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Chang-Ran Kim
For Chang-Ran Kim's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japanese gymnast Daiki Hashimoto attends a ceremony to unveil the official uniforms of Team Japan for the Paris Games, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
Apr 18, 2024
How green are your trainers? Team Japan uniforms to have carbon footprint labels
Japanese Olympians stepping up to the podium in Paris will have more than just a medal to be proud of this summer.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2021
Japan's new digital chief called out for image copyright gaffe
A blog post by Yoko Ishikura published last displayed a low-resolution image with a 'Pixta' watermark, a breach of the stock photo platform's terms of service.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 14, 2021
Lessons in Olympic spirit from 'Japan's' Korean gold medalist live on
At the 1936 Olympics, Korean Sohn Kee-chung stood with his head hung, hiding the Rising Sun flag on his chest with a laurel plant as Japan's national anthem filled the stadium.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 28, 2021
Japan to consider sharing COVID-19 vaccines amid calls to help Taiwan
Japan approved AstraZeneca's vaccine last week, but there are no immediate plans to use the shots in the country amid lingering concerns over rare blood clots.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2021
Pandemic puts pressure on Japan to open up rice stockpile to charities
As job losses have surged due to the impact of the spread of the novel coronavirus, demand for food handouts has skyrocketed in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2020
Tokyo enlists nightclub workers for Q&A-style videos to fight coronavirus
Alarmed by a spike in infections in Tokyo's nightlife districts, the metropolitan government has released educational videos in the form of a Q&A between nightclub hosts, a hostess and a doctor, hoping to stem the spread of the outbreak.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 17, 2020
In Japan, foreign parents lead charge against loss of child custody
A growing number of foreign nationals in Japan are speaking out against what they say is a little-known but entrenched system that allows one parent in a broken relationship to take away children and block the other from visiting them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2019
The kids aren't all right: Japan struggles to protect its most vulnerable children at group homes
Miwa Moriya was 6 when social workers told her she was going to a Christmas party but instead moved her into a group home for about 60 children in a small city in western Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2018
Japan beefs up child welfare measures after 'soul-crushing' abuse death
The central government is taking emergency steps to boost the number of child welfare workers by 60 percent within five years, spurred by the death of a child whose handwritten notes seeking forgiveness from her abusive parents have shaken Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 20, 2018
Silicon Valley-style coding boot camp seeks to reset Japan Inc.
Barely six months after inaugurating a tiny software-coding boot camp in a basement in Tokyo, Silicon Valley transplant Kani Munidasa stood before some of Japan's top business leaders in February with a warning: Software was threatening their future.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 24, 2017
Japan's shelters provide little comfort to abused children
Japan's shelters for neglected children are known for their suffocating discipline, but no one has come up with a good way to reform them in the past 70 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 29, 2016
Child welfare law revised but tens of thousands remain institutionalized in Japan
A baby lies in a metal-bar cot drinking from a bottle perched on his pillow in a Tokyo orphanage. There's no one to hold and feed him or offer words of comfort.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2015
Japan's top carmakers to expand Takata air bag recalls by millions
Japan's three biggest carmakers are expanding a huge global recall triggered by potentially fatal air bags made by Takata Corp, saying on Wednesday they will take back millions of vehicles worldwide for investigation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Dec 5, 2014
Toyota lessons lost on Takata as it resists U.S. recall order
Takata Corp.'s resistance to a U.S. order to expand the recall of its air bag inflators is likely driven by a need to protect itself from legal liability, but it risks longer-term business damage by alienating the public, experts say.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2014
'Konbini' coffee wins praise and profit for convenience stores
"Conbini" (convenience store) operators are jostling for eminence in a famously cut-throat industry, and one product has come up trumps for the market's top players — coffee.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 14, 2014
Unhappy hour for Kirin as its beer sales tumble in Japan
Kirin Holdings Co. is falling behind in the beer market with no clear fix in sight as it extends a multiyear sales slide and gives up market share to rivals more in touch with changing consumer tastes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 21, 2014
Retailers scrambling to empty fat foreign wallets
In graying Japan, retailers are waking up to a hot new demographic: foreign visitors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 18, 2014
Japan's working poor left behind by 'Abenomics'
Last Christmas Eve, Ririko Saito and her 11-year-old daughter gathered some plastic bottles, pots and a kettle and made several trips to a nearby park to get water. Their utility had just turned off the tap after months of unpaid bills.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on