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JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

FSA declares LTCB insolvent

The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan's latent losses exceeded its net worth as of Sept. 30, indicating that it effectively is insolvent, the Financial Supervisory Agency said Friday.The LTCB was solvent in March but became effectively insolvent partly because the bank had not made sufficient provisions...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Faltering Ford charts new recovery path

Struggling to gain a foothold in Japan, senior officials of Ford Motor's Japanese subsidiary next week will begin visiting affiliated auto dealers across the country.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Miyazawa sanguine on Long-Term credit debacle

Following the government's decision to temporarily place the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan under state control, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Friday that the bank's depositors and clients do not have to worry about its imminent takeover.Speaking at a news conference, he said all depositors'...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

The Aum Trials: Ex-cultist to hang for role in Sakamoto killings

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Aum Shinrikyo deserter Kazuaki Okazaki, 38, to death Friday for taking part in the murders of an anti-Aum lawyer and the attorney's family and the killing of an errant cultist in 1989.Friday's ruling marks the first time capital punishment has been meted out in connection...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Ostracized burakumin leather tanners faced with new threat

The biggest victim of a leather products trade dispute between Japan and the European Union may turn out to be the hisabetsu buraku — the ostracized hamlets where many of Japan's social outcasts earn a living tanning leather.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

NEC posts first midterm loss in five years

Struggling with the domestic economic slump and falling prices in the semiconductor market, NEC Corp. suffered a consolidated net mid-term earnings loss for the first time in five years, company officials said Friday.The net loss for the April-September period was 19.7 billion yen, with the operating...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

'93 Rodong may have flown over Japan, agency admits

The Defense Agency has been informed by U.S. sources that the Rodong missile North Korea test fired in May 1993 might have flown over Japan, Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga said Friday.The single-stage missile possibly flew some 1,300 km and landed in the Pacific, Nukaga quoted the U.S. sources...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Defense seeks 963 million yen for missile defense

The Defense Agency on Friday requested 963 million yen in the fiscal 1999 budget to start a joint research program with the United States to develop a missile defense system.The budget is to cover the design and trial manufacture of missiles to be used for the Navy Theater Wide Defense system, the sea-based...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Government nationalizes Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan

The government placed the troubled Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan under state control Friday after the bank reported it may have to suspend repayments of deposits and other obligations.A report released by the Financial Supervisory Agency on the same day said the LTCB is insolvent, with liabilities...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

APEC may force Japan into tariff compromise

Japan intends to seek a compromise on the easing of its fisheries and forestry trade barriers at next month's meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the government's top spokesman indicated Friday.Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said the government has virtually given up its position...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Death sentence 'a matter of course,' court says

Staff writerFriday's ruling that sentenced to death former Aum Shinrikyo senior figure Kazuaki Okazaki is widely viewed by legal experts as "a matter of course," considering the heinous nature of the crimes.Explaining the reasons for capital punishment, presiding Judge Megumi Yamamuro at the Tokyo District...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Okazaki calls demand for death unfair

Kazuaki Okazaki, a former Aum Shinrikyo figure sentenced to death Friday, showed little emotion in court during the near hour it took the judge to read out his ruling. Sitting motionless with his hands on his knees and tilting his head down, he looked as if he was in deep meditation.But letters Okazaki...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Diet coalition wants funds upped for homes with children

Policy chiefs from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its two smaller allies agreed Monday evening that another 4 billion yen should be allocated in the 1998 fiscal budget to help households with young children.The step was taken after Takako Doi, leader of the Social Democratic Party, met with...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Pasona to acquire LTCB Research for 1 billion yen

The LTCB Research Institute, an affiliate of the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, will become a subsidiary of Pasona Inc. on Dec. 1, it was announced Thursday.Pasona, a major employment agency, will pay 1 billion yen to purchase the think tank, which is capitalized at the same amount, Yasuyuki Nanbu,...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

ANA changes course for Star Alliance

In an effort to pull in business class customers for its international routes, All Nippon Airways Co. will join the Star Alliance, a multilateral strategic linkup of international carriers, next October, ANA officials said Thursday.The alliance is made up of Air Canada, Lufthansa German Airlines, Scandinavian...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

