Latest news with #KatieThompson
CTV News
11-08-2025
- CTV News
Bananas don't grow in Tokyo. That hasn't stopped them from becoming a symbol of the city anyway
You can't visit Tokyo without seeing them. These pale-yellow boxes of individually wrapped bite-size cakes are emblazoned with images of the capital's most famous tourist attractions and, sometimes, with some of Japan's most recognizable animated characters. Every year, hundreds of thousands of gold-ribbon-wrapped packages of Tokyo Banana are sold around the Japanese capital's transportation hubs and tourist districts and branded as the city's official snack. But what does Tokyo Banana actually have to do with Tokyo, a city that doesn't have any banana trees? Unlike many Japanese treats, which are made with ingredients native to various regions and connected with millennia-long manufacturing traditions (think udon noodles, green tea, and yuzu candies), Tokyo Banana was purely born out of capitalism. In the 20th century, as Tokyo grew into the world's biggest city and opened to tourists from around the world, it still didn't have many traditions to call its own. There wasn't one standout food or drink product that was unique to Tokyo or that had centuries of carefully-tended history to acknowledge. Compare that with Kyoto, which was Japan's capital from the 8th to 19th centuries: one restaurant has been making soba noodles out of locally grown buckwheat since 1702. Japan is also home to the world's oldest hotel, a hot springs resort that opened to guests in 705. Japanese snack manufacturer Grapestone saw a vacuum there and decided to make a Tokyo-centric product that could be marketed as a local specialty. 'Tokyo is the place where various people come from all over Japan and it becomes a hometown for them,' a Grapestone representative tells CNN. 'We decided to invent a Tokyo souvenir with the theme which all Japanese people will feel familiar and nostalgic about. Bananas are the taste of high-end products or imported goods for older people. For younger people, it is the taste of fun memories bringing (bananas) on field trips.' The result was banana-shaped treats that are fluffy on the outside and filled with banana-flavored cream. Or, as Tokyo-based tour guide Katie Thompson puts it, a 'fancy Twinkie.' A gift-giving culture Tokyo Banana is a perfect example of omiyage, a Japanese tradition in which people who have recently traveled bring gifts — usually edible ones — back to their friends, families and colleagues. Like so many Japanese customs, there are nuances to choosing and buying the perfect omiyage. They are more than just souvenirs. Unlike in the West, where a returning traveler might bring back a magnet or T-shirt for a loved one, omiyage is almost always something to eat or drink that must be consumed soon after the buyer's return. By that logic, the gifts are usually food products that only come from one region, or that are known for being particularly good there – examples include salt from the sunny islands of Okinawa, traditional matcha from Kyoto, and apple treats from Aomori prefecture in Japan's north. But while omiyage might be a Japanese tradition, Tokyo Banana's biggest market is foreign travelers, not locals, a move that the company says was intentional. Grapestone tells CNN that the company was offered retail space at Haneda Airport in the 1990s, which prompted them to invent Tokyo Banana in the first place. With its Tokyo branding and the product's name clearly written in English, Tokyo Banana quickly became associated with its namesake city. Jeff Lui, a Canadian living in Japan, thinks that Tokyo Banana is brilliantly marketed toward international tourists. 'You're almost obligated to buy this omiyage for your friends back home. It's kind of saying, 'Hey, I was thinking of you right while I was there, and here's this thing that I know you will use.'' But on social media, it's a different story. TikTokers from outside of Japan make a beeline for the treats when they arrive in Tokyo. Some show off the rare flavors they've snagged, while others give tips on which ones to bring back as gifts for family. And just like the American Twinkie, they're as fun to smush as they are to eat. Creator Eat With Adrian's review of Tokyo Banana has gotten about 260,000 views on TikTok, with commenters chiming in to say how much they want to buy some for themselves. Thompson, who has been living in Japan for about eight years, admits that Tokyo Bananas are not her personal go-to snack. 'I'm not the biggest fan. I find the inside to be quite artificial tasting. Banana doesn't lend itself very well into becoming a sweet custard or candy.' Although she says friends and relatives back in her native US have asked about Tokyo Banana, she doesn't buy it for them. 'My go-to, if I am traveling internationally, I pick up sugar butter sand trees. It has a silly name, but it's actually a tasty cookie as well.' Coincidentally, the cookies are also a Grapestone product. Lui agrees that Tokyo Banana isn't something he picks up and eats himself, but he deals with lots of questions from loved ones in his native Canada when they visit. 