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JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

LDP proposes housing loan tax breaks

The tax panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed Wednesday to propose radical tax breaks for housing loans for fiscal 1999, calling the allowance "the largest issue" in the government's efforts to stimulate the moribund economy.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

Vietnam put on aid list for Miyazawa Plan

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JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

Masumi Hayashi held in Wakayama curry killings

WAKAYAMA -- Police served Masumi Hayashi with a warrant Wednesday, charging her with murdering four people and attempting to kill 63 others by poisoning a vat of curry served up during Wakayama's Sonobe district summer festival.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

Pyongyang suspected of missile activity, but not launch

Defense Agency chief Hosei Norota admitted to a Diet committee on Wednesday that the agency has obtained information suggesting that North Korea is constructing new missile facilities.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

Nissan to sell off leasing business to IBJ

As part of efforts to streamline its operations, Nissan Motor Co. said Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to sell the leasing business of a subsidiary to a unit of the Industrial Bank of Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

Clarify constitutionality of Japan PKO role: Ozawa

Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa reiterated on Wednesday that the government should clarify its stance on interpreting Self-Defense Forces' participation in United Nations military peacekeeping operations, as it pertains to the Constitution.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

Nonaka seeks Okinawa visit for breakthrough on bases

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Wednesday he hopes to visit Okinawa later this month to seek ways to resolve issues over the reorganization of U.S. military bases in the prefecture and to help revive the ailing local economy.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Fukushima re-elected as ACCJ president

Glen Fukushima was re-elected as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, it was announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Defense opens probe into uniformed officer ranks

The Defense Agency officially launched an in-house investigation Tuesday over new suspicions of a coverup involving uniformed Self-Defense Forces officers.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Economy mired but beginning to move: EPA

Though the economy remains in in contraction with continuing weakness in corporate investment, the Economic Planning Agency said in its monthly economic report Tuesday that "there is a whiff of change in the air."
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Public forum opens on Japan PKO role

As Japan's contribution to U.N. peacekeeping activities comes under Diet debate in connection with the planned alliance between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Liberal Party, some LDP members launched a forum Tuesday urging more public discussion on the issue.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Kogi River most polluted in nation

The Kogi River in Osaka Prefecture has the worst water quality of any river in Japan, while the Yoichi River in Hokkaido has the purest, according to an Environment Agency study released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

LDP, Liberals near policy deal

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Liberal Party will probably soon finalize a basic policy accord aimed at the formation of a coalition government, sources from the parties said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Cheap sushi darling of slumping service sector

Amid the prolonged recession, taxi drivers, travel agencies and restaurateurs have been racking their brains to come up with ingenious ways to tempt consumers and companies to loosen their purse strings.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Japanese-Filipino war orphans petition for citizenship

A group of 10 Japanese-Filipinos representing Japanese left behind in the Philippines after World War II submitted a petition to the government Tuesday urging it to speed up its efforts to recognize them as Japanese citizens.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

JAS Tokyo-Hong Kong flights approved

The Transport Ministry today will approve Japan Air System Co.'s request to start regular air service between Tokyo and Hong Kong, based on a recommendation by the Transport Council, the ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Oneworld alliance looks to grow

British Airways expects new partners in a global alliance that it and four other international airlines will form in the near future, Robert Ayling, the carrier's chief executive, said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 1998

Third supplementary budget approved

The House of Representatives on Tuesday evening approved a third supplementary budget for fiscal 1998 and immediately sent it to the House of Councilors for enactment.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Nissan, Hitachi to jointly research advanced auto technologies

To survive costly high-tech global competition in the auto industry, Nissan Motor Co. and Hitachi Ltd. announced Monday they are studying an alliance to jointly develop next-generation electronic technologies for automobiles.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Norota apologizes for second batch of wandering documents

Defense Agency Director General Hosei Norota admitted Monday that some uniformed officers of the Self-Defense Forces moved procurement-related documents out of their offices prior to the September raid on the agency.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Students' Global Society opens forum for development issues

HIROSHIMA -- A group of students and scholars at Hiroshima University have formed Global Society, which they hope will be one of Japan's leading international research bodies for overseas development activities.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Hayashi apologizes for sarin deaths

Former Aum Shinrikyo member Yasuo Hayashi apologized during testimony Monday at the Tokyo District Court to the families of eight people who died after he released nerve gas on the Tokyo subway in March 1995.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Hiroshima mayor's refusal to run laid to economic woes

HIROSHIMA -- The announcement by Hiroshima Mayor Takashi Hiraoka that he will not seek a third term has thrown next year's election into uncertainty.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Ailing Chubu localities won't say where cash went

OKAYAMA -- Nationally and internationally, Japan's banking mess has received a lot of press coverage and is generally considered by politicians, media pundits and business leaders to be the nation's most urgent problem.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

TV ratings, self-regulation favored over v-chip

A government-sponsored panel studying the impact of television on children called for the broadcasting industry to regulate its own program content Monday, but elected not to recommend introduction of the v-chip TV censoring system, saying it needs further study.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

11 endocrine disrupters found in nation's water system

Eleven suspected endocrine disrupters, which damage living creatures by mimicking natural hormones, were found in varying levels at 122 of 130 sites in an Environment Agency survey, officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

MOX assured safe for use in Fukui nuclear reactors

A planned project by Kansai Electric Power Co. to use recycled plutonium to fuel nuclear reactors in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, assures nuclear safety, a government panel on nuclear safety concluded Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 1998

Recovery signs flickering amid gloom: Obuchi

Although many economic index figures still are troublesome, signs of economic recovery are appearing, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi reckoned Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 1998

Miyazawa urges speedy Diet approval of budget

The 5.677 trillion yen third supplementary budget for fiscal 1998 was submitted Friday to the extraordinary Diet session, and Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa called for a swift passage in his policy speech.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 1998

Ailing Osaka to raise high school entry fee eightfold

OSAKA -- The financially stricken Osaka Prefectural Government will submit a bill to the prefectural assembly to raise the entrance fee to prefecture-run high schools more than eightfold from the current 5,500 yen to 45,000 yen, officials said Friday.

Longform

Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free