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March 30, 2025
 

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Tomoko Otake

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Tomoko Otake
Tomoko Otake is a senior writer with a strong interest in health, medical and social issues. A native of Nara Prefecture, she obtained an M.A. in journalism from The University of Montana.
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 26, 2025
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
A study by European researchers has concluded that the role of human-driven climate change in contributing to the wildfires was undeniable.
Tourists visit a park in front of the Imperial Palace amid snowfall in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 19, 2025
Japan's record snow in February attributed to global warming
The Meteorological Agency said global warming contributed to the record snowfall in northern and eastern Japan last month.
A construction site in Tokyo in July 2018. Businesses failing to take measures to prevent severe heatstroke among employees will be subjected to criminal punishment from June.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2025
Japan to get tough on businesses not taking heatstroke countermeasures
Violators will be punishable with up to six months' imprisonment or a maximum fine of ¥500,000 ($3,380).
Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Mar 7, 2025
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly
Despite longstanding taboos, evolving attitudes toward women's health highlight shifting cultural norms.
The health ministry issued a business improvement order to a medical clinic in Fukuoka, saying a range of stem cell treatments it offers violate the law on the safety of regenerative medicine.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 5, 2025
Fukuoka clinic issued business improvement order over stem cell treatments
The clinic offers various stem cell treatments without the prior submission of its plans to the authorities, the health ministry said.
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Mar 2, 2025
Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives
Chiba and others show the potential for local areas to accelerate the energy transition, as well as the challenges of building locally driven, carbon-free energy models.
The building of new high-rise residential buildings has some alarmed that they could empty and fall into disrepair as Japan's population shrinks.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 24, 2025
The high cost of letting Japan's condos crumble
With rising repair costs, dwindling reserve funds and an aging population of owners, thousands of buildings are at risk of falling into disrepair.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025
Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry
Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
According to the land ministry, damaged wastewater pipes caused 2,600 sinkholes in the year from April 2022, though most of them were less than 50 centimeters deep.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 31, 2025
Aging sewer systems could create sinkholes anywhere in Japan, experts warn
Damaged wastewater pipes caused 2,600 sinkholes in the nation in fiscal 2022.
Climate change and urbanization are believed to have contributed to the earliest ever observation of cedar pollen in Tokyo, on Jan. 8, an expert says.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 20, 2025
Cedar pollen is already in the air in Tokyo
Tokyo officials are urging people to take steps to prevent and mitigate hay fever symptoms, as pollen counts are expected to rise in the coming weeks.
The Fuji TV building in Tokyo's Odaiba district. In a letter to Fuji Media Holdings' board of directors, Dalton Investments expressed outrage over the “serious flaws” in the broadcaster’s corporate governance in relation to its handling of the uproar sparked by TV star Masahiro Nakai, a former member of boy band SMAP.
JAPAN / Media
Jan 15, 2025
U.S. investment firm demands Fuji TV probe Nakai's alleged sex misconduct
Dalton Investments expressed outrage over the “serious flaws” in the broadcaster’s corporate governance amid the uproar sparked by the former member of boy band SMAP.
Epidurals during childbirth have long been uncommon in Japan, though they have been growing more popular in recent years.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 14, 2025
Tokyo plans to subsidize epidurals, but are hospitals ready?
If all goes to plan, Tokyo will be the first to offer prefecture-level financial support for epidurals.
It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Jan 13, 2025
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?
Amid a push to digitalize, some experts believe citizens should have the right to stay offline.
The city of Kumamoto has seen a surge in the number of students from Taiwan, following the arrival of chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and related businesses in Kumamoto Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 31, 2024
Kumamoto public schools respond to influx of Taiwanese students
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s arrival in Kumamoto has heightened the need to adapt to the needs of Taiwanese families.
People cover themselves with umbrellas during a hot summer day in Tokyo's Ginza district in August. Temperatures shot up in early July, even before the official end of the rainy season, and the high temperatures persisted well into the fall.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Dec 29, 2024
Japan’s weather in 2024: Record temperatures hurt people’s health and wallets
Average temperatures across the nation and surrounding seas exceeded last year’s record-breaking levels "by a significant margin," affecting everything from well-being to farming.
Authorities are calling for utmost vigilance as Japan heads into the New Year holiday season, when many people plan getaways.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 27, 2024
Flu cases surge above ‘warning’ levels in much of Japan
An estimated 1.67 million people became sick and sought medical care from doctors in the week through last Sunday.
The Self-Defense Forces facilities are believed to have become sources of PFAS contamination because they used firefighting foam containing the toxic chemicals in the past.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2024
High levels of PFAS found in water from 44 private suppliers across Japan
Among them are five that supply water to Self-Defense Forces facilities.
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 20, 2024
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The inspection follows a reported leak in August of water containing "forever chemicals" outside the U.S. base in western Tokyo.
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 20, 2024
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
This year’s health and wellness fads point to a Japan that desires more wholesome lifestyles but doesn’t have the time or resources to go about it in traditional ways.
People remove snow from a sidewalk in Sapporo after a heavy snowstorm in January 2022. A team of Japanese scientists has concluded that global warming was what caused Hokkaido to receive up to 20% more snow than usual in December 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 18, 2024
Japanese study links heavy Hokkaido snowfall in 2021 to climate change
Global warming caused Hokkaido to receive up to 20% more snow in December 2021 than usual, a team of Japanese scientists concluded.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Massive quake kills at least 150 in Myanmar and Thailand
Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
Student suicides in Japan hit all-time high
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
Copyright questions loom as ChatGPT's Ghibli-style images go viral
A screenshot of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Ghibli-style profile picture on X
Myanmar quake toll passes 1,000 as rescuers dig for survivors
A resident looks on next to a collapsed building in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Friday, after an earthquake rocked the country's central region.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
Rise and shine with ‘The Wakey Show’
“The Wakey Show” is NHK’s first new daily children’s program in three years, and it carries on the station’s storied past in youth-centric educational entertainment.
Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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