NTT to pay 5,000 yen share bonus; DoCoMo debuts

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. will offer a special dividend of 5,000 yen per share next year in addition to a regular dividend of 2,500 yen after profits made from releasing a part of its shares of NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc., the carrier announced Thursday.NTT had held 95 percent...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Obuchi pledges economic recovery drive

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi renewed his pledge Thursday to put the economy on a recovery path within two years and stressed that the government will do all it can do to achieve that goal.In a speech at a Tokyo hotel, Obuchi reiterated that the government will swiftly compile a third supplementary budget...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Hashimoto begins China visit

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Thursday embarked on a two-day visit to China to attend a reception commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 1978 peace and friendship treaty between the two countries on behalf of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and former...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Prime Minister's Office to oversee bank failures

The government has established a team within the Prime Minister's Office to deal with failed and failing banks until a "financial resuscitation" committee is formally formed, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Thursday.The announcement came a day before a set of laws aiming to stabilize the...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

The Aum Trials: Cultist denies killing defector

Toshiyasu Ouchi, a former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive charged with murder in connection with the 1989 slaying of a cultist, denied being a party to the killing Thursday at his first trial hearing before the Tokyo District Court.Ouchi, 46, who at one time headed the cult's Russian branch, was deported from...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Kansai cop fired for 'avoiding' accident

OSAKA -- A 50-year-old police officer from the Izumisano Police Station was fired after it was disclosed that he arranged for a third person to be charged in an injury accident he caused in June while driving without a license, police said Thursday.The assistant inspector, who has not been named, received...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Nomura, Daiwa, Nikko awash in red ink

The nation's three largest securities companies all realized net losses for the first half of fiscal 1998 on an unconsolidated basis, they said in releasing midterm earnings reports Thursday.Nomura Securities Co., Daiwa Securities Co. and Nikko Securities Co., which all released results for the April-September...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

MITI, Saudi trade chiefs chat

Japan and Saudi Arabia on Thursday reaffirmed their bilateral efforts to facilitate investment in the Arab nation, which pledged to be a primary oil supplier to Japan and other world economies, officials of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said.MITI Minister Kaoru Yosano met separately...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Land acquisitions take steep first-half drop

Reflecting worsening business conditions and thinning incentives for real-estate investment, an unprecedentedly small number of firms purchased land for industrial use in the first half of this year, according to a preliminary report released by the trade ministry Thursday.Acquisitions of land greater...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Tokai, Daiwa get in line for public funds

Tokai Bank and Daiwa Bank joined three major banks in unveiling plans Thursday to apply for public funds to boost their capital bases under the new bank recapitalization legislation that was approved by the Diet earlier this month.Sources at the two banks said they are planning to seek public funds...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

APEC charts technological growth into 21st century

Staff writerThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum has drawn up the draft guideline to promote cooperation among Japan, the United States and the 19 other member economies in industrial science and technology toward ensuring sustainable economic growth and facilitating regional trade and investment.The...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1998

Bank shares help Nikkei close over 14,000

Tokyo share prices forged ahead strongly Wednesday, with the 225-issue Nikkei average recovering the 14,000 level for the first time in a month.The key market gauge, a 240.85-point gainer the previous day, ended 408.28 points, or 2.96 percent, higher at 14,216.33.Banking issues continued their upward...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1998

Action agenda for Africa targets poverty, illiteracy

African countries and their development partners pledged Wednesday to attempt to halve the extreme poverty on the continent and achieve universal elementary school education by 2015.To this end, Japan pledged 90 billion yen, mostly grants for educational and health facilities."The ultimate objective...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1998

Trade surplus soared 44.7% in first half

The nation's surplus in merchandise trade in the April-September period rose 44.7 percent from a year earlier to 7.411 trillion yen, the largest since the same fiscal half of 1986, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry.The September trade surplus alone expanded...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1998

Highlights of Japan-Saudi Arabia pact

The following are highlights of a cooperation agenda agreed upon by Japan and Saudi Arabia to build a partnership for the 21st century:1) Training of 300 Saudis by Japan International Cooperation Agency;2) Dispatch of education policy advisers to Saudi Arabia by Japan;3) Holding of joint seminars on...

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