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JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Arai defies LDP calls to quit party

Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Shokei Arai, who allegedly made huge profits through questionable stock transactions, on Monday defied a party leader's demand that he leave the LDP.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

USA Today going forward with paper and without

Is the deluge of Internet information having a negative impact on the newspaper business?
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Nissan, Daihatsu launch new compacts

Hoping to stimulate the auto market, two Japanese companies on Monday introduced new five-door compact models.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

6 trillion yen extra budget plan mulled

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto indicated Monday that his government will consider a proposal by a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker for an extra budget of about 6 trillion yen to be compiled for fiscal 1998 to give an additional boost to the nation's fragile economy.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1998

Ruling alliance targets bureaucrats with new ethics law

The three top leaders of the ruling alliance confirmed Monday evening that a new law mandating ethical discipline in the bureaucracy should be created to prevent money-related scandals.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

LDP offers simple solution to finance scandals

Finance Ministry inspections of financial institutions should be revised through such means as offering prior notification of when they will take place, a panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Friday.The party's Finance Division and the Investigation Commission for the Finance and Banking...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

MITI authorizes lower power rates

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry on Friday authorized new power rates that will reduce monthly electricity bills for an average four-person family by some 290 yen.The nation's 10 power utilities will introduce the new rates, which are 3.27 percent to 6.70 percent lower than current rates,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

Osaka jet noise activists OK increase in flights

OSAKA -- Eleven municipalities concerned about jet noise from Osaka airport decided Friday at an extraordinary general meeting in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, to condone a daily increase of 50 jet arrivals and departures.The municipalities also formally decided to accept a central government proposal for...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

The Asahara Trial: Aum lawyer grilled over inconsistencies

The defense team for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara cross-examined a former Aum lawyer Friday on inconsistencies between his testimony and the depositions given by other cult members over events before the disappearance of a Yokohama lawyer and his family in November 1989.Yoshinobu Aoyama, 37,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

Case of 1946 assault on state minister finally allowed to expire

A trial that started in 1946 and was continuously resurrected to prevent the statute of limitations from running out while the defendant remained at large was formally dismissed Friday.The defendant, who was not named and who would be 76 years old now, was arrested Feb. 24, 1945, after he pulled a knife...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

LDP's Arai admits profiting from hidden Nikko account

Shokei Arai, a Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party, admitted in the Diet on Friday that he made about 41 million yen through an account he asked Nikko Securities Co. to open in the name of one of his acquaintances.Arai insisted, however, that the trades were not illegal. Speaking as an...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

Bankers' group chairman Saeki will resign

As bribery scandals engulf Finance Ministry officials and employees of major banks, Natotaka Saeki, chairman of the Federation of Bankers Associations of Japan, announced Friday that he will resign as leader of the industry association "for the sake of the stability of the financial system."But Saeki,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

NTT's caller ID service makes screening easier

Staff writerEver been harassed by incessant prank calls? Felt nervous about picking up the phone, not knowing who's on the other end of the line?Based on such apprehensions and other misuses of the telephone, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. has shrewdly developed a new business. Starting Sunday,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

Compaq chooses Canon to be sole sales agent

In an attempt to boost its presence in the competitive Japanese computer market, Compaq Computer Corp. and Japanese subsidiary Compaq Computer KK have selected Canon Sales Co. to be their sole sales agent in Japan, the three companies announced Friday.Under the new agreement, Canon Sales, the sales...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

Matsunaga appointed as new finance minister

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto named Lower House Budget Committee chairman Hikaru Matsunaga as the new finance minister Friday, entrusting him with the task of cleaning up the ministry's image in the wake of a bribery scandal.The scandal, in which two ministry inspectors were arrested earlier in the...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 1998

Vice Minister Tanami wants trust in Finance restored

Newly appointed Vice Finance Minister Koji Tanami vowed Friday to put priority on regaining the public's trust in the powerful, scandal-tainted ministry.Tanami, 58, was serving as the head of the Cabinet Councilors' Office on Internal Affairs but was recalled after his predecessor, Takeshi Komura, resigned...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Taipei wants China talks held on own terms

