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JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

Nonaka scolds Kishi's resistance to bank bill

Banks should expedite their restructuring efforts and get a better understanding of their responsibility in the nation's financial system, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Thursday.Nonaka's remarks were directed at a comment made earlier in the day by Satoru Kishi, chairman of the Federation...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

Immigration to ease rules on re-entry permits, Australians

Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura on Thursday announced a set of changes to immigration policies, including extending the period for re-entry permits and eliminating a visa requirement for short-term visitors from Australia.Nakamura told a news conference that the changes are part of the nation's...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

Expert calls for overhaul of emergency medical system

Staff writerThe nation's emergency medical system should be greatly improved before organ transplants from brain-dead donors are promoted, said one veteran doctor who specializes in emergency care.Yuichi Hamabe, director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bokuto Hospital's Life Support Emergency Center in Sumida...
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1998

Corporate failures in first half surge to postwar high

The number of corporate bankruptcies with debts of more than 10 million yen each totaled 10,034 during the first half of fiscal 1998 -- the April to September period -- major corporate research firm Teikoku Databank said Wednesday.It was the first time in 14 years the figure has exceeded 10,000 during...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1998

Tax evasion, bribes earn Izui two years in prison

The Tokyo District Court sentenced oil dealer Junichi Izui to two years in prison Tuesday for tax evasion and bribery, and acquitted him on a fraud charge over a series of oil deals involving Mitsui Mining Co. and other firms.Presiding Judge Kohei Ikeda also levied 80 million yen in fines against the...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1998

TV, photo ban nearly over for sworn Diet testimony

The Lower House voted unanimously Tuesday on a bill to lift the ban on photographing and televising people giving sworn testimony before the Diet.All political parties in the chamber supported the bill, which would revise the Diet Testimony Law, during a plenary session. The bill was immediately sent...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 1998

President Kim greets fellow Koreans in Kansai

After arriving in Osaka from Tokyo on Friday afternoon, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and his wife, Lee Hee Ho, met Korean residents of the Kansai region at an Osaka hotel.In front of more than 700 participants, Kim thanked Korean residents for the help they offered when the country was hard hit...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1998

Highlights of Kim-Obuchi declaration

The following are highlights of the joint declaration announced Thursday by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung:1) Obuchi and Kim expressed their shared determination to build a new partnership toward the 21st century.2) Obuchi expressed keen remorse and apologized for...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1998

Leaders sign wide-ranging action plan

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung signed during their summit meeting Thursday a 43-point joint action plan aimed at enhancing ties toward the next century.The paper covered a wide range of topics for the two countries to pursue together and covered five major areas...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1998

'Microcreditor' not for privileged

Staff writer Muhammad Yunus is not your typical banker. You won't catch him traipsing around in designer suits or marching briefcase in hand through the corporate halls looking for new clients.No, this simply dressed Bangladeshi banker marches to a different beat: he strives to lend money to the poor...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1998

Housing deregulation said essential to boosting demand

Housing deregulation is critical for Japan to stimulate its stagnant domestic demand, Kent Calder, special adviser to the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, said Wednesday.Speaking at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Calder pointed to the need to improve transparency, performance-based standards and the...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1998

Japan extends China additional flood aid

Japan will extend 250 million yen in emergency aid to China, which was hit hard by massive flooding, so the country can purchase medicine and medical equipment to deal with epidemics, Foreign Ministry officials said Tuesday.Japan already extended about 250 million yen in emergency aid to China from...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1998

EPA reverses forecast to 1.8% negative growth for '98

With amazing foresight, the Economic Planning Agency said Tuesday that the nation's economy will probably shrink by an inflation-adjusted 1.8 percent in fiscal 1998, reversing its initial projection of 1.9 percent growth for the current year.The contraction, which would be the largest one ever recorded...
JAPAN
Oct 5, 1998

Investment firm puts trust in disclosure

18th in an occasional series on financial deregulationStaff writerAlliance Capital Investment Trust Management Inc. of Tokyo is attempting to calm anxious customers by fully explaining how their funds have been hurt amid global financial instability, company President Takahiro Fujino said.The severe...
JAPAN
Oct 2, 1998

ODA reduction requires greater efficiency: white paper

Reform of Japan's official development assistance is needed to achieve efficient and effective ways of extending foreign aid, an ODA white paper released Friday says."Japan's ODA in the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 1999, has been cut by 10.4 percent. ... Therefore, efficiency and effectiveness...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1998

NGOs urged to play role in fighting human rights abuses

KOBE -- Nongovernmental organizations can play an important role in preventing human rights abuses of refugees by providing care and necessary materials and influencing the international community, an officer with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said Thursday.Milton Moreno, an external...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1998

Endocrine disrupters causing alarm

Staff writerA team of scientists in Tokyo announced last weekend that it has found eggs in the spermaries of three out of 20 male flounder caught in the sea near the Kanto region.The scientists said the abnormality may have been caused by suspected endocrine disrupters, chemicals believed to disrupt...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1998

Kim visit may pave Emperor's way to Seoul

Japan hopes that South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's visit next week will pave the way for the Emperor to visit South Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Thursday.The government's chief spokesman made the remarks in reference to media reports that the president, during his four-day visit...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1998

Social tyranny keeps Japan far from U.N. rights ideals: expert

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 25, 1998

Special asylum-seeker permits may signal policy shift

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 25, 1998

TICAD-II looks to halve African poverty by 2015

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Five killed, 60 injured as Typhoon No. 7 sweeps archipelago

At least five people were killed and nearly 60 others injured as the season's seventh typhoon, packing gusts of up to 108 kph, hit Wakayama Prefecture on Tuesday and swept through the Kinki, Tokai and Hokuriku regions.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Manufacturing plants, workers down sixth year in row

The number of manufacturing facilities and employees nationwide has decreased for six years in a row after peaking in 1991, according to an annual report issued Tuesday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 1998

Drug tests bring ethical uncertainties

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 21, 1998

Gist of key school reform proposals

The following are the key proposals outlined by the Central Council for Education:
JAPAN
Sep 18, 1998

International negotiators headed for hostile climate

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 18, 1998

Defense chief apologizes to Diet over procurement scandal

Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga apologized to the Diet Friday over a recent scandal in which the agency is accused of having systematically destroyed public documents to cover up a procurement-related scandal.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 1998

North Korea launch was aimed at U.S. negotiators, expert claims

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1998

Unum Japan blazes path to meaningful disability insurance

Employing the disabled is not just charity work anymore.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1998

LDP to pursue criminal punishment for kids 14 and up

A subcommittee within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday agreed to "actively pursue" a revision of the Juvenile Law to lower the minimum age at which juvenile offenders face criminal punishment from 16 to 14.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go