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JAPAN
Mar 12, 1998

Ministry, banks move to exchange information openly

Scarred by scandal, the Finance Ministry held a meeting March 12 with senior banking officials to introduce a new system of information exchange with the financial sector that would not require excessive wining and dining.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1998

Inaba urges recovery rather than fiscal reform

Kosaku Inaba, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called on the government March 12 to give priority to economic stimulus rather than measures to rehabilitate its national finances.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1998

Banks' wining, dining of BOJ officials said not uncommon

The Industrial Bank of Japan and several other major banks have repeatedly wined and dined executives and other high-ranking officials of the Bank of Japan, in addition to the BOJ official arrested March 11, sources said March 12.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 10, 1998

New Zealand calls on Japan to boost demand

New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley encouraged Japan on March 10 to stimulate domestic demand, saying that stronger growth in Japan will help Asian countries that are suffering from economic crisis.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 1998

Knifings prompt rethink of Juvenile Law

Justice Minister Kokichi Shimoinaba said March 10 that the issue of lowering the age at which minors who commit crimes can be punished should be included on the agenda of ongoing discussions among the Justice Ministry, the Supreme Court and the federation of bar associations.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Chief of bookbinding firm kills self

Ryutaro Kotaki, 45, president of a Tokyo bookbinding company, took his life by driving his car into the sea off a pier in the city's Minato Ward at about 7 a.m. March 9, police said.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

ANA joins code-sharing with United, Lufthansa

All Nippon Airways, the nation's second-largest airline, announced March 9 that it has reached an agreement for comprehensive partnership, including code-sharing, with United Airlines of the U.S. and Lufthansa German Airlines.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

BOJ exec entertained by top banks

Six to seven banks spent about 7 million yen entertaining an executive of the Bank of Japan over the past five years, according to sources at the banks.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Burial mound found nearly intact

MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. -- A circular burial mound dating back to the latter half of the fifth century has been discovered nearly intact in the village of Komochi, Gunma Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Boy Scout leader urges knife safety

The problem with today's society is not knives and guns but the people who wield them, said Jere Ratcliffe, chief scout executive of Boy Scouts of America, in a recent speech delivered to Boy Scouts of Nippon in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Hosokawa backs merger under DPJ

In a bid for a merger of the four parties in the Minyuren parliamentary group, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa on March 9 proposed that the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest of the four, effectively absorb the three others to create a new party.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Finance Ministry graft probe to widen

The Finance Ministry's ongoing in-house investigation of wining and dining will also include officials rumored to have been excessively entertained by financial firms, Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga indicated March 9, adding that he plans to become more involved.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Special envoy to be sent on Seoul visit

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto will send a high-ranking official to South Korea later this week as a special envoy to set the groundwork for better relations with Seoul's new administration under President Kim Dae Jung, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka said March 9.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

JR Shin-Osaka fetes first kiosk targeting women

OSAKA -- LADY 1st, a new kiosk targeting female commuters, opened March 9 at JR Shin-Osaka Station.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Nuclear waste returns amid Aomori concerns

Sadakazu Tanigaki, director general of the Science and Technology Agency, said March 9 that he is ready to meet with Aomori Gov. Morio Kimura over matters related to high-level nuclear waste to be returned from France and unloaded in his prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Bolts removed from electricity tower

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JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Schoolgirl strangled in Aichi

NAGOYA -- A 19-year-old youth was in police custody March 9 on suspicion of murdering a 15-year-old junior high school girl, who was found dead at his home March 8, police said.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

10 trillion yen stimulus eyed

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will call for an additional economic stimulus package of more than 10 trillion yen after the Diet approves the fiscal 1998 state budget in April, top officials of the LDP have indicated.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Nikko faces charges over Arai profits

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission lodged a criminal complaint with prosecutors March 9 against Nikko Securities Co. and two former executives for illegally offering profits to the late House of Representatives lawmaker Shokei Arai.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Bill to make wards municipalities

The Home Affairs Ministry plans to submit a set of bills to the Diet March 10 to revise laws to convert Tokyo's 23 wards into full-fledge municipalities in April 2000, ministry officials said March 9.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Nago mayor backs Ota on heliport

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Nago Mayor Tateo Kishimoto on March 9 reiterated in the city assembly that he will follow Gov. Masahide Ota's judgment concerning the government's plan to build an offshore military helicopter facility off Camp Schwab.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

13-year-old boy fatally stabs classmate at Saitama school

URAWA, Saitama Pref. -- A 13-year-old boy stabbed a classmate to death at a junior high school Monday (March 9) morning in Higashi-Matsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, police said.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1998

Kitora chamber reveals ancient planisphere

KASHIHARA, Nara Pref. -- A planisphere carved into a stone chamber inside a 1,300-year-old tumulus in the village of Asuka shows such important constellations as Ursa Major, Orion and Scorpio, an expert has found.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

PKO force commanders may get OK to order defensive fire

A 1991 Diet remark by then Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may be standing in the way of a looser law that would allow military commanders to order defensive fire while engaged in U.N. peacekeeping operations.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

Budget debate protests keep Diet on hold

All Diet business remained paralyzed Friday as three opposition blocs continued to boycott deliberations in the House of Representatives for a second day.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

Arrested Finance officials face new charges

Prosecutors charged two former Finance Ministry bank inspectors in custody Friday with taking a combined 3.8 million yen in additional bribes from four commercial banks in return for favors.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

LDP reverses itself on disclosure of lawmakers' assets

In a reversal of its earlier position, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is expected to propose a rule that would force Diet members to disclose all their stock transactions.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

Bureaucrats applying brakes threaten freedom of info act

Last in a series
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

Japan-Russia investment talks end on positive note

Japan and Russia ended two days of talks Friday in Tokyo, acknowledging certain progress toward creating a bilateral accord on investment protection.

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