Seki and her daughter, Hiroko, couldn't wait to have tea at the Peninsula Hotel.

CNN: THE YEN TO TRAVEL

When the massive earthquake struck, a heavy bookshelf toppled onto Hiroko Yamashita, pinning her down and shattering her ankle.

FORBES: Excuse Me for Having to Be Rescued: Negotiating Order in Japan

"You feel as if everyone in Japan feels ashamed of you, " former Olympic swimmer Hiroko Nagasaki commented on a Fuji TV broadcast.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | The Agony of Defeat

The economics minister, Hiroko Ota, said the government was keeping a keen eye on economic developments, but that orders were expected to pick up over the January to March period.

BBC: NEWS | Business | Fresh worries on Japanese economy

This view that Japanese cellphone makers have been too insular was presented in particularly memorable form in an article by Hiroko Tabuchi in the New York Times in 2009.

FORBES: Unraveling the Cellphone Industry's Biggest Mystery

Sunlight shines through the paper in the sliding doors, casting latticework shadows on the tatami mat floor in the room where Hiroko Harada arranges the tools of her art: paper, brush, ink and inkstone.

BBC: The art of Japan

There's also an article by reporter Hiroko Tashiro, former head of the parent-teacher association at a suburban Tokyo elementary school, on the anxieties that her daughter--and millions of Japanese schoolchildren--face in the nation's rigid education system.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia