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JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Ecological impact plan drafted for public works

The Environment Agency has completed the draft of a methodology for predicting the environmental impact of public works projects, agency sources said Oct. 8.The draft also includes basic matters to be assessed for such predictions when the Environmental Impact Assessment Law goes into effect in June...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

LDP approves $27 million in food aid to North Korea

The Liberal Democratic Party gave the go-ahead Oct. 8 to a government plan to send $27 million in food aid to North Korea, a move widely regarded as a swap to enable Japanese women now living there to visit their homeland.The aid, to be formally approved by the Cabinet as early as Oct. 9, is to be provided...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Paying way for U.S. forces legal, state says

OSAKA -- The government asserted in a court reply Oct. 8 that because the Diet has given its approval, it is legal to use public money to cover the costs of stationing U.S. forces in Japan.With its reply, the government asked the Osaka District Court to dismiss a lawsuit lodged by a group of 296 people...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Special income tax cuts ruled out as stimulus

Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka on Oct. 8 ruled out the possibility of implementing special income tax cuts to help stimulate the economy, saying such a move would worsen the nation's fiscal condition.Speaking at a news conference, Mitsuzuka pointed out that such tax breaks would have to be financed...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Consumer activists demand labels for engineered food

A consumer coalition of 59 activist groups from across Japan handed an appeal to the government Oct. 8 demanding mandatory labeling on genetically engineered foods.The "Down with Genetic Engineered Food!" campaign, organized by the Consumers Union of Japan, asked both the Health and Welfare Minister...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Aum doctor details cult's entry into Russia

Aum Shinrikyo experienced financial problems and started changing its dogma in summer 1992, when the cult began efforts to branch out into Russia, according to former Aum physician Ikuo Hayashi in his trial at the Tokyo District Court on Oct. 8.Due to the heavy financial burden of investing in publishing,...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

SDP, Sakigake tell Hashimoto to rescind emissions proposal

The Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake jointly demanded Oct. 8 that Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto withdraw Japan's proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 5 percent from 1990 levels.The two parties, saying they were not consulted on the proposal until it was announced Oct....
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Vice minister hints new law needed to cut energy use

To achieve a 2.5 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the next century, a law must be revised to give the government greater authority to control energy use, according to Osamu Watanabe, vice minister for international trade and industry.Watanabe was speaking Oct. 8 on the government's proposal...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Opposition chiefs stage rally for summoning Izui

The heads of three opposition parties staged a public rally Oct. 8 outside Shimbashi Station in Tokyo, calling for support for their Diet boycott over delays in summoning oil wholesaler Junichi Izui to testify in the Diet.Shinshinto, the Democratic Party of Japan and Taiyo Party boycotted the opening...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Effects of Kim's ascension too early to predict

Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi said Oct. 8 that it will be difficult to judge any immediate changes in North Korean policy under the new leadership of Kim Jong Il and that developments in the communist state will be closely watched.Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka echoed Obuchi's assessment.Commenting...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

JR Tokai makes firm TSE debut

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) made a firm debut Oct. 8 on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, drawing an opening price of 383,000 yen per share.The initial price at the TSE was 24,000 yen higher than the 359,000 yen public offering price set for 800,000 shares. The stock closed the...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1997

Ishikawa tops quality-of-life survey

Ishikawa Prefecture placed first in a newly calculated quality-of-life satisfaction index of prefectures, followed by Nara, Shizuoka, Kanagawa and Shiga, the Mitsubishi Research Institute said Oct. 8.Compared with similar indexes by the Economic Planning Agency, the new index is based on various statistics...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1997

Oil dealer may appear in Diet, Hashimoto hints

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto hinted to reporters Oct. 7 that he does not oppose the idea of summoning to the Diet an oil wholesaler who allegedly provided illicit political donations to several key members of the Liberal Democratic Party.Before the kick-off of the Lower House Budget Committee, which...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1997

Berlin in right position for budding East Europe markets

As the geopolitical center of Europe has shifted eastward since the end of the Cold War, Berlin will play a greater role as an international base for regional markets, the mayor of Berlin said Oct. 7.Speaking at a symposium through Japanese translators in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, Mayor Eberhard Diepgen...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1997

$250 million pledged to Mongolia development effort

An international aid group on Oct. 7 pledged about $250 million to help the economic development of Mongolia, a country struggling in its switch from a Communist-style economy to a free market.The pledge for fiscal 1998 was made at the 6th Mongolia Assistance Group Meeting, held in Tokyo. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1997

