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November 22, 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.
LIFE
Nov 1, 2009
Symposium hears of new 'pan-Asian' trend
"It's been years since Japan, in the eyes of outside observers, entered the phase of "Japan Nothing." This followed an era of "Japan Bashing" during its 1980s economic heyday and then "Japan Passing" in the post-bubble '90s.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 23, 2009
Yokohama turns Yamashita Park into massive outdoor gallery
Yokohama's Yamashita Park will turn into an outdoor gallery on the weekend of Oct. 30-Nov. 1, with the Yokohama International Open-Air Art Fair 2009 — featuring artworks by U.S. and Japanese artists.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Oct 6, 2009
'Outsider' shares unique take on life, prejudices in the 'real' Japan
As a "blonde-haired, blue-eyed" American woman living in the rural farmlands of Tokushima Prefecture with a Japanese husband and their twin children, one with hearing disabilities, author and novelist Suzanne Kamata has gained a unique perspective on life in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2009
Bike-share project kicks off
Japan's first community bicycle program kicked off on an experimental basis in Tokyo's Marunouchi business district Thursday with 50 bikes at five locations.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 27, 2009
Let's Bike!
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama could have made a stronger impact at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change in New York last week had he trumpeted another environmentally laudable proposal in addition to his declared goal of Japan cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 27, 2009
Bike tours offer a new view of the city
Despite long-standing conflicts between cyclists and others with a stake in using Tokyo's streets, Japan's capital can be a great place to tour by bike — as I discovered last weekend while participating in the "Tokyo Great Cycling Tour," a one-day guided trip organized by Tokyo-based operator Alive...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
Sep 20, 2009
Mystery on the 'Dark Dinner' menu
One evening in mid-August, a dozen people gathered at Ryokusenji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district for a meal. But this was to be no regular feast, as the diners sitting shoulder to shoulder with strangers would all be blindfolded and served a series of dishes the organizers would not disclose beforehand....
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Aug 25, 2009
Socializing on the volleyball court in Roppongi
Roppongi on Saturday morning tends to be quiet and empty, and pretty much all you see moving there apart from cars and trucks are a few sleep-deprived, hung-over remnants of the Friday night party crowd hobbling toward the station.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 21, 2009
Laugh along with mangameister Fujio Akatsuka
Fans of pioneering manga artist Fujio Akatsuka (1935-2008) will be able to soak up more of his jokes, his manga works and details of his colorful life at an exhibition at the Matsuya department store in Tokyo's central Ginza district.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 21, 2009
Yokohama to stage truly magical jazz
Yokohama Nigiwaiza in the city's Sakuragi-cho district will stage a magical jazz show on Aug. 29-30.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 16, 2009
Tokyo bees make honey high over Ginza
Forget Chanel, Cartier and H&M, the buzz on Ginza — long Tokyo's most glitzy shopping and entertainment district — is now all about . . . honeybees.
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Aug 2, 2009
Sokun Tsushimoto: Caring for body and soul
With his shaven head, straight back and deep, calming voice, Sokun Tsushimoto, a newly qualified physician who started practicing at a Tokyo clinic in April, clearly betrays evidence of his long and rich life experience.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jul 28, 2009
Ability to bridge the gap a banker's boon
For Sanjeev Gupta, senior managing executive officer and head of the Individual Group at Shinsei Bank, his 25-year career in Japan started out with a resume he dropped off at an accounting firm in Tokyo while visiting Japan on a tourist visa.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 24, 2009
Taking out the kids might be a disaster
I don't know why, but children love disasters — or at least, simulating ones. So, of all disaster prevention centers in Tokyo, the Honjo Bosai-kan (Life Safety Learning Center), in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, is worth a visit, because the facility, operated by the Tokyo Fire Department, offers entertaining...
LIFE / Digital
Jul 22, 2009
Google Books leaves Japan in legal limbo
For a long time, the Japanese publishing industry was in the dark about the Google Book Search Library project, the ambitious endeavor by the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet giant to create a vast online library by scanning millions of books. Google announced the start of the project in 2004, but...
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2009
Google should help make copyright agency: lawyer
Google Inc. should help create a Japan-based copyright dispute settlement agency over Japanese books the firm has scanned as part of its massive online library project, a lawyer representing 182 authors in Japan said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 21, 2009
Comedy with a sting in its tales
As a reporter, I don't particularly enjoy being swamped with breaking news to cover. That's when the pressure really becomes intense to get all the quotes and check all the facts in as short a time as possible.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 19, 2009
A chance to grab a bargain
Antique lovers will have a bargain-hunting opportunity at the 129th Heiwajima Antiques Fair, the oldest and the biggest fair of its kind, to be held in Tokyo's Heiwajima district from June 19 through June 21.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 18, 2009
The safety nets for would-be suicides
Every time the National Police Agency comes out with new suicide statistics, media reports tend to focus on the fact that the annual suicide count has reached a new high or has topped the psychologically significant 30,000 threshold for yet another year. (The latest figure available was 32,249 in 2008.)...
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.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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