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JAPAN
Aug 12, 1997

Administrative reform debate intensifies as 11th hour nears

Staff writer
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1997

Opposition to set up study group

About 70 Diet members from the Democratic Party of Japan, Shinshinto and the Taiyo Party are expected to participate in a new study group to be formed later this month, informed sources said Aug. 11.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1997

Damages sought by victims of biological warfare in China

Chinese victims of Japanese germ warfare in the early 1940s filed a class-action suit with the Tokyo District Court on Aug. 11, demanding that the government acknowledge the damage and compensate them individually.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1997

22 die in weekend water accidents

Twenty-two people died over the weekend, 12 others were listed as missing and seven people were injured in 61 swimming accidents at beaches and rivers, the National Police Agency reported.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1997

Two injured in blast

YOKOHAMA -- One man fell unconscious and another was slightly injured Aug. 11 when an explosion ripped through a garbage disposal facility in Kanagawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1997

Dollar, Nikkei fall hard

The dollar's plunge in New York and elsewhere over the weekend spilled over into Tokyo on Aug. 11, sending the yen soaring and share prices plummeting broadly.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1997

Fire from explosion razes factories

OSAKA -- An explosion rocked a battery factory in Moriguchi, Osaka Prefecture, on Aug. 10 and ignited a fire that razed two buildings, police said Aug. 11. The two-floor 660 sq.-meter battery factory was recharging lithium batteries but operating without workers due to the holidays.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1997

Japan to offer Thailand $4 billion in untied loans

Japan is ready to provide up to $4 billion in untied loans to Thailand through the Export-Import Bank to help the country climb out of its economic crisis, Finance Ministry Hiroshi Mitsuzuka said Aug. 11.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Forest reform panel suggests firing, privatization,

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's working groups on forestry decided on a fundamental reform plan to streamline state-owned forestry operations on August 8, calling for a two-thirds reduction in the number of workers, to 5,000.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Typhoon set to pass near Kyushu area

Powerful Typhoon No. 11 was expected to pass near northern Kyushu late August 8 through this morning, bringing strong winds and heavy rain, the Meteorological Agency said August 8.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Current account surplus climbs 40% in first half

The nation's current account surplus for the first six months of the year rose 40.4 percent from the same period last year to 5.05 trillion yen, logging the first increase since the January-June period of 1993, provisional figures released August 8 showed.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Drunk goes for a spin in police car

OSAKA -- An intoxicated 32-year-old man commandeered a police cruiser before being apprehended and arrested 10 minutes later for alleged theft early August 8 here in Kita Ward, officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Antinuclear activists uneasy over future

NAGASAKI -- Nearly 200 activists from Japan and abroad gathered August 8 in Nagasaki for a special seminar on what citizens' groups are doing to halt nuclear weapons production.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Tokyo, Seoul swap regional defense outlooks

Japanese and South Korean defense officials agreed August 8 to further promote military cooperation in stabilizing the northeast Asian region.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Domestic price index rises 0.2%

The domestic wholesale price index rose by 0.2 percent in July from the previous month to 97.2 against the 1990 base of 100, the Bank of Japan said August 8.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

U.S. parks effort to have motorcycle laws reviewed

Planned action by the United States to urge Japan to review its motorcycle regulations has been halted, a U.S. Embassy official said August 8 in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Truancy among youth hits record high

A record 208,380 elementary school and junior high school students throughout the country were absent from school for 30 days or more in fiscal 1996, the Education Ministry said in a survey released August 8.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Tokyo war accounts published in English

In an attempt to enlighten foreign residents of Tokyo about Japan's World War II experience, the Minato International Association has published an English translation of the first-person war accounts of 50 Minato Ward residents.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

Robbers take 222 million yen from bank van

MITO, Ibaraki Pref. -- Masked men attacked a bank van before dawn August 8 at an agricultural cooperative in Shimodate, Ibaraki Prefecture, getting away with three cash boxes containing 222 million yen.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 1997

JCP raps LDP assembly candidate over orchids

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly was thrown into confusion August 8 prior to its first session after the July election over an attack by the Japanese Communist Party on the Liberal Democrat candidate standing for assembly president
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

Sales of imported vehicles fall again

The prolonged impact of the April consumption tax hike continued to dampen sales of imported vehicles in July, which dropped 25.6 percent to 31,354 units to mark a fourth consecutive monthly fall, an industry association said August 6.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

Japan, China open fisheries negotiations

Japan and China started three-day fisheries talks August 6 in Tokyo in a bid to conclude a new pact between the two countries, Foreign Ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

No response from North Korea on high-level talks

Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama admitted August 6 that North Korea has yet to reply to a proposal to hold high-level bilateral talks this weekend, but he would not comment on speculation that Pyongyang has been angered.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

Police seize more counterfeit $100 bills

Police in Tokyo said August 6 that they have recently confiscated 500 false $100 bills that are believed to have been produced outside Japan.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

'Informal talks' on NTT procurement extension scheduled

Japan and the United States will hold "informal talks" August 6 in San Francisco to exchange views on the possible extension of the 1994 NTT Procurement Agreement, set to expire Sept. 30, a Tokyo government official told reporters.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

Hiroshima observes anniversary of atomic bombing

HIROSHIMA -- Beneath cloudy skies August 6, Hiroshima marked the 52nd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb with condemnations of a recent U.S. subcritical nuclear test and calls for a global ban on nuclear weapons, as the number of officially recognized victims has now surpassed 200,000.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

In with a Bang: Foreign financial firms eye deregulation

Japan's so-called Big Bang financial reform is a long time in coming, but foreign financial institutions are well prepared to meet the challenge, according to the head of the Tokyo office of ING Barings Securities Japan.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

Elderly population rises to new record

People aged 65 or older now make up 15.43 percent of Japan's total population, topping the 15 percentage mark for the first time, the Home Affairs Ministry said August 6.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

Little progress made in U.S.-Japan air talks

Three days of vice-ministerial-level air talks ended in Tokyo on August 6 with the United States and Japan unable to produce signs of progress over expanding air services in the Asia-Pacific region, one of the most lucrative markets in the world.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1997

Yamaichi chairman quits top industry post

Tsugio Yukihira, chairman of Yamaichi Securities Co., officially stepped down August 6 as head of the Securities Dealers Association of Japan to take responsibility for alleged illegal payoffs to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist.

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