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April 06, 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.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Nov 1, 2015
Entrepreneurial lawyer takes legal services into Internet age
Becoming a lawyer used to be the ultimate status symbol in Japan. Bar exams were extremely hard to pass, so hard that once they obtained the license, lawyers were pretty much guaranteed a successful life afterward.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2015
Piling scandal probe may expand to other firms, minister hints
The infrastructure minister lashes out at Asahi Kasei Construction Materials for falsifying the piling records of building foundations and hints a state probe might expand to snare other contractors.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2015
Koto Ward office building eyed for children's 'English village' learning center
The idyllic-sounding "English village" planned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a learning tool to help local children overcome their apprehension about speaking English may be erected in an office building in Koto Ward near the waterfront in 2018.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 23, 2015
Kono flags crackdown on expat 'welfare cheats'
The government considers toughening eligibility requirements for welfare benefits in a move that could affect a number of foreign residents.
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 / 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 / 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.
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
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 / 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.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs
A Nissan manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan says it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs following new auto tariffs levied by the U.S.
Japan digs deep to address 'national crisis' caused by Trump tariffs
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on April 1. He has said that Japan is facing a "national crisis" following the introduction of new tariffs by the United States.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
‘Let’s make it practical’: NATO chief eyes greater defense-industrial ties with Japan
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte plans to visit Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday — his first to the Indo-Pacific region since taking office in October, as he seeks to implement lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
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