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August 15, 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.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
Jan 15, 2006
Home sweet 'death-defying' condo homes
Scandal continues to swirl around erroneous -- and potentially lethal -- structural assessments of hotels and condominiums by former architect Hidetsugu Aneha. Few, however, would detract from the universally accessible, "barrier-free" design of most modern Japanese condos. Few except Shusaku Arakawa,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 8, 2006
Shigeaki Hinohara: Doctor of reforms
Even at the age of 94, Shigeaki Hinohara's mind and memory are so clear as to put some of his medical students to shame. And even despite being Japan's best-known and most highly acclaimed physician -- and chairman of the board of trustees of prestigious St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo --...
Japan Times
Features
Dec 18, 2005
Legal loner courts controversy every day
Any weekday, if you happen to drop by the Tokyo District/High/Summary Court building in Kasumigasaki, among all the besuited lawyers and the like you'll likely spy a blond, bearded young man leafing through the day's schedules in the first-floor lobby, or shuffling in and out of courtrooms big and small....
Japan Times
Features
Dec 11, 2005
Korean school strives to keep its homeland culture alive
When I first laid eyes on Tokyo Chosen Dai-Ni Shokyu Gakko (Tokyo Korean No.2 Elementary School) in the downtown Edagawa district of Koto Ward, it looked like any other school in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 4, 2005
Shogo Kariyazaki: Flower power at his fingertips
Shogo Kariyazaki is one of Japan's most flamboyant and outspoken authorities on beauty.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2005
Tainted-blood victims speak in court
Two women infected with the hepatitis C virus through tainted blood products told the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday how they suffer with the life-threatening disease.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 29, 2005
Soaking in benefits of a chocolate spa
The Service: chocolate spa The Hype: slimmer figure: smooth skin: stress relief The Lab Rat: a thirty-something female chocolate lover with irregular eating habits The Results: thighs slimmed by 1.1 cm; feeling of relaxation: and - though connection can't be proven - a sudden desire to go shopping.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 20, 2005
Update beckons for 'lucky' feline
A retired mannequin sculptor who fashioned his entire career out of observing women's curves is now eyeing curves of an even more mystical kind: those of the manekineko, the good-luck "beckoning cat" statues found all over Japan in the corners of bars, restaurants and lottery-ticket booths, where their...
Japan Times
Features
Oct 23, 2005
A more dignified way to die
Many of us struggle with difficult decisions regarding, say, our careers or relationships. But one decision that many of us avoid is "How do I want to die?"
Features
Oct 23, 2005
Japan's take on the issue of diagnosis
Cancer diagnosis has long been a divisive issue in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 2, 2005
Harumi Kurihara: Homing in on success
As a cook and lifestyle guru, Harumi Kurihara has often been dubbed Japan's answer to America's Martha Stewart or Britain's Delia Smith. But in February this year, she scaled new heights when the English-language edition of her book "Harumi no Japanese Cooking" -- titled "Harumi's Japanese Cooking" --...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 28, 2005
Privacy of sperm donors leaves lives in limbo
Emi Nishimura's identity quest began the hard way.
Japan Times
Features
Aug 14, 2005
Tried to the limit and beyond
He was born in America, raised in Japan, and felt like a misfit in both societies. Had he lived somewhere else in some other time, he might have been a renowned scholar of Chinese classics, in which he was an outstanding student. Or an artist in the United States, like his daughter is now.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2005
Retired athletes learn to survive life after sport
While all workers in Japan feel pressure to perform at the top of their game, that's probably more true for professional athletes than anyone else.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2005
Money -- the toughest hurdle in sport
Just as many professional athletes struggle to carve out a second career after they retire, amateur sports players are also confronting some really hard times.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Jul 17, 2005
Taking it easy in the urban jungle
These days, "relaxation" spots are as ubiquitous as Internet cafes and pachinko parlors. As people seek a quick fix for the stress of modern life, businesses offering anything remotely "therapeutic" or "healing" are springing up everywhere. Whether it's reflexology (foot massage) salons in office buildings,...
Japan Times
Features
Jul 10, 2005
Support groups to aid of all affected
When people become clinically depressed, it's not just they who suffer. Families of the depressed are deeply affected -- riding an emotional roller coaster -- and when a breadwinner is afflicted, as is often the case, financial struggles inevitably ensue. Worst of all, many families must live with the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 22, 2005
Sacred sounds of Ainu tonkori resurrected
Keeping traditions alive is not easy; it's even harder when there is no one to teach them. When Ainu musician Oki recently re-created traditional tunes on the tonkori, the stringed instrument of the Ainu people, his only guides were pre-1970s recordings of tonkori music collected by ethnomusicologists...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
May 26, 2005
Parenting book gets princely praise
Parenting expert Dorothy Law Nolte enjoys a huge following worldwide; her 1998 book, "Children Learn What They Live," sold over 700,000 copies in her native U.S. and has been translated into 36 languages. The Japanese version was a steady seller -- until February this year, when the father of a certain...
Features
May 22, 2005
A growing trend
These are hard times for Japan's construction workers. The days when they were forever taking flak for digging up roads and causing traffic chaos, or teetering on the edge of scandals as they built yet more roads and bridges into the middle of nowhere are now long gone.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

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