Taipei wants to start with business-level talks with Beijing on a variety of practical, serious issues to improve the two nations' strained relations, rather than political dialogue, as China again proposed earlier this week, a Taiwan spokesman said Thursday in Tokyo.Visiting The Japan Times head office,...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Use of 'fashionable' drugs brings cases to 10-year high

A total of 19,722 people were investigated in stimulant drug cases in 1997, 302 more than in the previous year, the National Police Agency said Thursday.The NPA said the figure is the worst this decade and declared that Japan is now in a third period of drug abuse. Drug abuse cases have increased partly...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Banks to be picked for 'jusen' lawsuits Sunday

The first group of banks the Housing Loan Administration Corp. may sue over the "jusen" mortgage-lending debacle will be decided upon Sunday, corporation President Kohei Nakabo said Thursday.The corporation's legal counsel feels that several banks are responsible for the expansion of problem loans at...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

DDI aims for sales of 1.51 trillion yen by 2001

DDI Corp., a major long-distance telephone carrier in Japan, said Thursday that it will seek to earn group sales of 1.51 trillion yen and group pretax profits of 130 billion yen in the 2001 business year.In its medium-term management plan, the group, which posted consolidated sales of 1.02 trillion...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Top Finance bureaucrat resigns over bribery case

Vice Finance Minister Takeshi Komura handed in his resignation Thursday afternoon to take responsibility for the recent scandal in which two ministry inspectors were arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes from major banks.Koji Tanami, a ministry official now in charge of the Cabinet Councilors' Office...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Hashimoto apologizes over Finance scandal

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto apologized to the public Thursday for the bribery scandal involving Finance Ministry bank inspectors and vowed to root out corruption in the bureaucracy and prevent its recurrence."We offer our deepest apology (to the public for the affair)," Hashimoto said during an...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

The Asahara Trial: Cultist didn't think Aum would kill family

One-time Aum Shinrikyo lawyer Yoshinobu Aoyama testified Thursday that he never thought the cult was involved in the mysterious disappearance of a Yokohama lawyer and his family when he first heard they were missing in November 1989.A witness for the prosecution, Aoyama took the stand in the trial of...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Bill drafted to demand discipline from bureaucrats

Parties in the ruling alliance launched efforts Thursday to draft a bill mandating bureaucratic discipline amid the bribery scandal rocking the Finance Ministry.The ruling Liberal Democratic Party set up an internal panel, while the Social Democratic Party, one of the LDP's two non-Cabinet allies, announced...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Rover to recycle its cars in Japan

Amid growing public awareness of the need to conserve the environment, Rover Japan Ltd. will launch a nationwide program in April for recycling its cars, the Japanese subsidiary of the U.K. automaker said Thursday.Rover's announcement follows a similar move by its affiliate BMW Japan Corp., which started...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Oil industry calls for lower taxes

Leaders of the nation's oil industry called on the government Thursday to reduce oil-related taxes, arguing that they are unreasonably heavy.They made the request during an informal meeting with Mitsuo Horiuchi, minister for international trade and industry, a MITI official told reporters. Yuji Idemitsu,...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1998

Outline of 2001 administrative realignment approved

The government Thursday drew up the outline of new legislation that will serve as the basic law to start consolidating administrative organs in 2001.A government panel, consisting of all ministers and headed by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, met in the morning and decided on the outline, which mandates...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1998

DKB data on 'sokaiya' loans allegedly erased by finance official

Koichi Miyakawa, a Finance Ministry inspector who is under arrest, deleted part of a 1994 ministry report on problem loans extended by Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank to "sokaiya" corporate extortionist Ryuichi Koike, the key figure in a huge financial-sector payoff scandal, at the request of a Dai-Ichi Kangyo...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1998

Keck announces end to EU-Japan auto export restraint

Europe will not seek to extend its agreement with Japan on voluntarily restraining Japanese automobile exports, European Union Ambassador Jorn Keck said Wednesday.The departing ambassador was speaking at a farewell news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. "I don't know how to prolong...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1998

Extra budget, tax cuts pass Lower House

The Lower House on Wednesday passed the government-proposed supplementary budget for the current fiscal year and bills to allow for 2 trillion yen in pump-priming income and residence tax cuts.The extra budget and bills were moved the House of Councilors for further action. They are key components in...

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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