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August 15, 2024
 

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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.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 12, 2009
Drinking the Japanese way
Sake lovers will have an opportunity to sample 500 varieties of the drink from around the country at the Nihon-shu Fair 2009, to be held at Tokyo's Ikebukuro Sunshine City on June 17.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 12, 2009
Tsukiji celebrates 350 years
Tsukiji-jishi Matsuri street festival, an annual festival in which locals will march through the streets of Tokyo's Tsukiji district carrying floats of lion heads, will be held from June 12 through June 14 at Namiyoke-Inari Shrine.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 12, 2009
Play portrays Afghanistan's 30 tragic years
A play about the history of Afghanistan inspired by former Afghan ambassador to Japan Haron Amin will be staged on June 16 and 17 at Space Zero in Shinjuku.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 31, 2009
Don't blame me, but I did do my bit
Born a son of a Japanese trading- company executive, and exclusively educated in Britain, Tetsuya Ishikawa got his first taste of life in the financial industry in the summer of 1998. That was during his pre-university "gap year," when he worked on the foreign-exchange trading floor at the Tokyo branch...
LIFE
May 31, 2009
Chronicle of calamities on the road to ruin
The credit crunch didn't happen overnight. Here is a timeline of how trouble spilled out from the United States and around the world, and from the financial industry to many other sectors of the international economy:
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
May 26, 2009
Waseda academic confident country's charms are to be had by the open-minded
Paul Snowden came to Japan 40 years ago — thinking that his visit here would only last for two years, after which he would go back to his native England and settle down as a grammar school teacher.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 24, 2009
The beat goes on in Japan's jazz hub
As one of Japan's longest-standing maritime gateways to the world, Yokohama has absorbed many cultures from the West over the last 150 years — not least its abiding love of jazz.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 10, 2009
Salon chain nails move to manicures for men
A man recently turned up at the Omotesando branch of Nail Quick, a major nail salon chain, for a 45-minute treatment. "It's not like I take care of my nails passionately," the man, in blue jeans and a black hat, said, visibly embarrassed to be interviewed and asking not to be identified, except to say...
Japan Times
LIFE
May 10, 2009
Blurring the boundaries
...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 3, 2009
Manabu Miyazaki: Outsider looking in
Born the son of a yakuza boss in Kyoto, Manabu Miyazaki is now a best-selling author. His life may read like fiction, but he raises social, political and media facts in a manner that's as frank as it is hard-hitting
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 1, 2009
A rosy way to spend Golden Week
T he rose-blossom season is coming up, and many places are offering visitors a chance to admire the flower seen in many cultures as a symbol of love and beauty at its best.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 24, 2009
Explaining the science of fear
We all have something to fear in our lives, whether it's death, the loss of money or natural disasters. But how do we develop these feelings of fear? How can we soften or overcome our experiences of fear? And would alcohol help ease it?
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 19, 2009
Pedaling for the planet
One recent early morning, Franz-Michael S. Mellbin, the Danish ambassador to Japan, was to be found preparing for an important diplomatic mission at a rather unlikely venue — on the Tama River cycling track just by the Futakobashi Bridge linking Tokyo's Setagaya Ward and Kawasaki.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Apr 14, 2009
Job firing launched labor activist on career
You may have seen him on TV, commenting on Nova teachers who lost their income and housing when the language school went bankrupt in November 2007. Or you may have seen him marching through Shibuya, leading a chant of "Tatakau zo! (We'll fight!)" and calling for solidarity and action among workers. Or...
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Apr 14, 2009
'Sour Strawberries' spotlights plight of non-Japanese 'trainees'
The plight of foreign "trainees" in Japan, who often provide cheap labor at factories and in farm fields with no access to labor rights protection, is usually not something you discuss leisurely over a cup of coffee or a mug of beer. But people who showed up last month at Ben's Cafe in Tokyo had an opportunity...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 20, 2009
Free of cash concerns, Estonia produces top-class animation
A collection of witty and cynical animation films from Estonia are taking center stage at Laputa Asagaya, an art-house theater in Tokyo's Suginami Ward.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 8, 2009
When scandal strikes a firm
Japanese culture and its scapegoat-seeking media often make bad times far worse for companies compromised by events. But for foreign firms less familiar with the country's societal norms, such problems can easily spiral completely out of control.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 8, 2009
U.S. shows way to medical apologies
So you think apologizing is the norm in Japan? Well, think again — especially with regard to its venerable medical profession.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2009
Afghanistan's drama set for stage
A high-ranking Afghan diplomat and a British dramatist are meeting a lot these days to discuss their common agenda: staging a play about violence-racked Afghanistan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Mar 3, 2009
Frenchman's flavorful twist on green tea has good of farmers at heart
Stubbornness and prudence seem to have paid off for Stephane Danton, a 44-year-old French entrepreneur who runs Ocharaka, a Japanese tea shop in Tokyo's trendy Kichijoji district.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

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