Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Richard Fisher expressed his determination Tuesday to work with Japan in hammering out a new set of deregulatory measures this week that will help its people embrace the Internet.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Fisher urged the Japanese government to keep its pledge this year to have Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. drastically reduce its "outrageously high interconnection charges" for competitors who use its lines to provide their own service.

Fisher is in Tokyo for talks on the progress Japan has made in the third year of the Japan-U.S. Enhanced Initiative on Deregulation and Competitive Policy.