LDP quest to boost economy faces skeptics, tax cut calls

As a council in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party considers an economic package without new fiscal spending, key party members are voicing doubts about such measures.At a regularly scheduled meeting of the party's key members Oct. 7, many called for introducing such measures as special income tax...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1997

Osaka group cites ability to cut gases 21%

An Osaka-based nongovernmental organization on Oct. 7 proposed a set of policy options that it claims would reduce the nation's 2010 carbon dioxide emissions by 21 percent of the 1990 level.The proposal, put forward by a study group of the Citizens Alliance for Saving the Atmosphere and the Earth (CASA),...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1997

Foreigners urge Tokyo to accelerate deregulation

Foreign business communities on Oct. 7 urged Japan to further accelerate and deepen economic structural reforms to boost domestic demand and reduce its massive trade surplus.The opinions were voiced by foreign members of the Import Board, a subcouncil under the Trade Conference chaired by Prime Minister...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1997

Lawyer-scholar group ready to battle for war compensation

Thirty-seven lawyers and scholars have established a group to push for legislation that would make the national government directly compensate foreign World War II victims, the group's representatives said Oct. 7.The group's founding members include lawyer Koken Tsuchiya, the former head of the Japan...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Sannai-Maruyama excavation illuminating Jomon life

Staff writerAOMORI -- Men wearing only a shred of coarse fur hunt animals in the mountains while women and children gather shells and forage for nuts.This was the prevalent image of people of the Jomon Period, which lasted from about 12,000 to 2,300 years ago. But when the Aomori Prefectural Government...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Girl, 14, tied to 'love hotel' stickup spree

OSAKA -- A 14-year-old girl arrested for suspected violation of the Stimulant Drugs Control Law has confessed to taking part in a string of armed robberies targeting "love hotels" in the Kansai region, police said Oct. 6.The junior high school student from Hannan, Osaka Prefecture, is suspected of injecting...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Product test-recognition talks with EU set to restart

Staff writerAfter a 16-month hiatus, Japan and the European Union will resume negotiations next week on an agreement to mutually recognize test results for certain industrial products, government officials said Oct. 6.The fourth round of talks on the mutual recognition agreement will be held in Brussels...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Aoshima signs cooperation agreement with Berlin mayor

Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen, who is visiting Japan through Oct. 8, paid a courtesy call Oct. 6 on Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima and signed an agreement to cooperate in sewage and fiber-optic cable projects.Berlin and Tokyo are proceeding with a project to lay fiber-optic cables along sewage facilities....
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Firms harsh on theft, not sexual harassment

Japanese companies take strict disciplinary measures against employees who leak corporate secrets or commit financial wrongdoing, but are more lenient when it comes to cases of sexual harassment or office affairs, a private research organization said Oct. 6.The Labor Administration Research Institute...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Minnesota college living out bubble's burst in Akita

YUWA, Akita Pref. -- When the economic bubble burst in the late 1980s, more than 40 American-style colleges that peppered Japan's educational landscape went under, now leaving only four, one with an ambitious foothold in Akita.Among the universities possessing a campus, Minnesota State University --...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Compromise key to climate policies, German minister says

Staff writerTo achieve both economic growth and environmental protection, one must make compromises and seek "intermediate paths," according to German Economic Minister Gunter Rexrodt."Germany views the simultaneous achievement of economic growth and environmental protection as an important challenge,"...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Keidanren chief calls 5% emissions target 'adequate'

The government's announced target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in 2012 by 5 percent from the 1990 level is adequate, Yasuo Shingu, chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren), said Oct. 6."The important point is not to make Japan look good at the Kyoto conference, but to set an achievable...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Import car sales drop for sixth straight month

Sales of imported vehicles in September dropped 15.8 percent from a year earlier to 32,026 units, the sixth monthly decline in a row, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said Oct. 6.Domestic and foreign automakers have been suffering from sluggish sales in Japan following the consumption tax...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Sanyo receives 10 billion yen in loans

Ailing Sanyo Securities Co. acknowledged Oct. 6 that it received 10 billion yen in loans from three banks with which it has close ties but did not say whether the money was emergency assistance to keep the brokerage afloat.A senior Sanyo official said his firm borrowed the money from the Bank of Tokyo...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1997

Maverick assemblyman fights dress code, graft

MISAWA, Aomori Pref. -- The city assembly here has attracted nationwide attention, not for its legislating, but for a member who was punished for his casual attire.He claims his dressing down symbolizes his crusade against corruption. "I know it all looked like a kindergarten-level farce," said Yuki...

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