search

 
 
JAPAN
Jan 19, 1998

Columbia seeks to build up trade, investment

Columbia is aiming to strengthen trade and investment relations with Japan and improve its own industrial infrastructure to encourage investment, Columbian Foreign Minister Maria Mejia told Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi on Monday, ministry officials said.Obuchi welcomed Columbia's efforts to improve...
JAPAN
Jan 19, 1998

Hong Kong trade official seeks to allay avian flu fears

Asserting that the high-risk period for avian flu has passed, a Hong Kong trade official Monday sought to alleviate Japanese tourists' concerns about the disease that has killed six people so far in the former British colony."Hong Kong is a very safe place to visit. There is no need for restrictions...
JAPAN
Jan 19, 1998

Finance Ministry considering new penalties for Nomura

The Ministry of Finance has begun studying whether new administrative penalties can be imposed on Nomura Securities Co. in connection with a bribery scandal that led to the arrest of two of its former executives, ministry sources said Monday.The ministry will look into whether the giant brokerage, rather...
JAPAN
Jan 19, 1998

Banks under pressure to cut salaries

Several Cabinet members said Monday that banks should be urged to lower their salary levels, known to be considerably higher than those at firms in other industries, at a time when the government is preparing to use public money to handle the banking crisis.According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

BOJ keeps hands off discount rate

The Bank of Japan held its first Monetary Policy Meeting under new antisecrecy rules Friday and immediately announced that the Policy Board unanimously decided to leave monetary policy and the 0.5 percent official discount rate unchanged.The new format, adopted in advance of the April enforcement of...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Hashimoto restates dedication to stability, tax cuts

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Friday stressed the need to deliver on government pledges to implement a 2 trillion yen pump-priming tax cut and to pass financial stabilization measures.Speaking before the House of Representatives Budget Committee, Hashimoto noted that markets have already responded...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Nikkei average leaps on expectation of stimulus measures

The Nikkei average recorded its second biggest jump ever Friday thanks to growing expectations that the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are shifting policies to save the economy and the stock market.The 225-issue Nikkei average soared 924.47 points, or 6.1 percent, to end the postholiday...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

MPD cop allegedly helped halt Daiwa investigation

An Metropolitan Police Department officer arrested this week on suspicion of taking bribes from Daiwa Securities Co. was asked by the brokerage to help halt a 1993 investigation into the firm, police and prosecution sources alleged Friday.It is possible the MPD's investigation targeting an employee at...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Remove laws to improve competitiveness, ACCJ head urges

Japan should abolish -- rather than ease -- a number of existing regulations if it wants to become more competitive and support a positive economic situation, Glen S. Fukushima, the new president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, said Friday."Although 'deregulation' is often translated into...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Tokyo starts recovering from snow

Road, railway and air transportation in Tokyo returned to near normal Friday, with only a few delays and minor trouble remaining after the season's heaviest snow paralyzed traffic the day before.Police attributed three deaths and 400 injuries in the capital and its eight neighboring prefectures during...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Kids got less for New Year's

The average amount Tokyo children received for New Year's dropped by 203 yen to 27,365 yen this year, a possible reflection of the sluggish economy and the first decline in six years, according to a survey released Friday by Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank.Still, the amount was more than 28 times the children's...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

A dozen wives from North Korea ready to visit

The government announced on Friday that 12 Japanese women have been chosen for the second homecoming trip of women who emigrated to North Korea some 40 years ago. Their visit will begin Jan. 27.The women, who live in North Korea with their Korean spouses, will depart Pyongyang and arrive in Tokyo Jan....
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Hashimoto vows LDP will take Upper House majority

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto expressed firm determination Friday to have the ruling Liberal Democratic Party recover a majority in the House of Councilors in the election scheduled for July."We should secure a majority in the Upper House to make it possible for us to take swift measures at a time...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Japan narrows down sites for new capital to three

An advisory panel to the prime minister announced Friday that it has selected three regions on Honshu as prime candidates for Japan's future capital, scheduled to be completed around 2010.The Council for the Relocation of the Diet and Other Organizations said it will start feasibility studies on the...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

The Asahara Trial: Guru claims innocence

In a barely intelligible statement, Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara said Friday he has already "been found not guilty" of the March 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack and the June 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.Asahara, 42, was given the opportunity to speak at his Tokyo District Court...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Kobe Revisited: City rebuilding economic strength

