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November 26, 2024

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JAPAN

Jan 22, 1998

Trade surplus topped 10 trillion yen in '97

The nation's customs-cleared trade surplus for calendar 1997 grew for the first time in five years, increasing 48.5 percent from the year before to 10.01 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.The rise means the surplus has returned to the levels of the early 1990s, when trade friction with...

JAPAN

Jan 22, 1998

Aoshima releases budget draft for '98

Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima unveiled a 6.675 trillion yen budget draft for fiscal 1998 Thursday that may finally cure the huge budget shortfall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.While the shortfall has been covered with special fiscal measures since 1990, the austere general account budget represents...

JAPAN

Jan 22, 1998

Cabinet expected to scrap fishing pact with South Korea

With diplomatic negotiations deadlocked, the Cabinet is expected to decide this morning to unilaterally scrap the 1965 fisheries agreement with South Korea.Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka said Thursday morning the decision on the treaty was reached in a meeting with Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

In latest air talks, U.S. demands more flights

In high-level civil aviation talks that got under way Tuesday in Washington, the United States made fresh demands that Japan let "nonincumbent" U.S. carriers offer 56 more flights a week through regional airports in Japan, Transport Ministry officials said Wednesday.The two sides had already agreed...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

Crimes involving handguns on rise

Nearly 150 criminal cases involved the use of handguns last year in Japan, about 20 more than the previous year, according to the National Police Agency.Of the 148 cases, about 84 percent involved gangsters, it said. Twenty-two people in eight prefectures were killed in the incidents -- up five from...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

Industrial output falls a revised 5%

Industrial output plunged 5 percent in November from the previous month, a downward revision of 0.9 percentage point from the preliminary figure, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said in a report released Wednesday.Production index for the nation's mines and factories, which uses 1990...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

Public funds debate starts up

Debate began Wednesday in the House of Representatives Finance Committee on two bills that form the backbone of government plans to infuse up to 30 trillion yen in public funds to stabilize the banking system.Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka said "soul-searching is needed over the traditional administration...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

Level of pollen in Tokyo expected to rise this season

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is predicting this season will be far worse than last year for allergy sufferers in the capital.The amount of cedar pollen in the air, which can cause noses to run and eyes to itch, will be between 0.9 times and 1.3 times greater than usual in Tokyo this year, according...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

Reports on deficit-covering-bond remarks irk Kato

Secretary General Koichi Kato of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party expressed his disapproval Wednesday of some morning media reports that he said misinterpreted his comments from the previous day."I did not mean at all that the government is considering moving back the target year to stop issuing...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

Osaka projects in 668 billion yen of red ink

OSAKA -- One-quarter of Osaka's high-profile, third-sector projects are now 668 billion yen in the red, but city officials are still pumping money into them in the hopes they will eventually turn a profit.Third-sector projects, which are corporations jointly established by Osaka and private businesses,...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

Panel sets goals for bullet train expansion projects

A panel of representatives from the government and the three ruling parties gave priority Wednesday to two projects for expanding the nation's bullet train network, Transport Minister Takao Fujii said.Priority was given to two sections of bullet train line: One between Hachinohe and Shin Aomori on the...

JAPAN

Jan 21, 1998

Three opposition parties merge to form Minseito

Three opposition parties said Wednesday they will merge Friday to form a new party with an old name in Japanese politics: Minseito, literally "Democratic Politics Party."Former Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata announced the name for the new party, to be formed by Kokumin no Koe (Voice of the People), From...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

By Greg Dvorak

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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