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JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Opera house set for gala opening

OTSU, Shiga Pref. -- Giving a boost to opera, the only theater in western Japan to offer a special four-tier stage, will celebrate its gala opening today at the southern shore of Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Dollar dips below 133 yen before bouncing back

The dollar hit its lowest level in more than three months Friday in Tokyo amid lingering worries about the global stock market decline.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Fighting may be over, but refugee aid continues

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is operating in an era of "unachievable peace," which followed an "unwinnable war," UNHCR Sadako Ogata said at Tokyo's Japan National Press Club on Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Imported auto sales drop 16.9% in 17th down month

The nation's imported vehicle sales dropped 16.9 percent in August to 15,597 units from the same period last year, down for the 17th straight month, the Japan Automobile Importers Association announced Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Governor appoints new U.N. ambassador

The government on Friday appointed Yukio Sato as ambassador to the United Nations, Foreign Ministry officials said. He replaces Hisashi Owada, who has held the post for more than four years.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Supermarket insider suspected in poison oolong case

A case of poisoning that has hit the quiet, rural communities of Nagano Prefecture may have been the act of a person familiar with the operation of the local supermarket where cyanide-laced cans of oolong tea were placed, police officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Opposition vows to fight LTCB bailout

Three major opposition parties told the Diet on Friday they are determined to block any government move to inject public funds into the ailing Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

FSA bank inspector commits suicide

A bank inspector at the Financial Supervisory Agency hanged himself Thursday morning at his home in Tokyo, the FSA said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Photo trade group warned not to share information

The Fair Trade Commission warned the Photo-sensitized Materials Manufacturers Association on Friday against hindering fair competition in the domestic market by exchanging trade information detailing production, shipments and shipping prices of their products among member companies.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Nissan plans transmission firm in 1999

Nissan Motor Co. will establish a new automatic transmission manufacturing company in the summer of 1999, the company said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Osaka drafts 10-year reform plan

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Government on Friday officially proposed a 10-year financial restructuring plan to alleviate financial problems that have worsened since the burst of the bubble economy in the early 1990s.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Miyazawa urges review of bank-screening criteria

Screening criteria to determine whether public funds should be infused into banks should be revised, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa indicated Friday, saying the current standards are difficult to understand.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

The Asahara Trial: Lawyers grill ex-cultist

The defense counsel for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara cross-examined a former Aum follower Friday who was allegedly involved in making a spray device used in the June 1994 sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Police warn against copycat poisonings

The Metropolitan Police Department requested the nation's retailers and beverage makers on Friday to tighten security in the wake of a recent series of poisoning cases in Wakayama, Niigata and Nagano prefectures.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 1998

Tokyo to host global warming meeting

Tokyo will host an informal ministerial meeting on global warming on Sept. 17 and 18, bringing together representatives from 21 countries and the European Union, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

The Asahara trial: Defense resumes with grueling examination

After a 1 1/2 month summer recess, the murder trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara resumed Thursday with a grueling cross-examination of a prosecution witness by Asahara's defense counsel.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Service industry index dips 0.8 point

The index of service industry activities dropped by 0.8 point for the April_June period from the previous quarter, marking a decline for the third consecutive quarter due to the economic slump, the International Trade and Industry Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Toa Steel to announce largest postwar liquidation

Struggling steelmaker Toa Steel Co. has decided to liquidate itself in what will become the largest manufacturing failure to date in Japan's postwar era, a corporate credit research agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Miyazawa ready to meet with Rubin

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa will leave for San Francisco this evening to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin for discussions on international economic problems and developments in the domestic economy.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Man with knife slashes student in Edogawa

A junior high school student was slashed by a man with a knife early Thursday in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward, police said.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Tokyo man shot with arrow dies

A man from Machida, western Tokyo, died after being shot through the neck with a metal arrow near his home late Wednesday night, police said.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Pyongyang may be readying second launch, Nonaka says

Despite protests from Japan and its allies, North Korea may be preparing another ballistic missile launch, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Thursday, quoting intelligence reports.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Opposition finance bills set stage for showdown

Three opposition parties on Thursday submitted their prescription for the nation's ailing financial system, setting the stage for a showdown with the LDP.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Powerful quake rocks Iwate Prefecture

A strong earthquake measuring a lower 6 on the Japanese scale of 7 struck Shizukuishi, Iwate Prefecture, at 4:58 p.m. Thursday, the Meteorological Agency said.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Diet condemns North over firing of missile

Both houses of the Diet unanimously adopted resolutions Thursday condemning North Korea's missile launch earlier in the week and urging the government to take a stern stance against Pyongyang.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

High costs, low demand stifling Kansai airport growth

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

General Motors Japan names new president

General Motors Japan Ltd. said Thursday that Mitsuru Sato, former president of Volkswagen Group Japan K.K., has become president of GM Japan, succeeding Douglas J. Herberger.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Government worker eyed in Osaka insurance scam

OSAKA -- A 46-year-old employee of the Osaka Prefectural Government is suspected of having swindled about 95 million yen in medical insurance benefits, it was learned Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Poisoned oolong may have killed Nagano man

A 56-year-old man in Nagano Prefecture died earlier this week shortly after drinking a can of oolong tea at his home, it was learned Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1998

Hitachi to post 100 billion yen loss, slash work force

Hitachi Ltd. will post pretax losses of 100 billion yen in the 1998 business year to next March 31, marking its first plunge into red ink for the postwar period, company officials announced in revised earnings forecasts Thursday.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals