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July 27, 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
Features / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2004
Mannequin sculptor stars crafting heavenly bodies
Next time you spot a short, bespectacled old man closely examining a woman's curves as she climbs the station stairs, don't jump to conclusions. Instead of a would-be groper or pervert, that man could be Makoto Kakeda -- one of Japan's most respected mannequin sculptors.
JAPAN / BY THE NUMBERS
Dec 14, 2004
Sake trendy abroad but hard sell here to young
It has a deep, delicate and definitely cultural flavor. Yet sake does not appeal to many of today's Japanese, who would rather clink glasses of "shochu" liquor or wine.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2004
Recipients of tainted blood products begin to fight back
Taking institutions like the central government and big corporations to court is no easy feat for ordinary Japanese citizens. It's even more daunting for mothers busy raising their children and not used to attending the bar.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2004
State names hospitals in blood scandal
The health ministry on Thursday disclosed the names of 6,916 hospitals and 17 medical suppliers believed to have stocked a hepatitis C-tainted blood product that caused one of the largest medical disasters in Japan's postwar history.
JAPAN / BY THE NUMBERS
Nov 25, 2004
Why recycle PET bottles if China will buy them?
Every PET bottle bears a triangle of arrows with the message: "Yes! to recycling. No! to littering." But it doesn't show where the bottles go.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004
Lawyers go after reformist debt collector
An American businessman who tried to improve the way debts are collected in Japan from the oft yakuza-linked intimidation route was arrested last week amid growing pressure by lawyer groups to crack down on unauthorized parties encroaching on their turf.
Japan Times
Features
Oct 24, 2004
Kitty collector plans afterlife together as well
Some have ridiculed her taste. Others have called her infantile. Yet Asako Kanda, a 31-year-old receptionist at a crafts and culture school in Tokyo, has never had any qualms about her long-running love affair with Hello Kitty.
Japan Times
Features
Oct 24, 2004
The cat's whiskers of Kawaii
At 10 a.m. last Saturday, the moment the doors of the Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district were opened, a small scrum of people rushed in, headed straight to the escalators and then up to the fifth floor.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Oct 17, 2004
Drawing on love
She is a Japanese manga artist with a piercingly sharp eye for human traits and foibles. He is an American writer and language buff who can chat with equal ease in four languages. Together, they make for a magnetic -- not to say a "mangaetic" -- couple.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 10, 2004
South African culture reclaimed in 'Umoja'
Born as a black person under apartheid, growing up in an extremely poor family with eight siblings, having a baby out of wedlock at age 16 -- this is surely a hard life to lead. But South African dancer and choreographer Todd Twala has lived it, and has proved that one can rise above hardship. The musical,...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 19, 2004
Talkin' 'grassroots social reform'
...
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2004
Millionaires don't live up to glamorous image
People may have notions of millionaires as ostentatious, bejeweled, big-spending clotheshorses, but the reality is that most -- and there are many -- keep a low profile.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2004
Millionaires don't live up to glamorous image
People may have notions of millionaires as ostentatious, bejeweled, big-spending clotheshorses, but the reality is that most -- and there are many -- keep a low profile.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2004
'Onsen': know what you're getting into
Another big labeling scam is unraveling, and this time it's not over beef or milk but the nation's biggest tourist draw: "onsen" hot springs.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2004
Bangladeshi seeks vindication over al-Qaeda link accusation
A Bangladeshi man held by police for alleged connections with al-Qaeda but later released with no charges filed against him made a tearful plea Tuesday for vindication.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2004
Panel looks to scrap NTT line fee by 2010
The 72,800 yen upfront fee charged to land-based telephone line subscribers should be phased out by fiscal 2010, a telecommunications ministry panel said in a report released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2004
Like NTT phone fee, line brokers face extinction
Kanji in the window of a three-story building near JR Okachimachi Station in central Tokyo advertise "denwa tokubai" (discounted telephone lines).
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2004
Film shows war's China legacy
The listless face of a 27-year-old woman tending cafeteria tables all day long, seven days a week. The incessant, violent coughs of a retired doctor who has not had a good night's sleep in 17 years.
JAPAN / BY THE NUMBERS
Jul 22, 2004
Forex trading is a popular but risky business
Once considered the exclusive realm of the wealthy and the reckless, foreign-exchange trading is now being touted as accessible to everyone even though it is still a high-risk game.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION '04
Jul 7, 2004
Net-based campaigning still long way off
Candidates vying for House of Councilors seats in Sunday's election will not have the luxury of updating their positions or activities via the popular medium of the Internet.
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Yen melt-up nudges Japanese stocks into correction territory
Japanese stocks are down 10% from their July peak as the yen strengthens.
Yen rally could help end crushing wage decay in Japan
Some economists say a sticky weak yen trend would have a negative impact on Japan's real wage growth.
When did summer in Japan stop being fun?
Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

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JNTO promotes sustainable tourism initiatives

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