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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.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2007
Mutual benefits as East meets East
Prior to the 1990s, most people in Japan probably knew little more about India than it was the home of curry, snake-charmers and the Taj Mahal.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2007
Train fan's dream buy is derailed online
Internet-auction sites allow people to sell and buy, at the click of a mouse or with a push on a cellphone button, almost anything from brand bags to resort condominiums to moldy Imperial Japanese Army uniforms. And, according to a 2005 report by Nomura Research Institute, in Japan it's a market that...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 20, 2007
Tragedy swirls around Tamiflu
On Feb. 4, 2004, on a cold, snowy day in Gero, Gifu Prefecture, Haruhiko Nokiba's 17-year-old son fell sick. The fevered teen visited a local doctor, tested negative for a flu virus but was prescribed an antiviral drug called Symmetrel. He took a capsule that evening and another the following morning,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 11, 2007
What happens when blog bullies get hot under the collar
In April last year, Jiji Press technology reporter Tsuruaki Yukawa felt as if he had enemies all around him.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 20, 2007
TV shows spur 'health' food fads
How many people would believe a doctor who says eating two packages of natto fermented soybeans every day helps you lose weight?
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 23, 2007
'Listen' to your nose: sniff out a calming custom
Swing by any variety store and you will notice how popular aromatherapy has become. There you will find a wide variety of shiny little bottles containing oil extracts of rose, lavender or sandalwood. Along with foot massage, onsen (hot springs) and the music of Mozart, inhaling aromas has in recent years...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 21, 2007
Personal style gurus for common people
...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006
Eyeing Japan's new year and far, far beyond
The future may be fundamentally uncertain, but people's appetite for predictions of what will be happening in days, weeks, months, years or even decades to come is one thing, at least, that is certain to be part of it.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006
Shaping our future along with robots
Yoshiyuki Sankai is a professor of engineering at Tsukuba University in Ibaraki Prefecture and a front-runner in the field of "cybernics," which combines robotics with a wide array of academic disciplines, including neurology, information technology, behavioral science and psychology. Now aged 48, he...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 24, 2006
Sutra-writing by hand to boost the brain
Amid the current national craze over anything that might boost brainpower -- or at least help its legions of elderly to retain their mental functions -- a relatively low-key, centuries-old Buddhist practice has lately been attracting a lot of attention.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 19, 2006
Take note: You needn't always think straight
'How-to" business books are stacked knee-high in bookstores and advertisements for motivational seminars continue to multiply through commuter trains.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 17, 2006
How can anyone remember 100,000 numbers?
Unless you're a mathematician or an engineer, pi probably ranks high on the list of things that are of little or absolutely no use in your life.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 21, 2006
Label not enough for a healthy diet
Next time you go grocery shopping, take a closer look at the beverages, yogurt and other packaged foods on display in the store you're visiting. You'll most likely find a number of products bearing a special logo and a carefully worded sentence touting their health benefits.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 5, 2006
Joi Ito: Master of multitasking
Joichi Ito, better known as Joi Ito, defies any one simple label.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 17, 2006
Visiting a theme park sure beats working, unless . . .
Japan has lots of young people who are out of work or not even in the hunt for a job. The government estimates that 850,000 people, from teens through to their 30s, fall into the category of NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Then there are the "freeters," youths who only work odd jobs...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 17, 2006
Bizarre bouts of self-expression
Nearly 300 spectators cheered wildly as disco music blared. A spotlight picked out two fighters approaching the ring to kick off a puroresu (prowrestling) event held recently in a Tokyo town hall.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2006
Blood battle is about the past and future
KELLY DUDA
Japan Times
LIFE / DISABILITY IN JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006
Teamwork trounces deafness
This story is part of a package on "Disability in Japan". The introduction is here.
Japan Times
LIFE / DISABILITY IN JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006
Is 'disability' still a dirty word in Japan?
Mainstream society is slowly, but slowly, opening up to the physically ormentally impaired, as officialdom appears happy with a 'steady' approach
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2006
Sole clinical ethicist always has full plate
speaks with hospital staff at his Kissa Rinri (Ethics Cafe) at Miyazakihigashi National Hospital in late June. TOMOKO OTAKE PHOTO
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
When did summer in Japan stop being fun?
Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

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

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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