Staff writerKOBE -- Three years after an early morning earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale resulted in the loss of more than 6,400 lives and left tens of thousands homeless, Kobe has rebuilt most of its economic infrastructure. But its recovery has not come without criticism over the plight...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

Japan, EU to recognize test results on electrical goods

Staff writerIn the first breakthrough in nearly two years of tough negotiations, Japan and the 15-nation European Union have agreed in principle to mutually recognize test results for electrical goods and telecommunications peripheral devices, government officials said Friday.The Japanese government...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 1998

DKB chief admits illegal loans, pleads ignorance

The former chairman of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank pleaded guilty Friday to providing some 12 billion yen in illegal loans to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist and said he is doing some deep soul-searching regarding his actions.Reading a statement in his first hearing before the Tokyo District Court, the bank's...
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1998

Hospitals prepared to harvest brain-dead organ donors

Most medical institutions designated to remove organs from brain-dead donors have declared they are ready to do so in the three months since a controversial law went into effect to allow such transplants from brain-dead patients.A large number of such facilities have completed manuals for carrying out...
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1998

Bilingual software aims to open Web to Japanese surfers

Fujitsu Ltd. has developed and will soon release three software packages that promise to open up English-language pages on the Internet for Japanese users.The packages, Nihongo de Search V1.0 (Search in Japanese), Honyaku Surfing V4.0 (Surfing in Japanese) and Honyaku Surfing Plus V4.0 will be marketed...
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1998

Donors sought for North Korean refugees

An Osaka-based civic group has launched a campaign to raise financial assistance for the children of North Korean refugees who have fled to China.According to Rescue the North Korean People/Urgent Action Network (RENK), an estimated 20,000 North Koreans have entered China over the past two years to escape...
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1998

Heavy snow brings chaos to Kanto, injures 100

Snow wreaked havoc across the Tokyo area once again Thursday, snarling traffic, slowing trains and causing injuries.About 100 people were rushed to hospitals in Tokyo and surrounding areas after stumbling on snow-covered roads or injuring themselves while moving snow, according to fire department officials.One...
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1998

Winning Nengajo numbers released

The Posts and Telecommunications Ministry announced on Thursday the winning numbers for the 1998 Nengajo (New Year's greeting card) lottery.The lucky numbers for first prize are 486861 or 564816. Second prize: 41777 (the last five digits). Third prize: 2846 or 5938 (the last four digits). Fourth prize:...
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1998

Japan praises IMF-Indonesia pact

Japan on Thursday applauded the agreement reached between Indonesia and the International Monetary Fund on new economic policy measures to be implemented by Jakarta.Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka both welcomed the move. Mitsuzuka released a formal statement that...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1998

MPD sergeant arrested in Daiwa bribery case

A sergeant in the Metropolitan Police Department was arrested Wednesday for allegedly accepting bribes from a Daiwa Securities Co. executive in return for information about an investigation into a fraud and embezzlement case involving a Daiwa branch.Takayoshi Hontao, a police inspector attached to the...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1998

Public debt will overtake GDP in 1999: Finance Ministry

The country's public debts will expand to 529 trillion yen by March 1999, a figure bigger than the nation's economy, the Finance Ministry announced Wednesday.The outstanding long-term debts of local and the central governments combined are expected to exceed forecasts for the nation's gross domestic...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1998

November current account surplus up 91.8%

The nation's current account surplus for November came to 1.28 trillion yen, up 91.8 percent from the same month the previous year, according to provisional figures released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry.It marked the eighth straight month in which the surplus logged a year-on-year increase, largely...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1998

Parents spending less on public school kids' education

Parents of public school students spent less on their children's education in fiscal 1996 than in fiscal 1994, while parents of private kindergarten children and private junior high school students spent more, according to an Education Ministry survey released Tuesday.Parents of public junior high school...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1998

Hashimoto drops new hint of tax cut

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Wednesday repeated hints he made the previous day that further tax cuts to boost domestic consumption and support the sagging economy have not been ruled out."The government will strive to make it unnecessary to continue a 2 trillion yen cut in income and residential...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1998

Denials, postponed pleas mark DKB payoff trials

A former vice president of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank denied Wednesday during his first trial hearing that he conspired to provide illegal loans to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist."I have never conspired with those who are named in the indictment," Ichiro Fujita, 59, told the Tokyo District Court, denying...

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