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JAPAN
Aug 20, 1997

Brother and sister stabbed in elevator

NAGANO -- Police arrested a 28-year-old woman Aug. 20 for allegedly stabbing two children inside a supermarket elevator in Suzaka, Nagano Prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 1997

Police act in play on phantom attacks

Police officers and local government officials from Tokyo's Itabashi Ward staged a performance Aug. 20 in front of JR Itabashi Station to inform the public about a series of phantom attacks that have been reported recently in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 1997

Japan, China to discuss issues of WTO and tariffs

Japan and China will hold a fresh round of negotiations in Tokyo next week on Beijing's admission to the World Trade Organization, government officials said Aug. 20.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 1997

NGOs to focus on global warming

KYOTO -- Nongovernmental organizations from eight prefectures are organizing events between Aug. 23 and Aug. 31 to raise awareness of global warming as a precursor to December's third Conference of Parties (COP3) of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 1997

Victim attacked again

The victim of a phantom attack in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward was attacked Aug. 19 for a second time by a man who followed her from behind and scratched her arm before fleeing the scene.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Coalition nixes medical plan

The Liberal Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake on Aug. 19 refused a government-proposed plan to impose a much greater share of medical bills on the public. The plan would require the health insurance system's policyholders to shoulder 30 percent of their medical bills,...
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Three from Komei to join Shinshinto

While many members of Komei are concerned about the future of Shinshinto, three from the Tokyo, Fukuoka and Osaka constituencies have decided to join Shinshinto and run as the party's candidates in next summer's Upper House election, Komei chief Tomio Fujii told Shinshinto President Ichiro Ozawa on Aug....
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Coalition parties want strong environment ministry

As discussions on administrative reform continue within a government council, the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake agreed Aug. 19 to call for creation of an environment ministry with stronger power to administer environmental issues such as waste, chemical pollution and global environmental...
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Tottori town shuns radioactive dirt

TOTTORI -- Mayor Shinichiro Yasuda of Misasa, Tottori Prefecture, visited the prefectural government Aug. 19 to announce opposition to plans to temporarily store uranium-tainted remnant earth near his town.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Japan ponders stance on antipersonnel land mines

Japan remains reluctant to sign a treaty banning the use of antipersonnel land mines, although it may consider doing so, Foreign Ministry officials said Aug. 19. The officials were reacting to news that Washington has expressed readiness to take part in the process.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Ministers slam panel's reform proposals

Key members of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's Cabinet lashed out Aug. 19 against proposals being discussed by a blue-ribbon panel headed by Hashimoto to reorganize the ministries under their charge.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Ikeda off to Europe to boost ties

Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda leaves Aug. 20 for an eight-day trip to the Czech Republic, Poland and France to forge stronger relations between Japan and the three countries.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Singapore prime minister to visit

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore will visit Japan from Aug. 27 to 30 for talks with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto over bilateral ties and the relationship between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Foreign Ministry officials said Aug. 19.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Tokyo governor's new state-of-the-art home unveiled

The Tokyo governor's new official residence in Shibuya, built at a cost of 1.2 billion yen, was opened to reporters Aug. 19. Gov. Yukio Aoshima and his family are slated to vacate their apartment in Nakano Ward and move into the new two-story house at the end of this month.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Tokai base approved for PNC head office

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JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Fossils show a new breed dinosaur

TOYAMA -- A Tokyo Gakugei University paleontological team has concluded that Cretaceous period creatures who left a series of footprint fossils -- found two years ago in Oyama, Toyama Prefecture -- are of a never-before-discovered species. The team said the dinosaur may have belonged to the bird-foot...
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Condo plot soil highly contaminated

CHIBA -- A plot of land where a condominium is to be built in Inage Ward, Chiba Prefecture, has highly cancerous hexavalent chromium concentrations 2,400 times the environmental standard set by the government, it was learned Aug. 19.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Simulation links China smog, acid rain here

Researchers on Aug. 19 unveiled the results of a computer simulation showing that acid-rain-causing pollutants produced in not only northeastern China but also in southern China can affect Japan.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Taiwan part of review, Kajiyama repeats

Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama rekindled a raging debate Aug. 19 by repeating that the geographical scope of planned U.S.-Japan defense cooperation would naturally include emergencies in the Formosa Strait.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Consortium offers building owners energy-savings windfall

Staff writer
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1997

Reform panel agrees to upgrade Environment Agency

The Administrative Reform Council agreed Aug. 19 to upgrade the Environment Agency to a full-scale ministry to respond to higher priority being placed on environmental protection by the international community.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1997

15 eyed as organ donor age floor

Only people age 15 or older should be allowed to donate their organs for transplants after their death, the Health and Welfare Ministry proposed Aug. 18, according to ministry officials.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1997

Vague boundaries urged in bilateral defense guidelines

FUKUOKA -- When revising guidelines for defense cooperation with the U.S. in the case of emergencies around Japan, it is important, for strategic reasons, to keep the geographical scope vague, Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Taku Yamasaki said Aug. 18.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1997

Prime minister, Cabinet urged to have more clout

The authority of the prime minister and the functions of the Cabinet should be strengthened, the 13 members of the Administrative Reform Council, headed by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, agreed Aug. 18.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1997

Ford and Mazda moving in sync

Staff writer
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1997

July trade surplus increases 69.7%

Japan's customs-cleared trade surplus for July climbed 69.7 percent from a year earlier to 849.1 billion yen, the fourth straight month of increase, according to provisional figures released Aug. 18 by the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1997

Fisheries talks with China to start

Japan and China on Aug. 20 will begin two days of fisheries talks in Beijing in a bid to conclude a provisional agreement, Foreign Ministry officials said Aug. 18.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1997

Minamata co-op agrees to open bay

KUMAMOTO -- The Minamata Fishery Cooperative agreed Aug. 18 to remove a net partitioning the once mercury-contaminated Minamata Bay from the outside sea.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 1997

Rain fails to dampen turnout at Yasukuni

Despite intermittent rain, thousands of war veterans and relatives of Japan's war dead visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Friday, the 52nd anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in war.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 1997

Municipalities lower land values

About 48 percent of 3,233 municipal governments, including Tokyo ward offices, lowered land and property value assessments this year, according to a report released Friday by the Home Affairs Ministry.

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