'Every time someone from Toronto comes (to Japan) they're like, 'Oh, like I saw this Tokyo Banana thing, and I bought a few boxes to bring back home.'' On his website Tokyo Chase, Lui reviews other Japanese snacks and tries to steer people in different directions when they're buying foodie souvenirs, especially if they are repeat visitors to Japan who want to dig a little deeper. In recent years, Tokyo Banana has made an effort to become more local-friendly. Grapestone periodically launches new flavors, like lemon, sakura or honey. To create a buzz, certain products will only be available for purchase at one specific outlet, like its shop in the fashionable Ginza neighborhood. The brand has collaborated with popular homegrown characters like Pikachu, Chiikawa, Hello Kitty and Doraemon. And, of course, there's also a Tokyo Banana-flavored Kit Kat. In 2022, Tokyo Banana opened a flagship store inside Tokyo Station. To celebrate, they tried out a savory product, a spin on a popular Japanese curry bread made with 'pork and beef simmered with onions, heavy cream and banana puree.' Grapestone won't reveal exactly how many products they sell in a year, but on their website it says that Tokyo Banana is the most popular food souvenir in Japan's capital. The brand tells CNN that if you laid out every single Tokyo Banana sold in a year, the tiny cakes would reach across the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo to the United States. Usually, though, they travel by air. Lilit Marcus, CNN. Soyon Nishioka contributed reporting.
Telegraph
13-07-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
‘We don't want to feel like Big Brother is watching us': the NHS staff being filmed by patients
Katie Thompson has grown accustomed to friends seeing her on the internet – not that she enjoys being filmed. A sonographer at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, she says she is frequently spotted on social media platforms by her nearest and dearest having been covertly filmed while attending to patients. 'You don't want to find yourself, without being asked, suddenly appearing on someone's TikTok or Facebook,' says Thompson, who warns this is happening on a 'daily basis'. 'I choose what I do and don't put on social media, but if someone else is taking pictures of you or recording you [and uploading that content online], you have no control over who is seeing that.' Thompson is far from alone in her discomfort. In fact, she is one of a growing number of NHS professionals reporting that they are regularly being recorded, overtly or covertly, by their patients or their patients' friends and family. The problem has become so widespread that senior medics were last month forced to intervene, with the Society of Radiographers (SoR) publicly expressing its concerns. On one occasion, the union said, a member had reported being filmed by the 19-year-old daughter of a cancer patient who was having a cannula inserted. 'She wanted to record the cannulation because she thought it would be entertaining on social media. But she didn't ask permission,' the staff member said. 'I spent the weekend afterwards worrying: did I do my job properly? I know I did, but no one's perfect all the time and this was recorded. I don't think I slept for the whole weekend.' The group warned that those filming inside hospitals and other clinical environments risk 'publicising other patients' medical information, and compromising their own treatment'. It is now calling for the introduction of clear policies to prevent patients from photographing or recording clinical procedures without having express permission to do so. Lives as 'content' Some of the clips posted online and seen by The Telegraph are seemingly the product of individuals keen to document their own health journeys, or to raise awareness of specific conditions. Others, however, appear to follow the broader trend of many people treating their entire lives as 'content' for social media. Whatever the rationale of those behind the videos, the SoR warns that they are making staff in the health service – the vast majority of whom wear identity badges – 'uncomfortable' and 'anxious'. Hospital trusts across the UK have their own policies when it comes to filming, with many clearly stipulating that 'no patients or staff are to be filmed without consent'. But some warn current measures do not go far enough. 'As healthcare professionals, we need to think: does that recording breach the confidentiality of other patients? Does it breach our ability to deliver care?' Dean Rogers, the director of strategy at the SoR, told the BBC last month. 'There are hospital trusts that have very good policies around patients taking photos and filming procedures but this is something all trusts need to have in place.' Thompson, whose own ward has a sign which explicitly states that patients must not record or take pictures, agrees. 'I think there should be policies [to prevent this],' she says. 