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April 04, 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
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.
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...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 20, 2009
Dolls to be displayed for the health of girls
Events leading up to the March 3 Hina Matsuri (Japanese doll festival) are in full swing. In the centuries-old tradition, people decorate their homes with ornamental dolls and peach blossoms — and celebrate with sake and chirashi-zushi (sushi rice topped with egg and seafood) — to wish for young...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Feb 15, 2009
Amazing feats on the hoof
As I joined lines of people shuffling into a covered arena in Kiba, eastern Tokyo, one night recently, the scent of the air became distinctly more rural than urban.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Feb 3, 2009
Finding the silver lining
The difficulties encountered as a foreigner can be sources of ideas for business opportunities. This belief is demonstrated by Park Tae Moon's 18 years in Japan — and his successful transition from a newspaper delivery worker to the owner of a 20-staff magazine publishing/consulting business.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 1, 2009
Chizu Saeki: Beauty's more than skin deep
Skincare guru Chizu Saeki's expertise is such that her abilities have been compared to those of a fortuneteller. She can, for example, determine people's physical and mental health condition, the key experiences that have influenced them, and even their outlook on life, merely by running her fingers...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 18, 2009
Urban hogs dig Setagaya
From the outside Yukihiko Yoshioka's property could easily be mistaken for a traditional Japanese-style house with a small garden. After all, this is Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, a premier residential neighborhood in central Tokyo, and Yoshioka's property is only a few minutes' walk from the local shopping...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 16, 2009
Shirakawa-go becomes a winter wonderland
Shirakawa-go — a village community in Gifu Prefecture that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its thatched-roof farmhouses in 1995 — has been a tourist magnet for years. But its beauty goes up a few notches for seven days each year, when many of the houses are lit up in the snow.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 16, 2009
Shirakawa-go becomes a winter wonderland
Shirakawa-go — a village community in Gifu Prefecture that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its thatched-roof farmhouses in 1995 — has been a tourist magnet for years. But its beauty goes up a few notches for seven days each year, when many of the houses are lit up in the snow.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 9, 2009
Northern Lights' beauty on exhibition
A stronomers and UNESCO have made 2009 the International Year of Astronomy, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's pioneering research, which included the first-ever use of an astronomical telescope.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 28, 2008
ONE for ALL
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2008
Where are world's 'targeted' tourists visiting in Japan?
As part of the Visit Japan Campaign, the central government identified 12 "target" countries and regions on which to concentrate marketing activities. Have their efforts paid off? We asked industry insiders from each of the selected countries how Japan was perceived as a tourist destination.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2008
Japan looks beyond tourism's 'Golden Route'
In 2001, soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., a friend working at a Tokyo travel agency griped about how terrorism affected his business, saying that tourism, after all, is a "peace industry."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2008
Looking for ways to lure more visitors to these shores
What are people who work in the domestic tourism industry — from tour operators to inn owners to regional tourism promotion offices — doing to attract foreign visitors? Here are the voices of marketers from across Japan:
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
Nov 16, 2008
What do you know about Nippon?
These days, you have to accomplish a lot before calling yourself a Japan expert. Knowing the language, geography, history and customs of Japan is simply not enough.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 7, 2008
Sensoji fetes rebuilding of hall
Asakusa has long been a big tourist attraction for visitors from the world over, but its lure is now hitting a peak, with a series of events under way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of reconstruction of the main hall at Sensoji Temple.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 28, 2008
Foreign students to fill the halls
Rie Yoshinaga had a wide range of colleges to choose from.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
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.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

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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