Tomoko Otake - The Japan Times

November 25, 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

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

Every society has its own terminology for a young generation regarded as odd or unfathomable, and marketers are quick to give them catchy labels. It's no exception in Japan, which is now abuzz with talk of men with a soft spot who are becoming known as soshokukei, meaning "herbivorous" or "herbivores."...

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 Times

CULTURE / Stage

Feb 27, 2009

Humans, not cogs

Twenty-six years after it premiered at the Cottlesloe Theatre in London, David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," which caused a sensation in 1983 with its horrific yet realistic depiction of the dog-eat-dog real-estate business in a recession-hit America, could almost be considered a classic. The play went...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

By Greg Dvorak

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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