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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.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 16, 2008
Skeptics nix 'comedy' drive to officially fight the flab
A sharply besuited young woman comes home and finds her dad downing a mug of beer in the kitchen, with an assortment of snacks on the table. She playfully warns him, pointing to his potbelly: "Oto-san (Daddy)! You're drinking again! You are eating too much, aren't you? Metaborikku Shindoromu (Metabolic...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 2, 2008
Shintaro Tsuji: 'Mr. Cute' shares his wisdoms and wit
Shintaro Tsuji isn't joking when he says he wants to make Hello Kitty, his company's best-selling character, into a brand name that rivals Gucci or Hermes.
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008
Cancer specialist beats the odds
For breast surgeon Takako Kamio, 53, science is all about going to your limit to seek the truth.
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008
Blazing a trail to the cyberfuture
Yukiko Nakagawa started toying with a personal computer when she was a 6th-grader in the early 1980s — years before Microsoft introduced its first Windows operating system, and back when most people, let alone children, had never seen a PC.
LIFE / Lifestyle / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008
Japan's gender inequality puts it to shame in world rankings
When it comes to gender equality, Japan has no shortage of distressing figures.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2008
'Talk' therapy helps against inhibitions
Cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy are widely known abroad to be effective in treating depression.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2008
Treating clinical depression a tall order
Depression is no stranger to Japanese society, but only within the last decade has its "clinical" component gained currency along with the realization that the malady can affect almost anyone.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2008
Women key to fixing demographic crunch
KYOTO — Japan, the world's most rapidly graying nation, can learn from Europe how to cope with an aging society, especially in such areas as increasing the participation of women, according to experts and journalists at a recent conference.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 20, 2008
Hitting hairdressing's highs the flat-top way
Wielding a hair dryer in one hand, a comb in the other, and with another comb held between his teeth, hairdresser Hideki Sato, 34, tackles the jet-black locks of a male model.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 13, 2008
Puff your way to health through a pipe
If you are looking for a fitness activity that combines the tranquillity of Japanese archery and the thrill of blood-curdling ninja — along with the fun of playing darts — then fukiya (blowpipe darts) is maybe for you.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 4, 2007
A cute and kind of sexy guide to Japan
Manga has conquered America. Or so declares the November issue of the U.S. tech magazine Wired, which carries a 10-page manga story describing how manga is reshaping American pop culture. Booming manga sales — which, according to the magazine, account for almost two-thirds of the $330-million graphic...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 20, 2007
A support service for sufferers
Phones ring off the hook in the office of VOL-NEXT, a Tokyo-based company that offers various goods and services for women battling breast cancer. Chiharu Soga, the demure 42-year-old who runs the three-year-old company, has just fielded a phone call made in desperation by the sister of a recently diagnosed...
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 20, 2007
Breast-cancer treatment is not always the same
Getting tested or treated for a life-threatening disease is nerve-racking for anyone, but it can be all the more so when outside of your home country.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 18, 2007
Changing lives with castoffs
Michiyo Yoshida is a prime example of that green mantra, "Think globally, act locally." But the nonprofit organization she cofounded to send used wheelchairs to developing countries has also enabled members to "think globally and act globally."
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2007
Sue Palmer: The kids are not OK, top educator warns
To a growing legion of educated, enlightened and empowered mothers in Japan and abroad, Sue Palmer's advice on how to bring up children might sound — if not heard in context — too old-fashioned, too alarmist or even maybe too naive to prepare their loved ones for the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 26, 2007
Don't go for the gov, go for the good grub
Since comedian-turned-politican Hideo Higashikokubaru was elected governor of Miyazaki Prefecture in January, the previously nondescript, countryside region of 1.14 million people on the southeastern coast of Kyushu, southern Japan, has had its profile dramatically boosted.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 21, 2007
One man with a mighty passion for mannequins
Mannequins are a foil for fashion items, whether they be coats, stockings or even hairpieces. Few of us pause to wonder where those plastic dolls go after they grace the shop windows or decorate department store floors.
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007
Back-to-front books open new chapter on globalizing Japanese
As Japan struggles with the mushrooming of English loanwords in its midst, there are signs that the Japanese language might be exploring another new relationship with English — by absorbing the English alphabet and even some grammar directly.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007
Japanese: A language in a state of flux
Languages are never static. They change and evolve with people over time. They also interact with other languages, and through an endless cycle of loaning and borrowing of words, ideas and concepts are shared, exchanged and nurtured across national and cultural boundaries.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 16, 2007
Postmodern sports for all
One night last month, while I was lazily channel-surfing at home, I happened on shot-putters doing their thing at the IAAF's World Athletics Championships in Osaka.
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
By Johan Brooks

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