Tomoko Otake - The Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink

Mar 30, 2012

Helping Tokyo menus to get found in translation

One of the longtime complaints of English-speaking foreigners visiting restaurants in Japan is that few of them offer menus in English. Well, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is doing what it can to help eateries translate their menus into English and other languages, to help them become more hospitable...

BUSINESS

Mar 22, 2012

Join TPP but also expand in Asia: economist

Japan should adopt a two-pronged trade strategy — participate in the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement and further deepen economic ties with the rest of Asia — to achieve economic growth, according to the top economist at the Asian Development Bank Institute.

LIFE

Mar 11, 2012

Young hopes bloom eternal

The first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake is a time to commemorate the victims of that terrible tragedy. But it is also an opportunity to look to the future.

CULTURE / Film

Mar 2, 2012

After 3/11, short-film director has one message: Don't forget

Isamu Hirabayashi is an incredibly versatile man. The 39-year-old Shizuoka native's day job is to direct TV commercials, and he normally works on five or six projects at the same time. Since 2002, he has also been active as a filmmaker, with his short films being shown at numerous festivals overseas,...

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Feb 24, 2012

Film focuses on Brazil's favelas

Brazil, halfway across the globe from here, is known for its colorful Carnival, devotion to soccer, and increasing economic power. Its image, however, is sometimes marred by street violence, drug-trafficking and police corruption.

LIFE / WEEK 3

Feb 19, 2012

Surfing the silent waves

As a young documentary filmmaker, Ayako Imamura had been wrestling with feelings of emptiness. Deaf since birth, the 32-year-old Nagoya native has shot about 30 short films documenting the lives of deaf people in Japan since 2000. But at one point in her career, she realized that her creative energy...

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Feb 17, 2012

Film festival to show Oscar's shortest picks

As this year's edition of the Academy Awards draws closer (Feb. 26), the Brillia Short Shorts Theater will showcase a new program consisting of four short films that have been either crowned or nominated with an Oscar.

BUSINESS / Tech

Feb 12, 2012

Are supercomputers worth their super price tags?

"Why do we have to aim for the world's No. 1 — what's wrong with being the world's No. 2?"

MULTIMEDIA

Feb 12, 2012

Drugs of the future will be computer-designed

The moment Hideaki Fujitani unlocks the heavy door and enters the room, the buzzing noise — which sounded like a simple hum from the outside — gets much louder.

LIFE / Digital

Feb 12, 2012

10,000,000,000,000,000 calculations per second

In today's ever-more digitalized world, we all have a tale or two to share about how personal computers have let us down: like how they refused to let us run different programs at the same time or how the data was so heavy that the damned device kept us on hold forever before conducting even the most...

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Feb 10, 2012

Despite being 112 years old, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters" is still one of the most popular translated plays to be staged in Japan.

LIFE

Jan 22, 2012

What to call baby?

While clearing closets at my parents' house in Nara in December following my mother's death the month before, I came across a large square card in a pile of old documents. A snapshot of a baby looking at a birthday cake was glued in the center of the card, and I recognized that it was me at the time...

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Jan 20, 2012

Get ready for a sweet race

Calorie watchers and fitness freaks should no longer feel guilty for nibbling at sweets — that is, if they join the upcoming Sweets Marathon.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO

Jan 17, 2012

Indian doctor finds success in Japan

Ruby Pawankar stumbled across Japan in 1988, when as a young physician in Pune, western India, she accompanied her Indian husband here to curate an exhibition held as part of the Festival of India in Japan.

LIFE / WEEK 3

Jan 15, 2012

Kabuki workout helps students to stand out in a crowd

Looking for an enjoyable way to get back into shape after gaining a few pounds over the festive season? Well, look no further than kabuki — or learning a few moves basic to this traditional Japanese theatrical form, to be precise.

CULTURE / Art

Jan 12, 2012

Artists always find ways to represent themselves

For the countless number of budding visual artists in Japan, 3331 Arts Chiyoda's "Independents" exhibitions, which are held in the event space's main gallery, offer the chance to publicly show works and get feedback from some of the most prominent artists, critics and curators in the country.

CULTURE / Art

Jan 12, 2012

Artists always find ways to represent themselves

For the countless number of budding visual artists in Japan, 3331 Arts Chiyoda's "Independents" exhibitions, which are held in the event space's main gallery, offer the chance to publicly show works and get feedback from some of the most prominent artists, critics and curators in the country.

CULTURE / Art

Dec 15, 2011

'POCORART'

3331 Arts Chiyoda Closes Dec. 25

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Dec 9, 2011

Miraikan uses anime to teach

The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) in Tokyo's Odaiba waterfront district has unveiled a new anime program that is both fun and educational for families.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP

Dec 4, 2011

Tenten Hosokawa: Drawing the blues away

In the last few decades, clinical depression in Japan has emerged from its longstanding obscurity shrouded in shame and guilt to becoming far more openly recognized as a national disease.

author

Meta

Twitter

Podcast

Longform

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

In your social network

In your inbox

In your social network

In your inbox