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JAPAN
May 4, 1998

Protein-breeding 'animal plants' to receive safety regulations

The Health and Welfare Ministry will write safety guidelines for medicine production at so-called animal plants where sheep or cows implanted with human genes will produce human proteins, ministry sources said Monday.
JAPAN
May 4, 1998

Tokyo-Mitsubishi chief defends wining, dining customs

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 4, 1998

Informed consent lacking, patients say in survey

About 30 percent of outpatients and 40 percent of inpatients who consider informed consent very important said they were satisfied with their doctors' explanations about their condition and treatment, according to survey results released Monday by the Federation of Health Insurance Societies (Kenporen)....
JAPAN
May 4, 1998

Children's Day sees decline in youth numbers

Fewer kids are celebrating Children's Day today, as the population of youth under age 15 has again fallen below figures of the previous year, according to the Management and Coordination Agency.
JAPAN
May 4, 1998

Helpline offers advice following 7.7 Okinawa quake

The Japan Helpline is offering emergency assistance to foreigners concerned about natural disasters following a powerful earthquake that rattled the Okinawa islands Monday morning.
JAPAN
May 4, 1998

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge traffic surpasses projections

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 4, 1998

Czech glass artist brings Bohemia to Notojima

NOTOJIMA, Ishikawa Pref. -- A glass studio recently invited a craftsman from a country with a long tradition of glasswork to spend a year on this small island teaching the art of creating Czech-style glassware.
JAPAN
May 4, 1998

Fishermen still reeling from Nakhodka oil spill

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Prize gives tideland activist new leverage

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

SDP reportedly ready to quit ruling alliance

Social Democratic Party executives have decided to terminate the party's parliamentary alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party early next month unless its demands on a proposed anticorruption bill are accepted, an SDP source said May 1.
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Diet Library to share 'treasures' with public

The National Diet Library will open for public viewing 100 rare, carefully protected so-called treasure books, some designated by the government as important cultural assets, from June 9 through June 20.
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

PerfecTV, JSkyB merge to form new digital broadcaster

PerfecTV Corp. and Japan Broadcasting Co. (JSkyB) merged into a new company May 1 called Japan Digital Broadcasting Services Inc., for operation of a new service called SKY PerfecTV!
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Unions mark May Day with demand for change

Unionists observed the 69th May Day event at about 1,100 sites across the country amid a gloomy economic atmosphere.
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Israel issues Sugihara commemorative stamp

To mark its 50th anniversary, Israel has issued stamps bearing the likeness of five diplomats who were instrumental in helping Jews escape the Holocaust, including the late Japanese consul of Lithuania, who issued exit visas to refugees, it was learned May 1.
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Police catch 116 illegal immigrants in major sweep

A total of 116 Asians suspected of illegally entering Japan were taken into custody in Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures on May 1, police said.
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Auto sales defy hopes with 7.4% plunge in April

April's domestic auto sales dropped 7.4 percent to 302,667 units from a year earlier, despite it being the first monthly comparison not skewed by the April 1, 1997, sales tax hike, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said May 1.
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Bar group urges prosecutor presence in youth trials

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations on May 1 decided to propose allowing prosecutors to participate in juvenile inquiry proceedings under certain conditions, changing its long-standing opposition to prosecutors' presence in family courts.
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Cigarette sales fall first time in nine years

Nationwide cigarette sales in fiscal 1997 registered the first fall in nine years due partly to price hikes, an industry group has reported.
JAPAN
May 1, 1998

Superior toilet trend forces makers to turn up the heat

OSAKA -- As the market for toilet seats with warm water bidet functions continues to expand, manufacturers are competing to introduce new models with various designs and functions.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Crisis in Asia: Taiwan urged to assist struggling neighbors

Although the stability of Taiwan's economy stands out amid the financial crisis in Asia, the island cannot remain an idle spectator as neighbor countries suffer, according to Wei-Te Liu, executive adviser of the Coordinating Council on Sino-Japanese Business Affairs.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Realtor's president allegedly started scam in '93

OSAKA -- The housing firm Asahi Juken, a major borrower from the bankrupt "jusen" mortgage lenders, began forging sales contracts for mortgaged properties to bilk creditors in autumn 1993 at the instruction of the firm's president, Kizo Matsumoto, sources alleged.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Nissan Diesel names new president

Nissan Diesel Motor Co. announced April 30 that President Masayuki Saito will step down and be replaced by Managing Director Hirofumi Nakazawa in late June.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Deadline passes for KDD-Teleway merger plan

The president of KDD Co. announced that the country's leading international telecommunications carrier has been unable to reach a formal merger agreement with Teleway Japan Corp., a domestic long-distance carrier, by the self-imposed deadline of April 30.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Rengo begins membership drive to boost union ranks

In the face of rising unemployment and pay cuts due to corporate restructuring, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) will establish a hotline to provide counseling on labor issues and union organization.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Hosokawa announces resignation from Diet

Former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who has been the glue linking the intraparty groups within the Democratic Party of Japan, announced April 30 that he will resign as a Diet member.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Korean resident tastes victory in 12-year legal defeat

Staff writer
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Negotiations on fisheries make little progress

South Korea and Japan on April 30 concluded the first round of resumed negotiations to hammer out a new fisheries pact, but made little significant progress.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 1998

Disgraced bureaucrats to get 40 million yen in retirement pay

Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga on April 30 told the Diet that two former top ministry officials who resigned in disgrace Monday will each receive more than 40 million yen as a retirement allowance.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 1998

Asahi Juken allegedly enlisted other realtors for fraud

OSAKA -- Asahi Juken, a real estate company whose president and three other executives were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of defrauding 600 million yen from creditors, had other realtors mediate in its property deals and divert about 1 billion yen of their commission to its group companies, police sources...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 1998

Crisis in Asia: Lessons learned from painful economic reforms

Third in a series

Longform

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Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat