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People | CLOSE-UP Jul 4, 2010

Manga's Cinderella story

by Tomoko Otake

"I want to tell you a real love story," whispers a pen-wielding Misako, a graphic-novel version of comic artist Misako Takashima, on the first page of the 2007 book, "Rock and Roll Love." "It was my first love story," she adds coyly. So begins the English-language ...

People | CLOSE-UP May 2, 2010

Renho: Japan's fiscal firebrand

by Tomoko Otake

Renho, a first-term Upper House member from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, shot to stardom in Japan last November when, as a member of a government committee tasked with screening ministries' budget requests, she had several fierce, face-to-face battles with bureaucrats. While the 42-year-old ...