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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.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2015
Asahi Kasei subsidiary worker linked to leaning Yokohama condo handled 41 projects over 10 years, firm reveals
An Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Corp. employee at the center of a tilting condo controversy oversaw 41 projects in nine prefectures over 10 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2015
Asahi Kasei vows independent probe over tilting condo building
Top executives of Asahi Kasei Corp., parent of the company that handled the piling work for a tilting Yokohama condominium building, apologize and say the company will do its best to discover the facts surrounding the case.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 19, 2015
Universal Studios Japan cracking down on ticket scalping
Rampant ticket scalping has angered the operator of the Universal Studios Japan to the point where the theme park will institute a zero tolerance policy starting Nov. 1.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 16, 2015
Recent Nobels aside, Japan faces future slide in scientific research
Japan was euphoric last week after Japanese scientists won Nobel Prizes on two consecutive days — first in medicine and then in physics.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 15, 2015
Group petitions for revisions to labor laws to help keep new mothers in work
A Tokyo-based nonprofit organization fighting matahara, workplace discrimination against pregnant women and the intimidation of those trying for a child, is seeking revisions to the child care leave law on the grounds that it discriminates against nonregular workers.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 9, 2015
Technology key to clinching overseas projects, new infrastructure minister says
Japan should keep promoting its high technological standards when pushing for infrastructure projects overseas, despite a recent loss to China on bidding for Indonesia's first high-speed railway, the new land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 5, 2015
Shortcomings identified in new reporting system into hospital deaths
On Thursday, the government launched a new reporting system for deaths resulting from medical care. The iryojiko chosa seido (medical accidents investigation system), created based on last year's revisions to the Medical Care Law, is aimed at preventing recurrences of medical accidents and ensuring patient...
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Oct 4, 2015
Chance chat in Gaza alters a life
Kenji Sekine might have ended up as a wine importer at a supermarket chain in Tokyo had it not been for a chance encounter with a Palestinian boy during a trip to the Middle East in early 1999.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2015
Grandson of atomic bomb crewman writes of hibakusha horrors
The grandson of a U.S. serviceman who flew on both planes that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 has devoted himself to a project almost unimaginable 70 years ago: spreading the stories of horror experienced by the hibakusha.
Japan Times
Reference / Q&A
Sep 25, 2015
Detecting breast cancer is not an exact science
Former professional wrestler-turned TV personality Akira Hokuto, 48, made headlines this week when she announced on Wednesday she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery to remove her right breast on Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2015
Stadium officials 'failed to develop system to properly manage complex project,' report finds
Sports minister Hakubun Shimomura among those who failed to develop an organizational structure capable of handling the new National Stadium project, a report has found.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 24, 2015
Japan far from confronting hereditary breast cancer, but Jolie effect is helping
For years, Makiko Dazai had nagging questions about her sister's death from ovarian cancer in 2008.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2015
Tokyo at high risk of devastating floods, experts say
It's just a matter of time before Tokyo is struck by the same magnitude of flooding that devastated parts of the northern Kanto region this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Sep 17, 2015
Foreign Joso flood victims hit out at city's monolingual response
One week after an unprecedented flood overwhelmed the city of Joso in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japanese-Brazilian resident David Kiyoshi Shibata believes it's a miracle he's still alive.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2015
Tourist numbers continue to surge in Japan, with China underpinning rise
The number of tourists and other visitors arriving from overseas reached 1,817,100 in August, up 63.8 percent from the same month last year. There was a surge in the number of vacationers from China, government data showed Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 12, 2015
Evacuation of Fukushima elderly riskier than then-exposure to radiation: study
A study says the evacuations from nursing homes posed a greater health risk to evacuees than the radiation they would have endured had they stayed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2015
Authorities knew of flood risk; detailed simulation done 10 years ago
The land ministry knew the Kinugawa River was prone to flooding and created a detailed simulation of watershed damage 10 years ago, it emerged Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2015
How Japan's devastating rainstorm came about
Torrential rain that caused flooding and the evacuations of tens of thousands of people across the Kanto region on Thursday was the result of a mass of humid air unable to escape the area, a pileup of thunderclouds — and possibly climate change, experts said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 8, 2015
Professor admits leaking bar exam questions to student
In a sign of systemic flaws in the nation's law schools, the Justice Ministry files a criminal complaint against a law professor for leaking bar exam questions to one of his students.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 4, 2015
Ibaraki clinic 'named and shamed' for maternity harassment
The labor ministry says the dermatology clinic in Ibaraki Prefecture defied numerous instructions not to dismiss an employee on the grounds of her pregnancy.
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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