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JAPAN
Jun 10, 1999

Japan remains top ODA donor

Japan remained the world's top economic aid donor in 1998 for the eighth consecutive year, providing a total of $10.68 billion in official development assistance, according to statistics released Friday by the Development Assistance Committee.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1999

Aoba posts first fiscal year earnings

Aoba Life Insurance Co. logged premium revenues totaling 64.9 billion yen for fiscal 1998 ended March 31, the firm said in its first full-year earnings reports, released Thursday.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 10, 1999

Rockers get down for Tibet Freedom weekend

What do an 11th-century Tibetan saint and a member of one of the world's more popular hip-hop groups have in common?
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1999

Upper House begins debate on wiretap bills

The House of Councilors on Wednesday began deliberating controversial bills that would allow law enforcement authorities to wiretap private communications during investigations into organized crime.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1999

Adviser sees extra budget around summer's end

The government should decide on a supplementary budget within a month or two, a veteran politician and economic adviser to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 1999

Nakamura's lawyers pitch innocence in bribes appeal

Attorneys for former Construction Minister Kishiro Nakamura, accused of receiving 10 million yen in bribes from a construction company, pleaded innocent on his behalf Monday before the Tokyo High Court, claiming a lower court "mistook the facts."
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1999

State may draft Aum-specific law

The government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will consider creating a law to specifically curb Aum Shinrikyo's activities, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 1999

Both sides to blame for Sino-U.S. troubles

HONG KONG -- As the United States debates the security implications of the Cox report on Chinese spying in the U.S., and as China continues to deny the spying and to denounce the NATO attack on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, it is easy to lose sight of a basic reality: There is a remarkable symmetry...
JAPAN
Jun 3, 1999

Obuchi, Mahathir discuss crisis mission plans

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi told visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday Japan will send an economic research mission in August to six Asian countries hit by the region's currency crisis, a Foreign Ministry official said.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

Cost, doubts mean rousing reception unlikely for pill

and MAYUMI NEGISHI Staff writers
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1999

Japanese monitors set to depart for Jakarta

A Japanese team of monitors for Indonesia's general election next Monday was officially launched Tuesday to ensure a fair, legal voting process in the nation, which is to hold its first free election in 44 years.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1999

Bills formed, driven by international pressure

A package of bills allowing investigators to wiretap private communications resulted from pressure from the global community calling on Japan to provide a legal framework to help efforts to crack down on international organized crime.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Death sentence sought for cultist

Prosecutors asked for the death penalty Monday for a former senior member of Aum Shinrikyo accused of releasing sarin in the deadly March 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack that killed 12 and injured thousands, and illegally manufacturing firearms.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Japan offers to support U.N. arms-trade conference

Japan will extend maximum support toward preparation of an international conference on illicit arms trade that the United Nations General Assembly plans to hold in 2001, State Foreign Secretary Keizo Takemi pledged Monday at the start of a Japan-hosted workshop on regulating small arms.
EDITORIALS
May 29, 1999

Wiretapping is a two-edged tool

The threat to public safety posed by rising rates of organized crime requires new tools and techniques in the hands of the police. On that there is scant disagreement, except possibly among lawbreakers and potential lawbreakers themselves. It is not so clear, however, that the answer to growing public...
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

Lower House panel passes wiretap bills, snubs opposition

The Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee ignored an opposition boycott and approved a package of controversial bills Friday evening that would allow law enforcement authorities to wiretap private communications during investigations into organized crime.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

Impromptu wiretap talks spark opposition boycott

With no opposition party members present, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and two other political groups on Thursday began discussing a package of revised bills to allow law enforcement officials the use of wiretaps during organized crime investigations.
JAPAN
May 25, 1999

Lower House starts tackling administrative reform

The Lower House entered substantive debate Tuesday on two sets of bills designed to reorganize the central government and decentralize state powers, underlining the need to create a new government to meet the changing needs of society.
JAPAN
May 24, 1999

Diet enacts defense bills, but doubts on alliance linger

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 24, 1999

April trade surplus shrinks 12.6% but rises against U.S.

The nation's trade surplus in April fell 12.6 percent from the year before to 1.07 trillion yen, as the fall in exports exceeded that of imports, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
COMMUNITY
May 23, 1999

Whaling town Taiji dreams for miracle IWC reprieve

TAIJI, Wakayama Pref. -- Nestled between clear Pacific waters and richly forested mountains and valleys, Taiji and it's pristine surroundings have remained largely unspoiled thanks to the town's isolation in southeast Wakayama and the community's long-standing relationship with the sea and its resources....
EDITORIALS
May 22, 1999

Red alert for the Loonies

There was gloomy news last week in the sphere of international politics -- so gloomy, in fact, that had it not been for Israel's spirited rejection of its most unhelpful prime minister ever, Benjamin ("Turn-the-clock-back Bibi") Netanyahu, monitors of social progress everywhere would now be inconsolable....
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

Ritsumeikan plans global university in Oita

KYOTO -- Ritsumeikan University will establish a new international university in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, next year, Ritsumeikan officials said Friday.
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

Indonesia reform assistance pledged

Visiting Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura reaffirmed their commitment Friday to assist democratic reforms in Indonesia by closely watching its general elections next month and a presidential election in November.
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

IDC mum on C&W, NTT favoritism

Taketo Furuhata, president and board member of International Data Communications Inc., said Friday that its board will no longer express any opinions to favor either Britain's Cable and Wireless PLC or NTT Corp.'s bid to take control of IDC.
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

Politicians cycle around Diet to raise pollution awareness

Thirty lawmakers pedaled bicycles Friday around the Diet building in a public appeal for the Earth-friendly vehicles.
LIFE / Style & Design / SIMPLY DIVINE
May 20, 1999

Hendrixesque

Forget playing air guitar, Konami has done it again. The company that had Travolta wannabees queuing up in video arcade centers to stomp on the Dance Dance Revolution platform has launched a new game for guitar freaks everywhere.
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Miyazawa drops extra budget hint

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa hinted Wednesday that the government may prepare an extra budget to expand the government's job creation fund.
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Rising fears prompt calls to keep Aum in check

The government must respond to growing fears neighbors of Aum Shinrikyo facilities have and make efforts to restrict the cult's activities, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 18, 1999

New Komeito plays up role as fickle ally

Staff writer

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?