Tomoko Otake - The Japan Times

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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 / Lifestyle

Aug 1, 2006

Parting is such sweet sorrow: and sometimes amusement

Job-hopping is on the rise in Japan as more and more companies bid farewell to the lifetime employment system. But some managers are still so unprepared for the departure of a subordinate that they often behave irrationally -- sometimes to the point of being downright silly.

LIFE

Jul 30, 2006

What's Japan's secret of 'many happy returns'?

Japan may never have become the world's No. 1 economy, and, faced with other rising Asian powers, it probably never will be. Nonetheless, there is one thing at which Japan proudly excels above all nations: its people's longevity.

Japan Times

LIFE

Jul 30, 2006

Gran, 71, leaves world in her wake

This story is part of a package on "Growing old healthily." The introduction is here

Japan Times

LIFE / Lifestyle

Jul 18, 2006

Preventing suicide and axing overtime pay is a risky mix

More than 30,000 people kill themselves each year in Japan, bestowing the country with the shameful honor of the highest suicide rate in the developed world. To deal with this reality, a group of lawmakers from across the political spectrum pushed an antisuicide bill through the Diet last month to force...

Japan Times

LIFE

Jun 25, 2006

Smiles on retail's fastest track

Triple-A-size batteries, cigarette packs, and evening papers with screaming headlines are all at her fingertips. Kiyomi Okita knows exactly where they and hundreds of other items are, as well as their prices and what is flying off the shelves to whom.

Japan Times

LIFE

Jun 25, 2006

Simulated calamities

We would be the envy of every railway otaku in Japan: JR East had invited us to try out the company's driving simulator outside Tokyo, where real JR drivers hone their skills at the controls of a virtual train.

Japan Times

LIFE

Jun 25, 2006

Lives in their hands

Uniformed officials of East Japan Railway Co. are solemnly but methodically at work. Their train has just made an emergency stop after running over a middle-age man, who is either unconscious or dead. The driver radios the control office in central Tokyo, from where police and an ambulance are alerted....

Japan Times

LIFE / Lifestyle

Jun 20, 2006

A swelling dispute over our waistlines

Japan's citizens are well-known for their slim figures, healthy eating habits and longevity.

Japan Times

LIFE / WEEK 3

Jun 18, 2006

Have you heard the one about . . ?

Maybe it's simply down to human nature, but stereotypes about foreigners seem to be joke-fodder the world over. In the corners of bars, in huddles at parties, in books and movies, countless laughs have been had, for example, at the expense of supposed American boastfulnes, "uptight" British, "humorless"...

Japan Times

LIFE / Lifestyle

May 9, 2006

Universal access -- if you speak Japanese

Despite 2 million foreign residents and calls for internationalization from within, Japan has a long way to go before becoming a multilingual society. The current state of health care is no exception. Be it university hospitals with cutting-edge research facilities or your neighborhood dental clinic,...

Japan Times

LIFE / WEEK 3

Apr 16, 2006

Editor on a mission for consumers

Some people sarcastically refer to journalists in Japan as "sarariman reporters." That's because even though the Fourth Estate potentially has enormous power and influence, its members are often timid, risk-averse and happy to cozy up with the politicians, government agencies and corporations they cover....

Japan Times

LIFE / Style & Design

Apr 11, 2006

Massage has its good and bad points

In today's deadline-driven, high-stress society, it's no longer uncommon to experiences headaches, stiff shoulders and carpal-tunnel pain every now and then. While many people turn to painkillers for relief from minor complaints, which in some cases can snowball into a chronic condition, massage treatments...

LIFE / Lifestyle

Mar 14, 2006

Who is paying the price of health care?

Japan's health-insurance program is touted as being egalitarian, with treatment available at any medical institution in the nation to those people who pay monthly insurance premiums and 30 percent of their medical treatment, including diagnoses, tests and prescriptions.

Japan Times

LIFE

Mar 12, 2006

Equality still has a long way to go

International Women's Day, commemorated March 8, was a chance to celebrate women's achievements. But it also highlighted the fact that discrimination continues to be a major problem for women around the globe -- and Japanese women, unfortunately, are no exception. In fact, the world's second-largest...

Japan Times

Features

Feb 12, 2006

Refuge of Last Resort

It is 9 o'clock on a freezing winter's morning in Sanya, eastern Tokyo, a blighted downtown district that was once famed as a day laborers' mecca. Now, it is home to thousands of aging men on welfare.

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.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.

As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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