues for about ten-second intervals, adding bends in each direction, like a ballet routine. Then, there’s more twists, shoulder movements, slight hopping, and squats. Wade shares, “Each movement is repeated four to eight times, with instructions throughout to relax, breathe, and inhale and exhale slowly.”

I reached out to an old high school friend, Nathan Hillyer, who has been living in Japan for quite some time. He confirmed that while it still exists, it’s mostly practiced by and beneficial to the elderly. “In the park near where I live, old people tend to go there to do it. It is run by NHK Radio 1 at 6:30 in the morning,” he shares.

He adds that his wife, Asuka Hillyer, shared that she would wake up early to do it back in the day. “My wife said when she was a kid, she would do it as a part of the ‘kodomokai’ (community kids club). They would get a stamp or something every morning, and if they had a certain number by the end of the year, they would get a prize. They would show up wearing their community paper kind of tied around their neck.”

Hillyer also recalled that the radio exercises began in the West. “I remember watching old American comedies in black and white, maybe W.C. Fields or something like that. They were in funny situations in which someone is trying to do their radio exercises and hearing the voice, but either they can’t keep up or something happens in the real space which is not matching the radio routine.”

He adds, “In Japan, it is quite the phenomenon because the Japanese tend to be very community-oriented.”

A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a  gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. 

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. 

A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. 

Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. 

Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to  loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. 

Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:

Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis 

Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community

Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or  in one of 60   countries where we work around the globe

Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door 

Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore

Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. 

Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today. 

On April 27, in celebration of National Deaf History Month, Disney unveiled three beloved songs completely reanimated to feature the characters performing in American Sign Language (ASL).

The idea for the project, titled Songs in Sign Language, came from Senior Animator and Director Hyrum Osmond, whose Disney credits include Frozen (2013) and Zooptopia (2016). 

In a special “making of video,” Osmond recalled growing up with a father who was “hard of hearing,” but never learning sign language to communicate with him. 

“I have a lot of regret about that, because I couldn’t connect with him. I wanted to take down barriers with this project. It’s really all about connection.”

A groundbreaking effort rooted in authenticity

In a never-before-done undertaking for the studio, a team of more than 20 animators, many of them passionate volunteers, collaborated with the Tony Award-winning company Deaf West Theatre to curate signs that best matched each character’s specific personality. 

This didn’t only involve hand movements, but “facial grammar” as well, meaning specific ways the face is used in ASL to further convey linguistic information. Raised eyebrows, for example, are used at the end of a sentence when asking simple questions. Furrowed eyebrows, on the other hand, are used when asking more complex “Who, What, Where, Why” type questions.

These efforts—done without AI, praise be—resulted in new animation for approximately 95% of the shots from “The Next Right Thing” (Frozen 2), “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (Encanto), and “Beyond” (Moana 2). 

This is far from Disney’s first attempt at making its magic available in ASL. There have been many heartwarming stories of characters in the park using sign language to connect with guests. But, save that one episode of the Little Mermaid series in the ’90s (iykyk), this is something completely new. 

@drunkcrier The Little Mermaid TV show Season 2 Episode 6 #ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #LearnASL #SignLanguage #TheLittleMermaid #GabriellaMermaid ♬ original sound – Jon

The Little Mermaid TV show Season 2 Episode 6 #ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #LearnASL........

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