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JAPAN
Dec 31, 2000

EPA boss received 15 million yen from KSD

Economic Planning Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga received a total of 15 million yen in donations in November 1999 and last April from the then chairman of KSD, a scandal-tainted mutual aid organization for small firms, informed sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Tomobe's 10-year sentence stands

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court-imposed 10-year prison term against Upper House member Tatsuo Tomobe for swindling 35 people out of about 665 million yen between 1994 and 1996 through a bogus mutual fund scheme.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Lower House ranks' assets slip

House of Representatives lawmakers declared an average of 73.22 million yen in personal assets as of June, down from 87.05 million yen in their last asset reports in March 1997, according to calculations by Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2000

Mori poised to turn to familiar old faces in Cabinet reshuffle

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori continued tinkering with the task of matching Cabinet portfolios with names Sunday, but many of his appointments in the reshuffle expected Tuesday are likely to be old hands retained from his present administration, political sources said.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Water-tossing lawmaker suspended

House of Representatives member Kenshiro Matsunami, who threw water on opposition lawmakers at one point during debate over a no-confidence motion in the Diet last week, is being punished with a 25-day suspension that takes effect today.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2000

Mori foot-in-mouth blunders catching

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, notorious for his verbal blunders, may not be the only Cabinet member who needs to watch his tongue.
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2000

Police raid Todai lab linked to apprehended Aum cultist

An Aum Shinrikyo member under arrest was recently hired as a contract employee by a corporation affiliated with the Science and Technology Agency and had been involved in the development of computer systems at the University of Tokyo's graduate school, police said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2000

Nakagawa refuses to resign

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said Wednesday he will not resign over an allegedly false statement made to the Diet about his reported dubious links with a rightist figure.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2000

Komeito cool to LDP's limited-suffrage idea

A senior New Komeito member said Sunday he opposes the proposal by a senior Liberal Democratic Party member to grant the right to vote in local elections only to permanent residents in Japan from the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2000

Morita to retain Diet seat after secretary only fined

House of Representatives member Kensaku Morita avoided losing his Diet seat Tuesday, as his former secretary was only fined, not jailed, for vote-buying in the June general election.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2000

Scholar suspected of leaking exam questions faces disgrace

The Health and Welfare Ministry on Wednesday urged a university professor sitting on the committee that formulates National Dentistry Examination questions to refrain from attending today's committee meeting due to suspicions he had earlier leaked questions.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2000

Kuze's excuses put spotlight on dubious LDP roster system

A day after Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's apology before the Diet appeared to alleviate the chaos over the resignation of a scandal-tainted Cabinet member, the opposition shifted its target Tuesday to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's dubious election roster system.
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2000

Media credibility is at risk

Two recent incidents have revealed the cozy relationship between government and the media in Japan. One is the appointment of a former Yomiuri Shimbun chief editorialist as a member of the National Public Safety Commission. The other is the fact that a member of the Cabinet press club wrote a memo for...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2000

Kono, Ivanov confirm goal of inking peace treaty this year

MIYAZAKI — Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, reconfirmed the two countries' commitment Wednesday to resolve their long-standing territorial row and strive to sign a peace treaty by year's end, a Foreign Ministry official said.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2000

APEC plans Internet site to advance flow of trade

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2000

Mori selects new Cabinet

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori inaugurated his new Cabinet, which maintained the basic structure of his old one, on Tuesday night after being re-elected to the nation's top government post in the Diet earlier in the day.
JAPAN
May 27, 2000

Green energy nearing takeoff in Japan

Movements to promote so-called green energy, such as wind and solar power, are gaining momentum in Japan as opposition to the use of nuclear power increases following last year's fatal nuclear accident and rising pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
JAPAN
May 8, 2000

Cult may have paid to get religious status

The Honohana Sampogyo religious group paid several million yen to a then member of the Fuji city assembly in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1986, one year before the prefectural government certified it as an authorized religious corporation, cult sources said.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2000

EU knocking down the Tower of Babel

BRUSSELS — The European Union brings together 15 states with a total population of 380 million people. Thirteen other countries have applied to join. Europeans speak some 45 different languages, of which 11 are recognized as official languages for the purposes of EU business. But millions of European...
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2000

Factional fighting set to split Liberal Party

The Liberal Party, the smallest member of the ruling coalition, appears to be splitting up.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 16, 2000

Game on! KBO and players union settle up

The Korean baseball season will go on after all.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Sofia seeking EU membership by 2006, visiting minister says

Bulgaria will strive to become a full member of the European Union as early as 2006 by implementing far-reaching economic reforms, according to a senior Bulgarian diplomat who was recently in Japan.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Battle over Constitution begins

Breaking a postwar taboo, politicians started a full-scale parliamentary discussion Wednesday on whether to rewrite parts of the nation's hitherto untouchable Constitution. In the first session of an Upper House Constitution study panel, parties remained sharply divided over the premise of the panel...
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2000

A mother's place is in the Diet

Babies are always news, but an even more special baby than usual is expected in Japan in April. Its mother is a news-maker herself: Diet member and former Olympic speed skater and cyclist Ms. Seiko Hashimoto. Dubbed a "superwoman" of Japanese athletics, Ms. Hashimoto competed in seven consecutive Olympics...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 26, 1999

Proyecto Uno -- viva Zapata!

Everybody knows that foreign artists can only have a hit in the States as long as they sing in English. Conversely, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are credited with spearheading a "Latin boom" not only in America, but all over the world, by singing poppish variations of Afro-Cuban styles...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Aum followers held in raid; confinements alleged

A current and former member of Aum Shinrikyo were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of detaining a female follower who attempted to escape from a cult facility in Kiso-Fukushima, Nagano Prefecture, police said.
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 1999

Somber NATO turns 50

Less than a year ago, NATO's 50th-anniversary celebration was going to be a festive occasion. Alliance members were ready to toast each other for their ability to stand together against the Soviet threat and for having survived the end of the Cold War by forging a new relationship with their former rival...

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