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JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Keidanren suspends DKB, Nomura over 'sokaiya' outlays

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) will suspend Nomura Securities Co. and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank from participation in its activities for a year due to their recent involvement in dubious activities, the federation's chairman, Shoichiro Toyoda, said June 9.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Teen-ager held in fatal stabbing of schoolmate

OSAKA -- A 16-year-old high school boy was fatally stabbed June 9 morning at a train station in Osaka Prefecture and police have arrested a fellow student of the same age on suspicion of homicide.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Aum ex-cop won't face charges for failed NPA hit

Prosecutors will not press charges against a former Metropolitan Police Department officer and Aum Shinrikyo follower in connection with his confessed involvement in the March 1995 shooting of the National Police Agency chief, investigation sources said June 9.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Life insurers raise dividends after seven-year hiatus

The nation's top eight insurance firms were able to boost their dividends to policyholders for the first time in seven years due to progress in writing off nonperforming loans and reducing operating costs, earnings reports released June 9 showed.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Cement overshoes prove mobster's undoing

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a former gangster June 9 to one year in prison for dumping the bodies of two slain managers of a hostess bar in Tokyo's Gotanda district sometime between late 1995 and early 1996.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Russia, Japan agree to strengthen trade ties

Japan and Russia agreed to reinvigorate bilateral trade and economic ties by focusing on the Russian Far East, a place where the two countries can best benefit each other, government officials said June 9.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Hashimoto to visit U.N., EU after Denver summit

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto will leave Tokyo on June 19 to attend the annual summit of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations in Denver and to meet with European leaders in Europe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama announced June 9.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Sansei cop urges revival of traditional Japanese values

Good, old Japanese values are dying out in Japan but still thrive outside the country, says a former Los Angeles police detective who led an international probe into a 1981 murder case widely known here as "L.A. suspicion."
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1997

Medical bills about to double

A bill to revise the Medical Insurance Law is now expected to be enacted within the current Diet session because top officials of the House of Councilors agreed June 9 to quickly put the measure to a vote.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

Aoki praises Japan's handling of hostage crisis

The Japanese government's commitment to peacefully resolving the Lima hostage crisis probably saved many hostages' lives during the daring rescue mission, former Ambassador Morihisa Aoki said in an interview June 6.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

Tokyo assembly passes bill restricting phone, date clubs

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on June 6 passed an ordinance to restrict so-called telephone clubs, which introduce customers to dates via the telephone, in an effort to stem the practice of teenage prostitution euphemistically called "enjo kosai," or compensated dates.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

Capital move talks shelved till 2003

The Cabinet confirmed June 6 that discussions on moving the capital to a site outside Tokyo will be shelved until 2003 or later as a way to help end the state budget crisis, Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama said June 6.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

Corporate wrongdoing fuels rise in shareholder lawsuits

As cases of misconduct involving major companies and corporate executives increase, so do lawsuits by shareholders seeking damages under the Commercial Code.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

LDP plans Pentagon visit for security guideline review

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on June 9 will call on its two non-Cabinet allies -- the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake -- to form a delegation to visit the U.S. to discuss security-related matters with officials of the Pentagon, LDP policy chief Taku Yamasaki told reporters June...
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

Tokyo assembly member denies payoffs from Tomobe

Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member Hideo Arato on June 6 flatly denied allegations that he received 100 million yen from aides of arrested Upper House member Tatsuo Tomobe and helped him buy a seat in the chamber.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

Followup meet on bilateral insurance pact set

Japan and the United States will conduct their first followup meeting in Tokyo on June 11 to discuss progress made under a bilateral insurance agreement reached in December, the Finance Ministry said June 6.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

Okamitsu tells Diet 60 million yen he got was a loan

Nobuharu Okamitsu, a former vice health minister now on trial on charges of taking 60 million yen in bribes from the head of a welfare business group, said in unsworn testimony June 6 at the Diet that he received the money as a temporary loan.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 1997

Panel urges firms to switch to consolidated statements

Japanese businesses should shift to using consolidated rather than individual financial statements from the business year starting in April 1999 since it is rapidly becoming the global norm, an advisory panel said in a report released June 6.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1997

Nomura ex-chief denies knowledge of 'sokaiya' payoffs

Yoshihisa Tabuchi, former president of Nomura Securities Co., maintained June 5 in unsworn Diet testimony that he had nothing to do with the alleged illegal payoffs by the nation's largest brokerage to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1997

Japan to go to bat for environment at G-7 summit

Japan is ready to step to the plate at the upcoming G-7 meeting in Denver as the environment's cleanup hitter. Then again, it might not even take its bat off its shoulder.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1997

MasterCard says Japan vulnerable to credit fraud

Japan's lack of effective legislation against credit card fraud is making the nation more attractive for counterfeiters, a senior official at MasterCard International warned June 5.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1997

Perishing Isahaya marine life looks to court for salvation

ISAHAYA, Nagasaki Pref. -- As authorities stand idle and let the entire ecosystem on this tideland perish by the day, marine creatures on the brink of extinction are fighting back against the human race -- in court.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1997

Sales of imported autos drop further

Sales of imported vehicles in May fell 27 percent from a year ago to 22,919 units, due in part to April's consumption tax increase to 5 percent from 3 percent, the Japan Automobile Importers' Association said June 5.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1997

DKB chief admits 'sokaiya' had influence

Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank President Katsuhiko Kondo admitted June 5 that DKB executives had maintained cozy relations with a late powerful "sokaiya" leader, and that the man even influenced personnel matters at the major commercial bank.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1997

The Asahara Trial: Scientist recounts sarin deaths

The people who were killed in the Tokyo subway nerve gas attack were poisoned by high-density sarin, a National Police Agency scientist reiterated June 5 in the trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 1997

Bill on nonprofit organizations clears panel

The Lower House Committee on the Cabinet passed a bill June 5 that would grant corporate status to volunteer and other citizens' groups and recognize them as official nonprofit organizations.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1997

Kobe killer's note said similar to 'Zodiac'

KOBE -- A message written on a note found stuffed in the mouth of 11-year-old Jun Hase's severed head last week bears a resemblance to those written by the "Zodiac" killer, who terrorized the San Francisco area in the late 1960s, investigative sources said June 4.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1997

Reclamation claims Isahaya ecosystem

ISAHAYA, Nagasaki Pref. -- As far as the eye can see, cracks running through dried soil have taken over what was a resource-rich wetland only 50 days ago.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1997

MITI panel urges complete reform by April '98

Drastic reforms to achieve complete freedom for players, prices and products in the nation's financial markets should be implemented by April, according to a report released June 4 by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1997

Nonprofit groups step closer to corporate status

A bill giving corporate status to volunteer and other citizens groups and recognizing them as official nonprofit organizations is expected to clear the Lower House Committee on the Cabinet June 5.

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