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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.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

ODA to Myanmar to resume soon

Despite opposition from the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake, official development assistance to Myanmar is to be resumed soon, policy chiefs of the SDP and Sakigake said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

New BOJ plan to cut pay of governor, executives

The annual salary for the Bank of Japan governor will be lower than that of the prime minister beginning in April.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

TWA plans to enter new pact at own speed

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

Hashimoto, Matsunaga to urge increased bank lending

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto will soon urge the executives of Japan's major banks to overcome any reluctance to offer loans, said Mitsuo Horiuchi, minister for international trade and industry.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 1998

Medical, student aid to Southeast Asian countries approved

The Cabinet approved emergency measures Friday to provide Indonesia with medical supplies and to assist students from Thailand and Malaysia who want to study in Japan, Foreign Ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

Spend ODA strategically, forum urges

Japan should use its Official Development Assistance more strategically and in tandem with diplomatic tactics to serve its national interests, a private think tank said in a report submitted Thursday to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

LDP to draft package for economy next week

Taku Yamasaki, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Thursday that the LDP will draft additional economic measures next week.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

Commerzbank says more action needed from Japan

Japan needs to play a more prominent role in helping its Asian neighbors out of their current financial crisis, the head of the German universal bank Commerzbank said Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

SESC inspector, Finance exec arrested over Nomura bribes

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office on Thursday arrested a Finance Ministry official and an inspector from the nation's securities watchdog who allegedly took bribes from Nomura Securities Co. in the form of wining and dining, sources said.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

Camera enters Kitora burial mound to glimpse elusive art

ASUKA, Nara Pref. -- Using a tiny, high-resolution camera, archaeologists on Thursday began examining the interior of the 1,300-year-old Kitora burial mound for the first time in 15 years, hoping to get clear images of mural paintings inside the stone tomb.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

JCCI chief wants 5 trillion yen more in tax cuts

The government should implement additional tax cuts worth 5 trillion yen because there is an urgent need to stimulate consumption in the current economic situation, the head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

Local efforts serving as wedge for disclosure

Second in a series
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

Obuchi, Park agree to meet soon for talks

Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi on Thursday congratulated Park Jung Soo, newly appointed South Korean foreign and trade minister, on his posting and suggested the two hold an early meeting.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

Matsunaga to issue stiff punishment if bribes prove true

Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga said Thursday that he is ashamed of the arrests of two more bureaucrats and promised to hand out stiff administrative punishments to them and their superiors if the allegations prove to be true.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

ANA changes profit forecast to loss

All Nippon Airways Co. announced Thursday that it is revising its forecast of a 2.3 billion yen net profit in its business report for the term that ends in March 1998 into a 3.2 billion yen net loss.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1998

Companies team up to create digital content venture

Itochu Corp., NTT Data Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Victor Co. of Japan, and Marubeni Corp. have jointly established a company to fund and market digital content, the companies said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1998

GE, Toho Mutual name new insurance behemoth

The giant life insurance company to be set up by GE Capital Services Corp. of the U.S. and Toho Mutual Life Insurance Co. will be named GE Capital Edison Life Insurance Co., officials of the two firms said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1998

Justice Ministry protests Focus article on Kobe boy

The Justice Ministry issued a letter of protest Wednesday to the publisher of Focus magazine for the publication of an illustration and writing samples by a Kobe boy who killed two children and assaulted three others last year.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1998

Information disclosure bill seen as first step

First in a series

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