Politics & Diplomacy
Hashimoto to retract sex suggestion for U.S. military
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto aims to retract his remark that U.S. servicemen in Okinawa should use its adult entertainment industry to avoid committing sex offenses.
People | CLOSE-UP May 5, 2013
Dai Tamesue: Japan's 'samurai hurdler' keeps rising to new challenges
by Tomoko Otake
Though word-class track athlete Dai Tamesue may have hung up his spikes, he has plenty of insights to share on how sports can play a bigger role in society.
People | CLOSE-UP Apr 7, 2013
Shigeru Ban: 'People's architect' combines permanence and paper
by Edan Corkill
Generally speaking, an architect’s style is defined by particular forms or shapes. There’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s prominent horizontal lines, for instance; Le Corbusier’s simple white boxes; or, more recently, the deliberately abstract masses of Frank Gehry — of Guggenheim Bilbao fame.
People | CLOSE-UP Mar 3, 2013
Japanese women strive to empower themselves
by Tomoko Otake
When it comes to gender equality, Japan has never failed to disappoint.
People | CLOSE-UP Mar 3, 2013
Making life easier for working moms
by Tomoko Otake
Yukari Horie, 30, is managing director of Arrow Arrow, a Tokyo-based NPO that offers consulting to companies with female workers who are in the later stages of their pregnancy or who have just become moms and are wondering how to adjust their work styles ...
People | CLOSE-UP Mar 3, 2013
Battling the postpartum blues
by Tomoko Otake
Maco Yoshioka is the founder of Madre Bonita, a nonprofit group that offers postpartum fitness programs for women using elastic exercise balls. Yoshioka, 40, who studied sports physiology at the University of Tokyo, says she became aware of physical and mental difficulties for new ...
People | CLOSE-UP Mar 3, 2013
Documenting the gender imbalance
by Tomoko Otake
Yu Negoro, 40, is a documentary filmmaker who has delved deep into the issues of gender and sexuality in Japanese society. Her first project was a series of three short films dealing with women suffering from eating disorders, a condition Neguro suffered in her ...
People | CLOSE-UP Feb 3, 2013
Hidetoshi Masunaga: making revolution through the Constitution
by Tomoko Otake
On Dec. 14, 2012, two days before the Lower House election in which the Democratic Party of Japan headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was eclipsed as the conservative Liberal Democratic Party swept back to power in a landslide, a one-page advert with a ...
People | CLOSE-UP Jan 6, 2013
Frederik Schodt: pop culture ambassador to the world
by Edan Corkill
Quick quiz: Who was the first Japanese civilian to be issued a passport? If your mind is drifting in the direction of a businessman who might have availed himself of an early opportunity to travel abroad in the mid-1860s, when the government first permitted ...
People | CLOSE-UP Dec 2, 2012
Michael Woodford: Japan's whistle-blower supreme speaks out
by David Hickey
Michael Woodford glances out of the floor-to-ceiling window of his multimillion-pound loft apartment, which looks out across the River Thames toward the City of London, the so-called Square Mile that is among the world’s leading financial and commercial centers. The 52-year-old Briton has effectively ...
People | CLOSE-UP Nov 4, 2012
Yoshiko Tatsumi: Cookery guru serves wisdom with her soups
by Tomoko Otake
“Never fight a war with Chinese people, because we would lose,” Yoshiko Tatsumi sternly warned, “with absolute certainty,” a 40-strong group of mostly middle-aged women gathered recently in her spacious three-story residence set in gardens in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. “What we eat today is ...
People | CLOSE-UP Oct 7, 2012
Shigesato Itoi shares lots of 'delicious life'
by Setsuko Kamiya
Shigesato Itoi is an established name in the Japanese cultural scene, but what he is known for may differ depending on who you ask. To some, the 63-year-old is one of the most acclaimed advertising copywriters, who created an astonishing body of honed and ...
People | CLOSE-UP Sep 2, 2012
Film star Satoshi Tsumabuki moves up to a new stage
by Nobuko Tanaka
Wearing a headband and tracksuit, Satoshi Tsumabuki — the 31-year-old darling of the Japanese entertainment world — was easy to spot among a crowd of actors in a rehearsal studio in downtown Tokyo recently. He was there preparing for “Egg,” Hideki Noda’s new play, ...