'People aren't asking permission to do this, and it's causing anxiety among the staff. We don't want to feel that we're being watched all the time… like Big Brother's watching us.' Erosion of privacy Many medics are despairing over the current state of affairs, pointing out the litany of issues that come with filming inside clinical settings. Other patients who may appear in the background of such footage risk being exposed, for one, while NHS staff going about their duties could have their privacy eroded too. 'God forbid, it could be somebody [who is filmed] who's not actually told a relative they're going to hospital or got anything wrong with them,' says Rachel Nolan, the SoR's vice-president. 'Then they see it [the clip] on somebody's TikTok or Instagram, and think 'that's my relative in the background, I wonder what they're doing there?'' In some instances, people may also be unwittingly leaking their own personal and highly sensitive information. For Thompson, who routinely carries out pregnancy scans, all sorts of data risk being compromised when her patients film their treatment, potentially putting them 'at risk'. (Screens used as part of the procedure typically show the individual's name, their date of birth and their hospital number, among other personal information.) Moreover, patients filming and uploading footage of their time in hospital may distract staff attempting to carry out complicated medical procedures. 'It's mentally taxing enough making decisions that are going to affect people's health without thinking at the back of your mind that you're being filmed,' says Dave Pilborough, a therapeutic radiographer at the Royal Derby Hospital and a past president of the SoR. Surprising culprits A trawl of social media sites such as TikTok and Instagram reveals a glut of videos of this kind, captioned with messages such as 'come with me to the hospital' or 'spend the day with me in A and E'. Such clips often attract hundreds of views and likes, generating thousands of followers for the accounts that air them. The Telegraph found multiple examples of videos featuring footage of staff who are seemingly unaware they are being captured on camera. There is also an abundance of content posted online in which other patients seem to have been filmed without their knowledge or consent. Some of these clips show individuals lying on hospital beds, capturing their ordeal in intimate and occasionally graphic detail. Others are filmed inside busy waiting rooms. But it's not always the patients themselves who are behind the camera. In fact, Thompson says, the most common culprits are friends and family accompanying women as they come in for a scan. She explains that in many instances, it is 'the person sitting with [the patient] who will have their phone in a very unnatural position on their lap and be filming the screen, or filming you doing the scan'. Sometimes, they appear to be trying to capture the moment covertly. 'It's the ones that have got the phones really low on their laps. They're the ones that know they shouldn't be doing it,' she says. When she is able to spot that they are recording, Thompson asks them to stop – at which point they can get 'irate', she says. 'I think they feel guilty. They've been caught, but they've been doing it in such a covert way that they know they're not supposed to be doing it.' Worsening problem The SoR says the problem has worsened significantly in recent years. 'It's pretty trendy to take pictures of just about everything that happens to you and then stick it on social media,' says Richard Evans, the organisation's chief executive. 'It's almost the norm that people put everything on TikTok and Instagram,' says Nolan. 'They document their whole lives, what they're having for tea, and say, 'Oh, I've been in an operation today, and I'll put that on [the internet] as well'. I just think it's the availability of being able to record everything and document absolutely everything in their lives.' Thompson, meanwhile, speculates that influencers who have been given explicit permission to film their treatment (as part of them documenting their own health journeys) are unwittingly inspiring copycats. And as the trend grows, there are mounting worries there could be a more sinister side to some of the filming too, with some patients thought to be seeking to 'expose' the NHS, or catch out doctors they deem to be complicit in a broken system. 'There will always be people who want to exploit systems and be sensational,' says Evans. 'Maybe they even see themselves taking part in revealing the truth about the health service or something like that. You can imagine a range of motivations, can't you.' He adds that tighter policy can't come soon enough, arguing all NHS trusts need to have clear rules in place that prevent patients from filming inside their facilities, unless they have been granted permission to do so. 'For the vast majority of people, I suspect this is just unintentional, and they are not really thinking that what they're doing could be a problem,' he says. But ultimately, Evans concludes, 'some clear policy will be helpful'.
Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Meet the next-door sisters: ‘We're like neighbours on steroids'
Milo, the youngest and only boy of the four cousins, comes running down the garden to his aunt and uncle's home, past the runner ducks, silkie chickens, guinea pigs, cats, dogs and koi carp — it's like a modern-day Doctor Dolittle set-up with a splash of The Waltons. For any child it's idyllic because not only are there animals galore (23, in fact) but there is double everything, from parents to children to pets. The sisters Katie Thompson and Sophie Parish decided that bringing up the four children they have between them — Tabitha, nine, Aurora, seven, Poppy, six, and Milo, three — would be more fun if they did it together, so they bought houses next door to one another and now raise
The National
06-05-2025
- Sport
- The National
UAE cricketer Katie Thompson
Katie Thompson arrived in the UAE in 2021 and will now be a part of the national team in the T20 World Cup Asia qualifier
The National
06-05-2025
- Sport
- The National
From Harrogate to Ajman, then the world: Katie Thompson is living the dream after UAE call up
Up until four years ago, Katie Thompson had never been on a plane. The first flight she took brought her from the UK's northwest to the unlikely destination of Ajman. Now she could soon become a globe-trotting international cricketer, having been called up to the UAE women's team for the first time. Currently she is in Thailand, where the national team are finalising their preparations for the Asian regional qualifier for the Women's T20 World Cup. The top two sides in the nine-team tournament will advance to the global qualifier at the start of next year. The top sides in that would in turn make it to the main event, to be staged in England next year – which is where Thompson started out her journey. 'I am super excited,' Thompson, 28, said ahead of her first tour with the national team. 'It is every child's aspiration to represent their country at something. I am so close to doing it, and I really hope I get the opportunity. 'Just getting the kit – the huge bag of kit, I put everything on. The jumpers, hats, everything. Every time I put the kit on at home, I just feel so proud. 'I feel proud because it is the case that: I made it. I have been working really hard, like everyone has, and now I am hoping to get that extra step and get onto the international stage. It might sound like a cliche, but to make my debut would be a dream come true.' Thompson, who has debuted for the UAE team in their warm-up matches against China and Kuwait, is the second English-born player to represent the country at cricket. Mahika Gaur, the first, is now back in England where she represents the country of her birth. Thompson arrived in the Emirates in August 2021 when she took up a job as a PE teacher at Victoria English School in Sharjah. It was a step into the unknown for someone who had lived all her life till that point in Harrogate in Yorkshire, which was the county she represented in cricket. 'It was Covid, all the rules were in place and my brother had just moved out of our family house,' she said. 'We had grown up being best friends. It wasn't a lonely time as I love my mum and dad to bits, but with all the rules in place, I thought to myself, 'Let's see what's out there. Let's have an adventure.' 'I started looking at international job websites and I thought, 'Why not apply?' The next thing I know, I'm having an interview, accepting the job in February 2021. Then in August, I am on my first ever flight – my first time on a plane – out here to the UAE.' She had been abroad to France before, by ferry, but Ajman – where she has lived for the four years since – in August was a significantly different experience. 'It was a big change,' she said. 'I was apprehensive and excited. There were a few of us moving out at the same time, so we made a WhatsApp group, and I asked if anyone was flying from [Manchester]. 'I flew out with a maths teacher and it was also his first time on a plane. We were both sat there, really excited.' One of the unknowns facing her was whether she would ever play cricket again. She did not know if there was a cricket scene for women in the UAE, and was focused on her job, anyway. Unbeknown to her, her dad had contacted Darjeeling, the oldest club side in Dubai, to see if they could accommodate her. They were more than happy to enlist her for their side. It was an opportune arrangement: during one match she played for Darjeeling at the ICC Academy in Dubai Sports City, she was spotted by the UAE national team. 'I was playing a game for Darjeeling, and the girls were netting,' she said. 'Someone looked over and noticed they had a woman playing. We finished the game, then one of the coaches stopped me and asked how long I have been here, and wanted to know about the residency and whether I would qualify to play. 'They took my number, then I did my first training session here in November, and it has developed from there. Once I started becoming more involved, I realised this is something I would love to be a part of.' Now she is part of the tour party for the first time, in a side who are thriving. This weekend it was confirmed the UAE women's team will have one-day international status, on the basis of the continued progress they have made in the T20 format. They came close to qualification for the last T20 World Cup. If they can achieve it this time around, it would make for a poignant trip home for Thompson. 'They have been telling everyone,' she said. 'Mum has been telling all her work colleagues in the office, and dad as well. All my family have been nothing but supportive. 'The dream for us girls is to get to the World Cup, which is England next year. If everything works out, then hopefully my mum and dad can come and see me play. 'I'm where I am now because of the help of them; driving me training, taking days off work to drive me to games, getting me the kit, paying for memberships. 'It would mean the world to be able to give this back to them, either watching me on TV, or watching me in person wearing the UAE kit.'
