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JAPAN
Dec 22, 1997

Student violence tops record 10,000 incidents

The number of incidents of violence at public junior high and high schools surpassed 10,000 in fiscal 1996, the highest total since the survey was started in 1983, according to an Education Ministry report released Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1997

Banks' nonperforming loans hit 28 trillion yen

The total amount of nonperforming loans held by the nation's banks as of the end of September came to 28.08 trillion yen, a 178 billion yen increase over the figure reported at the end of March, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Rightist breaks down Nomura's door

A suspected rightist stormed into the headquarters of Nomura Securities Co. in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, Friday morning, breaking the glass front door with a metal bat.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Entrepreneur says a business can be ecological, profitable

Staff writer
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Failed trading firm's creditors bracing for losses

The impact of the failure of Toshoku Ltd. has begun to ripple through a number of banks and other firms who either deal with or hold shares in the medium-size trading company.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

92 billion yen lopped off defense program

The government said Friday it will cut spending for its five-year defense program by 92 billion yen to conform to its ongoing financial structural reform, the Defense Agency said.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Shares and yen tumble as credit crunch worsens

Share prices and the yen came under severe selling pressure Friday in Tokyo amid reports that a credit crunch has forced a major food trader out of business.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Insurance exec says solvency margins must be disclosed

Life insurance firms will have to disclose their solvency margins under a new policyholders' protection system being formed by the Finance Ministry, the chairman of the Life Insurance Association of Japan said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Harlequin Air launches first flight

Harlequin Air, a new airline affiliated with Japan Air System, started services Friday with a chartered flight from Fukuoka to Brisbane, Australia.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Osaka eases stance on day laborers' refuge plea

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Government will partially meet a demand by day laborers in the Airin district in Nishinari Ward here that they be allowed to use part of a local labor welfare center at night, it was learned Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Girls' average weight on the decline, data shows

Health data for 1997 compiled and released Friday by the Education Ministry indicates that the average weight of young girls is on the decline, possibly influenced by slender teen idols like pop star Namie Amuro.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Hashimoto to meet new president of South Korea

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and newly elected South Korean President Kim Dae Jung agreed during a telephone conversation Friday to meet soon, according to Japanese government officials.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Hosokawa, Hata plan to form new group in Lower House

Former Prime Ministers Morihiro Hosokawa and Tsutomu Hata announced Friday that they have agreed to form a new political group in the Lower House before the end of the year.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Thai minister urges more yen loans be extended

Visiting Thai Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda expressed a desire Friday to see more yen-denominated loans extended by Japanese financial institutions, because the bulk of the loans are now in dollars.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Favored tariff system for rich nations may end soon

Japan's preferential tariff treatment of imports from relatively rich countries and regions, including South Korea, should be gradually eliminated beginning in fiscal 1998, an advisory panel said in a report released Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 1997

Three scientists awarded Japan Prize

Three scientists, one Japanese and two Belgians, were selected as recipients of the 1998 Japan Prize, the Tokyo-based Science and Technology Foundation of Japan announced Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Aqualine opens to traffic under, above Tokyo Bay

KAWASAKI -- More than three decades after the idea was first put forward, an expressway beneath Tokyo Bay opened Thursday with simultaneous ceremonies in Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Seamen left high and dry as tunnel's opening celebrated

KISARAZU, Chiba Pref. -- It was the day to hang up their sea boots after decades on the sea.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Analysis: Ozawa in trouble despite victory

Staff writer
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Youth crimes jump 53% over 1996

A total of 2,085 youths aged between 14 and 20 were subject to police investigation in connection with serious crimes, such as murder and robbery, during the first 11 months of the year, marking a 53.8 percent jump over the same period last year, according to a report published Thursday by the National...
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Laborer sit-in in Osaka enters third week

OSAKA -- About 500 day laborers continued their sit-in Thursday at an Osaka labor welfare facility, demanding nighttime shelter in a protest that began Dec. 3.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Auto sales in '98 won't reach level of '96, industry says

Japan's total auto sales in 1998 will mark a slight 3 percent rise over this year but remain much lower than the 1996 level, according to a forecast by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers' Association.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

November trade surplus rises 58.7% for 14th surge in a row

The nation's customs-cleared trade surplus for November climbed 58.7 percent to 1.06 trillion yen, marking the eighth straight month of year-on-year increase, provisional figures released Thursday showed.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

South Korean group starts savings drive to aid homeland

Staff writer
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

New Osaka train line speeds up bay route

OSAKA -- Technoport Line, a new train line linking existing subway and monorail lines, opened here Thursday, offering better access to the Osaka Bay area.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Ozawa wins re-election as Shinshinto president

Ichiro Ozawa was re-elected Thursday as president of Shinshinto over challenger Michihiko Kano, former head of the Management and Coordination Agency.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Pollution complaints rose in '96, report says

Local governments received 62,315 complaints regarding environmental pollution in 1996, a 951 increase from the previous year, according to a report released Thursday by a committee under the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Cut in spending puts defense budget on downtrend

Defense spending in fiscal 1998 will be reduced by 0.3 percent, or roughly 12.4 billion yen, from the 4.9 trillion yen allocated in this fiscal year's initial budget, the Finance Ministry and Defense Agency agreed Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

The Asahara Trial: Cultist says 'bad guy' label unfair

Aum Shinrikyo follower Kiyohide Hayakawa reacted angrily Thursday to a lawyer's remark that he was once hostile to parents of live-in cultists who wanted their children returned.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1997

Nikko, Daiwa punished for payoffs to 'sokaiya'

The Finance Ministry on Thursday ordered Nikko Securities Co. and Daiwa Securities Co. to partially suspend operations for compensating losses incurred by a "sokaiya" corporate racketeer.

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