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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 2, 1998

Conductor oversleeps, delays commuters

OSAKA -- An early morning train run was canceled between Hineno and Otori stations on West Japan Railway's Hanwa Line at 6:04 a.m. after a 34-year-old conductor overslept, officials at Hineno Station said.The conductor, who was not named, finished his duties the previous day around midnight and went...
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

DKB, J.P. Morgan form investment trust venture

Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and J.P. Morgan and Co. of the United States has sealed a tieup agreement to sell investment trust products in Japan through DKB's sales channels, the two companies announced Thursday.The move is an attempt to gain a competitive edge over established alliances between rival financial...
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

U.S. requests insurance talks on 'real problems'

The U.S. has requested formal consultations with Japan on insurance issues in mid-October, a U.S. government official said Thursday.Washington wants to discuss its concerns over the speed of Tokyo's approval process for new insurance products, activities of recently reformed private rating organizations...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1998

Date club's teen hooking undoes boss

The operator of a so-called dating club in Tokyo's Toshima Ward has been arrested on suspicion of violating the Juvenile Welfare and Antiprostitution laws for allegedly introducing high school girls to customers for purposes of prostitution, police said Thursday.Police have taken into custody 14 high...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1998

Makki Academy shutdown stymies surprised pupils

The sudden closure of Makki International Academy, a school that taught animal care, fashion, dancing and sports, is sparking turmoil nationwide for thousands of students who were unaware of the school's imminent demise.Makki International Academy, which was based in Tokyo with 21 schools across the...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1998

Media's slant on Japan irks expats in America

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1998

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

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1998

Cancer gene therapy sets national precedent

A University of Tokyo committee on gene therapy research decided Tuesday to perform the nation's second gene therapy treatment on a 60-year-old patient with kidney cancer.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1998

Japan likely to seek WTO in Canada auto row

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1998

Tokyo to resume KEDO project role

Japan will soon resume its involvement in a project to build two light-water nuclear reactors for North Korea, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura indicated Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 1998

Japan Leasing collapses in record-setting bankruptcy

Japan Leasing Corp. -- one of three nonbank affiliates of the troubled Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan -- has failed and its top management will step down soon, the company said Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 1998

Defense Agency delays results of internal probe

The interim results of the Defense Agency's in-house probe of a suspected coverup in an overcharging scandal will be released in October, a month later than originally scheduled, the agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 1998

Court awards eye patients 100 million yen

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court on Monday ordered a company that owns a failed Osaka ophthalmic hospital to pay about 100 million yen to 16 patients who suffered eye damage from the hospital's laser surgery.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 1998

Thieves hit store for 25 million yen in cosmetics

More than 3,000 cosmetic items worth about 25 million yen were stolen early Sunday from a store in Tokyo's Koto Ward, police said Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 1998

Defense Agency spurns NEC, Toyo

The Defense Agency announced Friday that it will suspend business dealings with electronics giant NEC Corp. and affiliate Toyo Communication Equipment Co. from Oct. 1 in the wake of a procurement scandal involving former officials of the agency and the companies.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 1998

JNR Settlements given 191 billion yen in rescue loans

The government decided Friday to extend about 191 billion yen in relief loans to JNR Settlements Corp. to avoid the public corporation's possible default.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 1998

Daylight-saving forum rekindles debate

In a move to promote energy saving and leisure activities in summer, the government convened on Friday an open forum in Tokyo to discuss introducing daylight-saving time.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 1998

TICAD-II looks to halve African poverty by 2015

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1998

Bank inspector gets suspended sentence for bribes

A former Finance Ministry bank inspector was given a suspended prison term Thursday for receiving bribes worth more than 8 million yen from four major banks in exchange for providing tips on the ministry's bank inspection schedules.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Opposition, LDP policy chiefs agree to meet

After several days of wrangling over financial stabilization bills, opposition parties on Tuesday agreed to a policy chiefs-level meeting with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Sumitomo Life buys into Taiheiyo

In an aggressive move to expand its financial services, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. has purchased about 10 percent of outstanding shares in ailing Taiheiyo Securities Co. and its subsidiary Taiheiyo Investment Trust Management Co., the two companies announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Namikiza theater shows its last film

The Namikiza theater in Tokyo's Ginza district closed its doors on nearly 45 years of film history Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Global Warming: COP4 a time to iron out details

Last in a series
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 21, 1998

Education council issues final recommendations on change

Local governments should be given greater freedom to run schools in the 21st century, such as discretion in setting up smaller classes, an advisory panel to the education minister said in its final report Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 1998

Regional credit pinch hits Japanese affiliates abroad

Some 35 percent of Japanese-affiliated companies in Southeast Asia, China and South Korea are suffering from tight lending practices at financial institutions, a Ministry of International Trade and Industry survey showed Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 1998

Global Warming: Industrialized nations told to look home first

Third in a series

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan