Tomoko Otake is a staff writer and editor with a strong interest in health, medical and social issues. She is an author of A Matter of Health, a new weekly series on the latest health research, technology and policy issues in Japan. A native of Nara Prefecture, she obtained an M.A. in journalism from The University of Montana.
For Tomoko Otake's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
A committee for the inquest of prosecution has rejected a journalist's appeal of a 2016 decision not to indict former television reporter Noriyuki Yamaguchi, whom she accused of raping her. The decision by the Tokyo Sixth Committee for the Public Inquest of Prosecution, dated Thursday, ...
The Japan National Tourism Organization on Thursday launched a free smartphone app that allows travelers from abroad to look up destinations, restaurants and train routes as well as free Wi-Fi spots. The app also includes listings of tax-free shops, ATMs and hospitals that provide services ...
Sony Olympus Medical Solutions — a medical joint venture set up by Sony and Olympus in 2013 — says it has developed a new surgical microscope that could free doctors from the strains involved with operating older, unwieldy models over long periods of time. The ...
The sirens are going off about the state of ambulance services. Demand for ambulances, which respond to calls made to the emergency hotline, 119, has grown rapidly along with the population's pace of aging. As ambulances have been mobilized with greater frequency, emergency services are ...
Suppose you are at a station and happen to see someone passing out after a heart attack. A crowd of worried onlookers gathers. Somebody shouts, "Call an ambulance!" What should you do next? Tokyo-based social venture Coaido is launching an iPhone app that helps bystanders assist ...
For working people with health issues, visiting a clinic has long meant taking hours off work on a weekday and spending more time in the waiting room than talking with a doctor. But such days might be approaching an end. Reversing a longtime aversion, Japan ...
People in Aomori Prefecture, especially in the western Tsugaru area, are known for their strong dialect, often leading outsiders to joke about needing a translator. But for health care professionals, the issue is no laughing matter. Misunderstanding patients could lead to incorrect medical decisions, and ...
Chimpanzees can learn the rules of the rock, paper, scissors game through training, matching the intellectual ability of children 4 years old or older, researchers at Kyoto University have found. In a study that could shed light on the evolution of intellectual abilities in animals, ...
Two-thirds of companies inspected by the labor ministry in fiscal 2016 for suspected labor violations were found to have broken the law either by forcing employees to work illegal overtime or by failing to carry out measures to ensure their health, the ministry announced ...
In January, when researchers specializing in aging studies proposed that Japan redefine "elderly" as being aged 75 and older — instead of the current 65 — it raised more than a few eyebrows. In a nation with a rapidly aging population, where the sustainability of ...
