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JAPAN
Jan 26, 1998

Koike made direct payoff demands, court told

Ryuichi Koike, a "sokaiya" corporate racketeer on trial for extortion, demanded payoffs during direct meetings with executives of firms involved in the huge financial scandal surrounding him, prosecutors said Monday during his Tokyo District Court trial.Describing Koike, 54, as a "skillful" and "aggressive"...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 1998

Kajiyama denies ambition to be next prime minister

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama on Monday denied that he will be tapped to replace Prime Minister Ryutaro, who, according to rumors, may be forced to step down in a few months due to his economic policy failures."Some people say that I still have ambition (to become prime minister), but...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 1998

Columbia crew traces mission's success to hardships of space

Crew members of the space shuttle Columbia, which returned to Earth early last month after a successful mission, said Monday the extraordinary challenge of working in space fostered a sense of unity that overrode differences in culture.Eight members of NASA's space team -- six aboard the spacecraft and...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

Hata leads official launch of Minseito

The new political party Minseito was officially formed Friday through the integration of three center-right opposition parties, most of whose members once belonged to the now-defunct Shinshinto.Former Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata, 62, leader of the new party, said during the inaugural conference at a...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

Seoul retaliates as Tokyo scraps 1965 fishery pact

Seoul denounced Tokyo's decision Friday to unilaterally terminate a 1965 fisheries pact following the breakdown of nearly two years of negotiations.In swift response, South Korean Foreign Minister Yoo Chong Ha declared the Japanese decision "unfriendly" and said his country will, in retaliation, immediately...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

Bill targets renewal of old-fashioned shopping districts

Three government ministries on Friday presented to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party the outline of a bill to revitalize commercial districts in line with the planned abolition of the Large-Scale Retail Store Law.The bill would allow for a total expenditure of 1.5 trillion yen to bring economic vitality...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

Super Bowl Preview: Packers, Chiefs to play in Tokyo

Staff writerSAN DIEGO -- The Kansas City Chiefs will make their second trip to Tokyo to take on the Green Bay Packers on Aug. 2 at the Tokyo Dome in the American Bowl, the National Football League announced Thursday.The American Bowl will resume after a one-year absence for Tokyo's ninth NFL preseason...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

Foley, U.S. House's Leach step up calls to spur domestic demand

Both U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley and James Leach, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Financial Services, called on Japan on Friday to stimulate domestic demand and help Asian economies recover.Leach, a Republican, said trade deficits with Asian countries will escalate...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

Osaka residents stage rally to run gangsters out of town

OSAKA -- About 350 residents of Osaka's Tennoji Ward held a rally here Friday to demand that the Nakano-kai and Takumi-gumi gangs vacate their offices in a residential district of the ward.At the rally, residents pledged they would not allow any criminal gangs to settle in the ward while the group promotes...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

OECD sets guidelines to stop harmful tax competition

Staff writerThe 29 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have agreed in principle on guidelines for eliminating "harmful" tax competition designed to attract more foreign capital, government sources said Friday.The guidelines call for the nations to roll back what...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

Mitsuzuka vows internal probe of corruption

The Finance Ministry will conduct an internal probe to check on excessive wining and dining of its officials in light of the arrest of a former ministry bureaucrat for alleged acceptance of bribes, Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka said Friday.The results of the investigation will be made public, he...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1998

Gas firms' rate plans under fire

Mitsuo Horiuchi, minister for international trade and industry, put explicit pressure Friday on three major gas companies to refrain from their planned gas rate hikes in April.Speaking at a regular news conference, Horiuchi expressed strong displeasure with Thursday's announcement by Tokyo Gas Co., Toho...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1998

Fund to aid Russian firms urged

Irina Hakamada, chairwoman of the Russian State Committee for Support of Small Business, on Thursday called for a new fund to support Russian small and medium-size firms.Speaking to reporters at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, she stressed the need to create a financing mechanism to help nurture small...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1998

Raiders gamble on youthful coach

Raiders gamble on youthful coach> SAN DIEGO -- The Oakland Raiders have filled their vacant head coaching position with Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Jon Gruden, Fox-TV reported Wednesday.Gruden will be the third coach in three years for Oakland, which fired Joe Bugel earlier this month after...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1998

Olympic speedskating coach quits over students' rape case

Japan's Olympic speedskating coach Kunio Tanaka said Thursday he will resign his position after being fired by his university over the arrests of five of his hockey students in July on suspicion of rape.Earlier in the day, Tanaka, who is director of Nippon Sport Science University's ice hockey team,...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1998

U.S. bends in air talks

The United States has started to show flexibility on same-country code-sharing, one of the key disputes in the bilateral aviation talks with Japan, Transport Ministry officials said Thursday.The move came on the second day of new high-level civil aviation talks held in Washington. The U.S. side showed...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1998

Lodish still looking for elusive ring

Staff writer SAN DIEGO -- He knows the Super Bowl well, maybe better than anyone on his team. But he doesn't have a winner's ring, and most of his teammates don't either.Denver Broncos reserve defensive tackle Mike Lodish will make his fifth Super Bowl appearance in his eight-year career when the AFC...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1998

MMC to supply models to Chrysler until 2005

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will continue to supply two models produced at its Illinois plant to Chrysler Corp. until 2005, the companies announced Thursday.Mitsubishi has been supplying vehicles to Chrysler since 1982. Under the current agreement, which is due to expire in 1999, Mitsubishi supplies the...
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 to...
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 deficit-covering...
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...

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